Air force lives : a guide for family historians

Summary:

What was it like to serve as an airman in the Second World War, as a pilot, a bomb aimer, or aerial gunner, or as a trainee pilot in 1913, a Zeppelin chaser during the First World War, or serve as a WREN fitter in the Fleet Air Arm or as a member of the ground crew who are so often overlooked in the history of Britain's air arm? And how can you find out about an individual, an ancestor whose service career is a gap in your family's history? Phil Tomaselli, in this readable and instructive book, shows you how this can be done. He describes in fascinating detail the careers of a group air force personnel from all branches and levels of the service.

Record details

ISBN: 1848847432
ISBN: 9781848847439
Physical Description: xvii, 158 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Barnsley, South Yorkshire : Pen & Sword, 2013.

Content descriptions

General Note:

Includes index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations and websites -- Introduction -- A brief history of the Air Forces featured in this book -- Chapter 1. Early flying experiences in the Royal Naval Air Service -- Reginald Bone -- Chapter 2. A military medal with the Royal Flying Corps -- David Prosser Hepburn -- Chapter 3. Air war in the Arctic circle -- Bertram Guy Blampied -- Chapter 4. Royal Flying Corps, Auxiliary Air Force and Second World War flying instructor -- Wilfred Bennett Beale -- Chapter 5. Battle of Britain pilot -- Guy Marsland -- Chapter 6. From the North-West Frontier to Singapore, forty years in the RAF -- Ernest Edgar Chambers and Mary Craig Chambers -- Chapter 7. An Australian air gunner with bomber command -- Victor Charles Reid -- Chapter 8. -- A gallant pathfinder crew -- Chapter 9. A WREN in the Fleet Air Arm -- Janet Pegden -- Index.