HOW TO FIND RECORDS | Silver Wings

How To Find Air Force Service Records

Which Service Should I Look At?

During World War I (1914 to 1918), Australian military aviation was carried out by the Australian Flying Corps (AFC) which was a part of the Australian Army. AFC pilots and groundcrew were members of the Army and wore Army uniforms. The service records for these people are held in the National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/defence-and-war-service-records/army-world-war-i-1914-18). Some Australians wanting to fly in the war, travelled to Britain at their own expense and enlisted directly in the British Army (to fly in the Royal Flying Corps) or the Royal Navy (to fly in the Royal Naval Air Service).

The service records for these people are held by the British National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk).

During World War II (1939 to 1945), most Australians wanting to fly, enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Those who were posted overseas to serve in British Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons in Europe or the Middle East, were still members of the RAAF and their records are held by National Archives of Australia (www.naa.gov.au). However, a small number of Australians travelled privately to England and enlisted directly in the British services. Records of the service of these people are held by the British National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk). Australians who served in the Southwest Pacific area, almost certainly have their records held in Australia.

If unsure which service your relative served in, look in the National Archives of Australian first. If their records are not there, they may be in the British National Archives.

Introduction to Air Force Records

A file on each member who served in any of the Australian Services (Navy, Army or Air Force) is held by the National Archives of Australia and can generally be accessed by members of the public. Records of members who are still serving and those who served less than 30 years ago are not generally available to the public for privacy reasons.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) was formed on 31 March 1921 with many of its members having served in other services in WWI. Initially, numbers in the Air Force were small, about 300, but from the 1930s, the numbers began to increase rapidly. During World War II (WWII), the number of members of the Air Force peaked at about 180,000 and decreased rapidly once victory was gained. Numbers increased again for the Korean War in the 1950s and the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

Women’s Services

The women’s services that complemented the all-male Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) for many decades, started in World War II but remained as separate services until the women’s services were integrated into the RAAF in 1977. The RAAF Nursing Service (RAAFNS) existed from 1940 until 1977, but the Women’s Australian Auxiliary Air Force (WAAAF) was a temporary service that existed during the years of World War II only and was disbanded in 1947. The Women’s Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF), in comparison, was a permanent women’s service started in 1951 and worked alongside the RAAF until integration in 1977.

The records of members of the Australian women’s services are held by the National Archives of Australia and can be accessed in the same way at the records of male members of the RAAF.

How to Locate Your Ancestor’s Service Records

The key to identifying the service records of your ancestor is their service number, which was the identification number given to the enlistee on their first day in the Air Force. The service number is unique to that person and was never re-assigned to another member. You may find the service number of your ancestor on any official documents that they held, such as logbooks, letter of discharge, certificate of service, etc. Sometimes members even wrote their service number on personal items such medals, badges or hats.

When in use, service numbers of Air Force members were usually preceded by a letter, for example, A403913.

The table below gives the status of the member as indicated by the letter at the start of their service number.

When conducting searches described in these paragraphs, use the service number including the letter preceding the digits. If this search doesn't work, try using only the digits of the service number.

Note that in Air Force terminology, the term ‘airman’ means a male Air Force member holding non-commissioned rank and is the Air Force equivalent of Army’s 'soldier' and Navy’s 'sailor'. An airman does not necessarily fly. The collective term for Air Force members employed on flying duties is ‘aircrew’ which includes both commissioned and non-commissioned members. An airwoman is the female equivalent of an airman. Until 1977, all members of the RAAF Nursing Service were female and were commissioned officers.

The Dept of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) website (http://www.dva.gov.au/commemorations-memorials-and-war-graves/nominal-rolls) has nominal rolls for the Australians who served in all the major conflicts in the 20th century. Go to the appropriate roll and insert the required information to identify your ancestor. You may have to search through a list of members with names similar to your ancestor’s. If you find your ancestor, the website will give you a brief summary of their service, including enlistment and discharge dates and their service number. The service number is the key to finding your ancestor’s service records.

If you have found your ancestor’s service number, go to the National Archives of Australia website (www.naa.gov.au) and look for the ‘RecordSearch’ page. In the Keywords box, put the service number and the surname of your ancestor. If you know the approximate period that they served, put the start and finish years in the Dates boxes. If you are unsure of dates, leave the Dates boxes blank. When you click on ‘Search’, you will be then presented with a list of files that relate in some way to the keywords you have used. Look through this list and identify the files relating to your ancestor, noting that there may be more than one file on them. On the right-hand side of the list of files is a column headed ‘Digitised item’ containing a symbol that looks like a sheaf of pages. If there is one of these symbols against a file relating to your ancestor, then that file has been digitised and can be viewed over the internet. Clicking on this symbol will reveal the contents of the file, page by page. If this symbol is not shown, you can request NAA to digitise the file for a fee. The website has instructions on how to do this. Alternately, you can request personal access to the file in the National Archives reading room in Canberra.

If you have not found the service number of your ancestor, you can still do a RecordSearch on the National Archives website using your ancestor’s full name. As this search will usually produce several pages of possible files, you will need to sift through all the files using date of birth or other personal details to identify the files relating to your ancestor.

Types of Files

You may locate more than one file relating to your ancestor.

These are some of the file types that you may come across:

Service record file. This type of file has a title starting with the member’s name (surname first then given names), their service number and date of birth. The file normally contains the member’s application to join the Air Force, the results of their training, units/squadrons they served with and medals they were awarded. It may also contain records of leave and travel undertaken, particularly overseas travel.

Casualty file. This type of file contains records relating to the death, missing-in-action status, prisoner-of-war status, or major injuries suffered by the member. It can also include details of the member’s repatriation to Australia.

Court Martial file. This type of file usually contains a summary of evidence, the findings and the punishment awarded by a military court during the trial of an Air Force member. It may also contain a not-guilty finding.

Accessing the Contents of a File
To explain the likely contents of a service record file, I’ll use the example of an actual Air Force member who served during World War II. His personal details were:

Name: Edwin Day
Date of Birth: 3 January 1922
Service: Royal Australian Air Force
Putting his name into a search of the DVA nominal roll for WWII, gives this result:

The date of birth of 03 January 1922 confirms that the last name on this list is the person I am searching for and that his service number is 403913. Clicking on the name of Edwin Atholwood Day opens another box with more details, as shown below.

Going to the National Archives of Australia website, selecting RecordSearch and inserting Edwin’s name and service number will produce a list of files as shown below.

Note that the 2nd, 7th and 8th files on this list all relate to Edwin Day—the 2nd file is a casualty file, the 7th is his service record file and the 8th relates to his memorial. The files for Austin, Mason, Matthews, Oliver and Sedger came up in this list because they were all members of Edwin Day’s crew and were all lost on the same flight.
The ‘pages’ symbol at the right of the 7th file indicates that Edwin’s service record file has been digitised and can be viewed over the internet. Clicking on this symbol will reveal the contents of the file, page by page. If this symbol is not shown, you can request NAA to digitise the file for a fee. The website has instructions on how to do this. Alternately, you can request personal access to the file in the National Archives reading room in Canberra.

The image below shows the page of the file that details Day’s postings, training courses and promotions. Note that on the website, the page is larger and can be read more easily.

Most of the entries on pages in these files are done by hand, use Air Force terminology and are often abbreviated. Readers not familiar with Air Force terminology can order a Silver Wings History report that will summarise the Air Force career of their ancestor. See ‘What We Offer’ on this website.

Tips For Effective Searching

These tips may improve your chances of finding the file you are after:

Use the names shown on their birth certificate, not abbreviated names. For example, search for ‘Robert Jones’ not ‘Bob Jones’ even though they may have always been known as ‘Bob’.

If no file is found in your search, try variations of the person’s name or alternative spellings. For example, if searching for ‘Timothy Allan’ didn’t work, try ‘Timothy Allen’ or ‘Timothy Alan'.

If your search had no results, try to broaden the search by leaving out some of the keywords. For example, if a search using their name, date of birth and place of birth didn’t work, try searching on name only.

Closing Note

Edwin Day was born in Adelaide in 1922 but later moved to Townsville, QLD where he did all his schooling. He was enlisted in the Air Force in March 1941 and trained as a wireless operator/air gunner. On reaching England, he flew missions over Europe on Wellington bombers and then Lancaster bombers with No 460 Squadron which was based at RAF Breighton in Yorkshire.

On the night of 26/27 January 1943, his Lancaster was part of a major attack on the German submarine base at Lorient, France. His aircraft did not return from the bombing mission and was never found. Edwin Day and the other six members of the crew were all killed. Their names are listed, along with thousands of other aircrew that have no known grave, on the Air Forces Memorial at Runnymede, England.

Edwin had been in the Air Force less than two years and was 21 years old.

Flight Sergeant E A Day