7 Sqdn Observer 1918

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

I normally stay well clear of men in boats and anything more than about four feet off the ground, but I currently have an interest in an officer from the General List who served as an Observer with 7 Squadron RAF during 1918. I have his RAF record card and a WO339 file for him.

Ive made a preliminary search of AIR1 using search criteria 7 and time period 1918-25, and that has IDd a couple of possibly relevant squadron histories and a file for combat reports, but there dont appear to be any squadron record books after Feb 1917.

Should I be looking at anything else in AIR1 ?

Tom

[fetubi]

Hi Tom,

These are the broad sections within AIR1 where 7 Squadron is mentioned or their records held - the ones with asterixs being the strongest sources:

AIR1/ 143, 166, 509*, 687, 761, 765, 784, 789, 821, 826, 918, 954, 1218, 1280, 1341*, 2148

Depending what you're looking for it's very useful to have the "Parent Groups" of a squadron - a lot of useful information lurks at Wing and Brigade level.

These are the relevant Wings and Brigades for 7 Sqn throughout the War:

4th Wing Nov 1914

3rd Wing Apr - Jul 1915

2nd Wing Sep 1915 - Feb 1916

2nd (Corps) Wing - II Bgde Feb - Jul 1916

(temp w AIF II Bgde Jul 1916)

Res Army Wing (15th (Corps) Wing) Jul - Aug 1916

15th (Corps) Wing - V Bgde Aug 1916 - Feb 1917

3rd (Corps) Wing - III Bgde Feb - Mar 1917

3rd (Corps) Wing - IV Bgde Mar - May 1917

2nd (Corps) Wing - II Bgde May - Jun 1917

15th (Corps) Wing - V Bgde Jun - Nov 1917

2nd (Corps) Wing - II Bgde Nov 1917 - May 1919

So in 1918, where you want to look, you could search within 2nd Corps Wing or II Brigade perhaps. (not so easy if you're further than four feet from Kew.., given their Index!)

I hope this helps...

Regards,

Trevor

[Tom Tulloch-Marshall]

Trevor – thanks for that. I’ll check those refs in AIR1 at TNA in the next few days – hopefully I’ll get to them before the paper indexes are removed from public access

Tom