ACS - meaning of abbreviation

[Errol Martyn]

I'm working through bio details for an electrical engineer who finished up with the RAF after service with the RNAS and then the RNVR. On his beatifully (!) written AIR76 I have come unstuck trying to figure out the meaning of the numerous 'ACS' references for 1919. There are also a couple of variations, namely 'H2ACS' and H2AC3', the latter's '3' just a straight error for an S, I guess. The '2' might be a scribe's poor attempt at a Q (for HQ)?

 

 

The closest I can come to an ACS type unit in 'RAF Flying Training & Support Units since 1912' are:

Aircraft Construction Service (formed by Jul 1919), Station hill, Eastleigh, Hampshire,

Airship Constructional Station, Barrow-in-Furness, (when?) relinquished 28 Aug 21

Artillery Co-Operation Squadron, Old Sarum later Stonehenge

But none of them seem to fit the AIR76's comments.

 

Any assistance or wisdom would be most gratefully received!

 

Cheers,

Errol

Edited 1 October , 2018 by Errol Martyn

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Possibly Aerodrome Construction Service.

 

Dave

[nieuport11]

The word 'Airship' at bottom left is possibly a clue Errol

East Fortune was an airship base, and there is reference to 'Airship Construction Stations' here:

http://airshipsonline.com/sheds/mooring_out_sites.htm

[quemerford]

ACS is Airfield Construction Service (or Aerodrome but the former seems to be the usual form): it's seen on many record cards but not often in long hand. I have done a bit of research into the ACS at Kew but there isn't a great deal of info there sadly: most relating to post-war and WW2 in fact. But I do know that there were ACS HQ's around the country, as one would expect.

[Errol Martyn]

Another possibility has come to light via Peter Wright's article 'The RNAS Airship Service & the Air Construction Corps' that appears in Vol 32, No 4, 2001 of the CCI Journal. The ACC was formed by the Admiralty. By mid-1917 ACC had been retitled as the Air Service Constructional Corps (ASCC) and by war's end, and now part of the RAF, it was known as the Air Construction Service (ACS!). As mentioned above, my electrical engineer man came into the RAF from an RNAS then RNVR background.

 

The September 1919 entry for Area HQ ACS York presumably refers to the North-Eastern Area located there and which controlled 16, 18 and 19 Groups - 19 Group was an equipment group which would seem to be a logical home for an electrical engineer.

 

Not sure that I am any further ahead, however - too much to chose from and so little in the way of clues to zero in on the correct ACS.

 

Cheers,

Errol

PS: Continuing my 'airfield' search via Flight, I find the first mention, just one, appears in 1933 in relation to an American story. In 1936 =, however, it suddenly becomes common currency at last.

Edited 2 October , 2018 by Errol Martyn

[Errol Martyn]

A follow up to my previous post:

 

I've now carried out a thorough search of Flight for 1919 and found a number of references there to Air Construction Service but none to an Aircraft Construction Service, Airfield or Aerodrome Construction Service (in fact the word 'airfield' appears not a single time), or Airship Construction Station. Following up on some of the postings to Air Construction Service listed in Flight through AIR76s there is  now little doubt in my mind that my man's ACS postings refer to the Air Construction Service.

 

Meanwhile, my thanks to all who responded to my query.

 

Cheers,

Errol