Spinola - unit description query

[Errol Martyn]

The final posting recorded on the AIR79 of 219187 Air Mechanic 1st Class William Gustave CATON, as copied below, appears to read SpinolaAP? (last letter unclear). There is a Spinola Bay at Malta but what does the AP? indicate. The Sturtivant bible has failed me on this occasion!

Errol

[Jon_B]

Errol,

 

APD = Army Pay Department

 

Jon

[Errol Martyn]

Thanks Jon, but if correct it does seem an odd posting for an RAF man.

Can we confirm that there actually was an Army Pay Department at Spinola? Also, I would have thought Depot more likely than a Department?

Cheers,

Errol

[Jon_B]

Errol,

 

The CWGC has two RAF men buried in Malta who were based at Spinola APD in 1918:

 

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/114968/butcher,-leslie-arthur-george/

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/115481/kyle,-thomas-james/

 

There was a military hospital and an RAF training camp at Spinola in 1918. 

 

APD was the acronym for the Army Pay Department (not Depot) during WW1. I don't know if the APD administered pay for all forces in the Malta Garrison, but to find men posted inter-service to utilise their skills is no surprise.

 

 

Jon

 

[Errol Martyn]

Thanks Jon,

Just takes a bit of getting one's head around what looks to a rather odd posting - for an RAF Fitter (AE) who spent most of his war on board the seaplane carrier Manxman. The fact that he had been a one-time bankrupt would hardly be endear him to an 'Pay Department' posting, one would have thought!

Cheers,

Errol

[Jon_B]

Well based on the limited information in the OP my interpretation was reasonable, but I agree that it doesn't match a fitter. I don't know any other meaning for APD, maybe someone else can shed more light.

 

Jon

[xv229]

Hopefully not too late to reply to this topic?

I am faced with the same problem with a balloon unit mechanic from the Royal Navy, posted from Balloon Base No.4 (Corfu) to Spinola APD in December 1918. As has been said above, an unlikely choice for posting to an Army Pay Department. However, looking into the history of WW1 Malta Hospitals, I note there are references to convalescents being temporarily housed in Awaiting Passage Depots on the island. This seems to me to be a more logical explanation for the Spinola APD abbreviation.

Anyone with any further thoughts, or even better, confirmation of my 'flaky theory'?

Kind Regards, Alan

 

[Matlock1418]

On 29/01/2019 at 02:27, Errol Martyn said:

There is a Spinola Bay at Malta but what does the AP?

I'm way off my regular patch  ... but could AP mean Air Park? Air Park D??  Air Park Depot???

Or perhaps Aero Park etc. ????

M

Edit: I'm currently leaning towards Aero Park - but as an Army bod, what would I know? 

Edited 21 July , 2023 by Matlock1418
Edit

[Errol Martyn]

Many thanks Alan and Matlock. Awaiting Passage Depot seems logical, though I've not come across it before. (still learning after all these years!)

Cheers,

Errol;

[SamCurt]

Late to the day, but...

Hi Errol,

To further back-up the earlier suggestion re Spinola's APD:

After a spell with one of the RNACD Squadrons at Gallipoli, then becoming an aircraft mechanic when control of most armoured car units were transferred to the army, the logbook for aircraft carrier HMS Empress, dated 11 December 1918, records that "1 Chief Air Mechanic left for England" while she was docked at Mudros.  The AM175 for Reginald Robert WILLIAMS, showing that he was promoted to Chief Mechanic on 1 September 1918, further records his transfer from HMS Empress to "Spinola" effective 14 December 1918, and that he was officially transferred to the Reserve on 13 March 1919.

A later entry in his school's magazine added, "Rex Williams who was serving as Chief Air Mechanic at Mudros Air Station, where their establishment was completely wrecked by German bombing-planes, was transferred to a sea-plane ship, H.M.S. Empress, which escorted the fleet through the Dardanelles after the Armistice was signed.  He remained for some time anchored off the Golden Horn, and had frequent opportunities of exploring Constantinople - so far as was prudent!  After a spell in Malta, he returned home, and on his release took up a post in a leading motor works in Manchester."

With no mention of him as having received an injury requiring treatment at Spinola's hospital, these documents would tend to suggest that he was in a "limbo" situation on Malta between leaving the Empress and returning to the UK, possibly indicating that he was at their Awaiting Passage Depot.  Although no direct mention of an APD was made on his AM175, he is recorded as serving with the RAF's "E. Med" detachment until 12 February 1919 - no MGPR1/AM60 found, as he possibly served during WWII, having become a qualified civilian pilot and employed as an Aeronautical Examiner for the Inspection Directorate pre-war.

In his extensive book on Malta's Military Hospitals, 1915-1917, RAMC Captain G. R. Bruce makes three mentions of an Awaiting Passage Depot there from July 1916 - a copy of which can be found on Sue Light's extensively researched website at www.scarletfinders.co.uk/190.html.

The IWM Service Record of RAMC Private George STAFF records that he was sent to "All Saints Awaiting Passage Depot Malta for accommodation" in October 1917.  A map showing the Distribution of Hospitals & Convalescent Camps in Malta notes All Saints as being a Convalescent Camp located a couple of miles west of Spinola.

Available online copies of the Army's Monthly List for Nov 1919 & May 1920 mention this Depot as being under the command of a Major G. M. Smith (columns 2670e & 2670c-d).  No other returns for the full wording appears, probably indicating that there was only one, and no reference has currently been found in any of the Quarterly Lists looked at, but I'm sure someone over on an Army thread will be much more knowledgeable on the subject.

In short, there appears to have been an Awaiting Passage Depot adjacent to Spinola.

Sam

[Errol Martyn]

Many thanks Sam for this detailed background about APD.

Cheers,

Errol