Any ideas what this means?

[Epona18]

I'm researching a RFC/RAF man(holder of the MC as an infantryman and awarded the French CdG for RAF) and most of it has been straight forward to look up such as his squadrons of 192(N) and 38. But there's an entry for 15/8/1918 that used the abbreviation P.U.P.G. The entry immediately below looks like hospital and probably Millbank. On another page around this time it's noted he was fit for ground duties only, and looking at this page it looks like he might not have got back to 38 Squadron until November. So does P.U.P.G. refer to an air incident/crash or something medical preventing him flying, like the RAF equivalent of the army PUO for unexplained temperature/fever? Random internet searches are not showing me any hints.

The attached record page:

[RussT]

Could it actually be PUPO, which this thread suggests could mean:

"permanently unfit as pilot officer"

 

Regards

Russ

[Epona18]

Thanks RussT. I think it could be that. The writing could definitely be an O. And that ties up with the note on another part of his records around this time, of only being fit for ground duties. Thanks so much. I like to get all the details I can from records and that helps a lot.  I still have no idea what changed his service status, as there's no indication of illness or injury, but he won his MC on the Somme with the Cameron Highlanders in 1916, and changed to the RFC in 1917, so it could be mental or physical or both. He certainly 'did his bit' and more. 

[Matlock1418]

On 02/02/2024 at 22:54, Epona18 said:

I still have no idea what changed his service status, as there's no indication of illness or injury

Just a thought ... did he possibly claim a disability pension?

The MC is making me think an officer, rather than a 'man'/ranker, but ???

Relatively easy to check for a ranker at WFA/Fold3, but harder for an officer [just a very outside/rare chance that there may be a note on a PIC] - If you wish, share his name and I'll have a quick look for you.

M

[Epona18]

Yeah, he was commissioned in 1916, and then won the MC on the Somme as a 2Lt in the August. He's mentioned in the War Diaries and the action that he and two others won MCs for. So he went over to the RFC as an officer. I've checked all the pension stuff on ForcesWarRecords(has the same records as Fold3 now as they're the same company), and he didn't come up. I've tracked him down on the 1921 Scottish census and it looks like he went back to work as a Civil Engineer(his pre-war career) with a firm in Motherwell. He wasn't demobbed until 1919, and wasn't given a SWB. Also, as the records have him back at the school of Aviation after his grounded period, he must have made a recovery from whatever it was. It looks like it's just going to be one of those mysteries over what the 'illness' was that grounded him. At least I know what the PUPO part is now, just not the cause. 

[quemerford]

I assume this man has a WO 339 file? That's where you'd usually find medical board records. 

[rolt968]

Could P U P O be some variant of P U O? (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin)

RM

[quemerford]

PUPO is a common entry on record cards; as previously explained, it means "permanently unfit [as] pilot officer", and often followed by "Fit, GS" (fit for general service), "HS" (home service) etc.

 

None of which answers my query regarding a WO 339 file for this man.

 

Edited 8 February by quemerford

[Epona18]

I couldn't find a WO 339 file for him. As he was an army officer to begin with that's where I looked first to see what the NA could cough up and which I would have had copied, as I have numerous times in the past, but none exist in any variety of searches, which isn't unusual in my experience, and I suspect, in this case, that might be because of his transfer to the RFC. So all his records are RAF, and nothing more than his RAF Officer records seem to exist. Frustrating. But, honestly, other than this tiny small piece of information regarding any possible illness/injury, I've been able to put together quite a lot of information on him. 

[quemerford]

Don't stop looking! I have plenty of WO 339 files on "army to RFC" officers, so it's not that.

[hmsk212]

Maybe letting us know his name might help.

 

Steve

[quemerford]

2 hours ago, hmsk212 said:

Maybe letting us know his name might help.

 

Steve

Doubtful: such requests usually cause a flurry of Google "research" and nothing of real substance.

[hmsk212]

1 hour ago, quemerford said:

Doubtful: such requests usually cause a flurry of Google "research" and nothing of real substance.

Not from me, I carry out most of my research at the National Archives. 

[Epona18]

Ut oh, a thread online, starting to dabble onto the line of 'out of control', with people asking things that I never even wanted help with.  So I'll stamp on the thread and close it.

But, I want to thank RussT again, because they solved my question straight away. Simple, and no guff.  

My original question(at the top of this post, in case anyone was in doubt) was about an abbreviation in an RAF record, which I hadn't come across before as I research less RAF guys, than army lads, everything else I can handle fine.  I might be a low-count poster on the forum but I've been researching medals and the recipients for nearly 20 years, so I know the sources, the ins and outs of searching for files, how to get the best search results, error entries, hidden entries, wrongly catalogued entries, and generally looking for things backwards and forwards and in a variety of ways and have a lot of success of weeding out info that other people often miss. So if, after going through all my usual methodology, I can't find a record, it's usually because it doesn't exist. 

I wasn't making a generalisation about RFC officers not having existing WO 339 files, because of course a lot of officers records do exist in that way, but also some don't. And sometimes they just go missing. Other regiment officer files also just go missing, anyway. Annoying, but not the end of the world, especially if other sources fill in the blanks, as is the case here. Or I can access a file of 50 pages and 20 are essentially blank, and the other 25 are letters chasing around for a missing piece of uniform or address, with maybe one page acknowledging the date of commission and discharge with no other information. WO 339 files can sometimes be just as disappointing as they can be exciting. Not always, but I go into them without expectations.

As to not naming the man I'm researching...experience in forums. I rarely name the people I'm researching, because in the past I got a bombardment of guff in private messages, and often a lot of it is wiki/google/ancestry-family-stories cut and paste...all of which can be inaccurate as many times as helpful. Unless I search out the record myself, read it myself and assess it in context with everything else, I'll take it with a pinch of salt...and vinegar. As a historian, I'll read and listen to everything, but I need to do my own work. Occasionally I'll come across something I can't find info on, such as the abbreviation here, that is the rare times I come out from under my rock and ask on a forum.

Happy researching everyone.