Re: Where do I find RAF citiations???

[Danny152]

Can anyone tell me where I can find help find offical copies of WW2 DFM citations?

Cheers,

Danny

[Frank Olynyk]

Danny,
With rare exceptions, citations for the DFM were not published in the London Gazette. Those that were can be found in I T Tavender's The Distinguished Flying Medal: A Record of Courage 1918-1982, published by Hayword, 1990, ISBN 0-903754-43-6. Out of print, but copies can be found on the used book market. There are not a lot of actual citations.

After he published the above, Tavender did a heavy duty review of the contents of Air 2, which contains the recommendations for awards in World War 2. He collected these recommendations (usually from the Squadron CO, or the Station CO) into two massive volumes: The Distinguished Flying Medal Register for the Second World War with Official Recommendation Details. Published in 2000 by Savannah, ISBN 1-902366-03-4 for volume 1 (A-J) and 2 (K-Z), Rather expensive, but still in print.
http://www.savannahpublications.com/ It is expensive, I hope you are fully employed. Savannah also published a one volume collection of the citations to the Military Cross for airmen in WW1, and another massive collection of the citations for the DFC 1918 to 1995 (Nick and Carol Carter), which appears to be out of print from them.

Lock your wallet up!

Enjoy (if you can get copies).

Frank.

[mikew156]

That's very useful Frank, thanks for posting.

I wonder if places such as the RAF museum have copies of these publications.

I have trawled through several files in The National Archives AIR2 series and viewed and photographed several DFC recommendations. Never found the exact one I was looking for though - probably no longer exists if it ever did.

Do I understand the difference between a citation and a recommendation correctly.
The citation would be something that appears in a publication such as the London Gazette and this would in effect 'cite' the recommendation that was drafted by the squadron commander and was counter-signed by, station , base and group commanders (in the case of Bomber Command).

Regards

Mike

[Frank Olynyk]

Mike,
The citation is the text that appears in the London Gazette. It is usually an abridgement of the text of the recommendation. The recommendation might list airplanes shot down during the period of the recommendation, or for a bomber pilot the missions flown (dates and targets). The citation might simply give the total airplanes shot down during the period, or the total number of missions.

Recommendations are in Air 2. NA/PRO does not have an index to Air 2. That is at an RAF personnel facility whose name I can never remember. PRO staff can probably give you its name and phone number. If you phone them with a name or two, they can usually give you the Air Historial Branch reference numbers in a few minutes. Those AHB reference numbers are what follows Air 2/...

Enjoy!

Frank.

[mikew156]

Hi Frank and Danny

Thanks Frank for the reply to my post.
A few years ago I corresponded with the Air Historical Branch (UK) and the RAF museum in an attempt to unravel the mysteries of awards documentation.
After I have re-read and pieced it all together I'll email you a collated document. It may be of interest to you.

Regards

Mike

[Danny152]

Hiya Mike,

Thanks for the info, yes I would like to see what you have found on the citation page.

Cheers,

Danny