Blacks in the RAF

[kaki3152]

I was just wondering if anyone knows the number of black flying personnel who served in the RAF during WWII.

I imagine there were personnel from Jamaica and the Caribean isles who served in flying duties. I do have an account of a Jamaican fighter pilot who flew with 154 Sq and shot down one FW-190 in 1945.

[Graham Boak]

I've seen the odd references to individuals here and there, mainly in Bomber Command books, but I don't know of any collated source. One problem with records is that not all Jamaicans were black, so this could mislead. I suspect that this might have been raised by other studies into black history in Britain, so an inquiry to the national Archives might "cut the corner", as it were.

[Amrit1]

Cy Grant in A Member of the RAF of Indeterminate Race states that there were between 300 and 500 West Indian aircrew, out of about 5000 West Indians who joined the RAF.

Lest We Forget: The Experiences of World War II Westindian Ex-Service Personnel has a number of stories from a number of black aircrews and ground crews.

A specific memoir of a ground crew is Jamaica Airman by
E. Martin Noble, which is a good read

And an article of African's in the RAF called Achtung! The Black Prince can be found in Africans in Britain By David Killingray. Interestingly, google books allows access to the entire article on-line:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JPCKe-X7d3EC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145&dq=%22achtung!+the+black +prince%22&source=web&ots=PCNLhUkM9V&sig=XJZTNJko5 JL6-E67ZayzS0jYrK4&hl=en

And over the last couple of weeks I have been working on casualties listed on the CWGC with a West Indian connection. I have yet to establish which were black and which white, except a few Barbadians. You can find my list here:

http://ww2chat.com/forums/west-indies/

And a few famous names:

http://www.wewerethere.defencedynami.../ww2/wi_1.html

A

[Steve Brew]

I seem to recall that Brian Cull (I think that's who it was) was seeking this information a while back. Might be worth checking with him?

Steve

[Vraa84]

Hi

Ashley Jackson's "The British Empire and the Secon World War" has a picture of FS James Hyde from Trinidad. A black pilot who served with 132 sqn. The pictures is taken in dec. 1943.

regard
Nicolaj

[SMF144]

Al Bundy.

[rldunn]

Surely among the most distinguished of West Indian airmen in the RAF must have been Errol W. Barrow a navigator in Bomber Command who flew some 40+ missions and later was navigator of Shoto-Douglas personal a/c. He was the first Prime Minister of independent Barbados. I happened to be visiting Barbados when the Hon. E. Barrow died in the 1980's.

RLD

[Atcham Tower]

Miles Tripp's account of a Bomber Command tour, The Eighth Passenger, is available via abebooks. One of his crew was a West Indian. Tripp also wrote a novel based on his experiences includong the same character. Can't remember the title, though.

[Nick Beale]

Afro-Caribbean people are only about 2% of the UK population now (2001 census) and most of the Caribbean immigration came postwar. The wartime population must have been tiny, though I know there were people who made the crossing to join up (one man's story was in — IIRC — the book Forgotten Voices of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz).

RAF ORBs usually put a nationailty after non-British airmen's names and so far I've never seen anything suggesting Africa or the West Indies (or India for that matter) but there's a lot more ORBs out there, of course.

I remember that Martin Middlebrook's Convoy devoted some space to the ethnic diversity (as no one would have described it back then) of the Merchant Navy crews.

[rpeck350]

Did any Black's pilots make ace?