This is a brief guide to help you with your research. Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) records are kept in different places depending on when the officera senior member of staff in the armed forces served. This guide will help you to find out if the information you are looking for exists and, if it does, where to find it.
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What do I need to know before I start?
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Try to find out:
- the officera senior member of staff in the armed forces's full name
- his approximate dates of service
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What records can I see online?
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RAF service records (1918-1920)
Search the Royal Air Force Officers' Service Records (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.) on DocumentsOnlinea collection of documents from The National Archives which are available entirely online for RNAS officers who served after April 1918 (AIR 76).
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Medal rolls (1793-1972)
Search by name for information about the award of campaign, long service and good conduct medals in the Royal Navy medal rolls (ADM 171) using Ancestry.co.uk (£There may be a charge for accessing this information. Searching indexes may be free.). These rolls do not usually contain biographical information. Digital microfilm copies of these medal rolls are also available to download and browse from DocumentsOnline free of charge.
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What records can I find at The National Archives at Kew?
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RNAS officers' registers of service (1906-1918)
Search these registers of service in ADM 273 by the name of the officera senior member of staff in the armed forces.
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To access these records you will either need to visit us, commission research (£there will be a charge) or, where you can identify a specific record referencea unique set of letters and numbers identifying a document in The National Archives, order a copy (£there will be a charge).
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What records can I find in other archives and organisations?
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RAF service records after 1920
Use the Veterans UK website to obtain information about accessing RAF service records after 1920, which are kept by the Ministry of Defence.
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What other resources will help me find information?
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Websites
Search the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website for details of men and women who died in the First and Second World Wars.
Look up an announcement of a 20th century gallantry awardmedals awarded for heroic or exceptional service on the London Gazette website.
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Books
Consult the Navy List for an RNAS officera senior member of staff in the armed forces's service up to the end of March 1918. Search the Air Force List for his service after April 1918.
Read Air Force Records: A guide for family historians, 2nd edition, by William Spencer (The National Archives, 2008).
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In-depth research guides
Royal Flying Corps officers
Royal Air Force officers
Royal Naval Air Service ratings