Genealogy Chat

Hi, I hope someone can help me!
My father, Leonard Boland, was a civilian aircraft engineer working on airfield(s), checking/repairing the planes when they came back from missions during WWII. I wasn't told anything else, and would like to find records about his work - but where would I start my search? Not in the RAF so no idea where to start. If anyone has any idea I would be most grateful. :-P

Have you tried googling the airfield/s he might have worked at to see ( if still in use) whether they have archives? or local history goups, local libraries that might have info ?

Following the outbreak of World War II, on 11 September 1939 the No.1 Civilian Repair Unit (CRU) was established at the Cowley works of Morris Motors, to be staffed by civilians under the management of the Air Ministry. On 6 October 1939, Sir Kingsley Wood (Secretary of State for Air) officially appointed William Morris (Lord Nuffield) as Director General (Maintenance), to organise and manage the Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO), to control the CRU and participating civilian firms. Nuffield, as the head of Morris Motors, had been in charge of the shadow factory for aircraft production at Castle Bromwich. CRO administration was established at Magdalen College, Oxford. On 14 May 1940, supervision of the CRO was transferred from the Air Ministry to the Ministry of Aircraft Production, under Lord Beaverbrook. The No.1 CRU was supplemented by the No.1 Metal and Produce Recovery Depot (MPRD), established adjacent to the existing Cowley works. At Cowley, a support unit was established in the form of No.50 Maintenance Unit (MU), to transport damaged aircraft and parts to the CRU and to firms participating in the CRO, and also to collect non-repairable parts and scrap for materials reclamation at MPRD. Individual Maintenance Units came under the control of No.43 Group, RAF Maintenance Command.[1][2]


Civilian workers carrying out salvage and repair work on a wing of a Fairey Swordfish aircraft
The civilian firms under individual contracts from the CRO were mostly existing companies engaged in the production, maintenance, repair and operation of aircraft in the UK. Those were supplemented by additional companies in the engineering and woodworking industrial sectors. Repairs to whole aircraft or parts of aircraft were often carried out in dispersed industrial factories, then transported to airfields for re-assembly and test flying, before re-delivery to RAF units.[1] For cases of minor repairs that could be achieved quickly, aircraft could be flown to a CRO firm based at an airfield, repaired, and flown out the following day by the same pilot; these were known as "Fly In" repairs.[3][4]

He may have already been in an engineering job or working in that general area.?

They also had civilians plumbers,cooks,laundry people etc working at bases.

It doesn't appear he was in an engineering job?

In 1939 there is a Leonard Boland born 1908 working as a cycle & motor mechanic in Birmingham- which would fit, but the Leonard in Penelope's tree is this one:

1939:

Boland Household (4 People) 38 Station Road , Rochester M.B., Kent, England

Leonard Boland 02 Dec 1916 Male Clother & Outfitter (Own Account) - Auxiliary Fire Service Single
Florence H Boland 07 Feb 1891 Female Unpaid Domestic Duties Widowed
John D Beaney 01 Nov 1859 Male Cement Labourer (Retd) Widowed
Marion Boland (Jones) 05 Mar 1914 Female Tarined Nurse (Travelling) Single
-----------------------

1938 Kelly's directory
Boland Leonard, clothing club agt. 38 Station rd. Strood

If he lived in Rochester he could have been employed by Short Brothers. They were involved in the CRU described in Kay's post.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilian_Repair_Organisation

William Young 25 Mar 1908 Aircraft Assembler Welder .


an example from 1939.he was a civilian.

During WW2 my Dad worked as an aero engineer in Bristol and was billeted down to Wiltshire, where he met my Irish Mum who was billed to the same factory.. She worked on 'inspection'.
Her siblings thought she was a working as a 'land girl"!

The factory was commissioned to work on Spitfires - new and damaged ones for repair.