MARFLEET Family History - Military Airgraphs - a means of communication

MARFLEET
Family History

This article first appeared in the MARFLEET Society Newsletter, Vol.2. No.10. pp.85-88.

A s the theatres of service during the second war reached further and further from our home shores, the British Post Office was confronted with the formidable task of maintaining the lines of communication between the serving Forces and their loved ones at home at the lowest possible cost. The valiant men and women in general service were allowed to send letter upto a weight of two ounces, by surface mail free of charge.

Airgraph No.1. 31st August, 1942.
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W hen Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France in June, 1940, the situation was further aggravated by his closing the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean to Allied seaborne traffic. The consequence of this was that mail to and from British soldiers serving in the Middle and Far East had to travel home by way of the Cape of Good Hope - a detour of 12,000 miles. This meant that a letter from Cairo or Bombay could be in transit for anything from three to six months.

I n an effort to overcome this delay, the possibility of using air transport was considered but, during these early years of the war, few transport aircraft were available and those that were had little space available for carrying mail.

T o find a solution to this problem, a study was made into the feasibility of using micro-photography. The result was the Post Office innovation, the Airgraph Service, which was inaugurated in August, 1941, by Her Majesty the Queen (now Her Majesty the Queen Mother) who sent the first airgraph letter to Egypt addressed to the Commander-in-Chief, General Auchinleck.

O ne feature of the service was that all airgraph letters arrived at their destination. Because each message was numbered and photographed, it was possible for any mail lost in transit to be quickly reproduced from the original. An example of how quickly this could be accomplished can be seen from the case of the flying boat 'CLARE' which was lost in September, 1941, whilst carrying mails from India, East Africa and South Africa. As soon as the loss had been confirmed the countries of origin were speedily contacted by telegraph and duplicates of the lost films were received in London on the 15th October, then processed and delivered to the addressees within three days.

Airgraph No.2. 14th October, 1942.
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T he figure of ten million airgraphs despatched from the United Kingdom to the Middle East was reached at the end of May, 1942. The total weight of film involved was less than one ton (1016 kg.). The equivilent weight of air mail letters would of been in excess of one hundred tons. By October 1st, 1942, when about one million airgraphs were being sent in each direction, in and out of the country, each week, the total number of airgraphs handled reached forty-five millions. By the time the service was discontinued in July, 1945, 330,000,000 messages had been handled.

A irgraph forms were available from local post offices upon request. With the form was given a verbal warning that it must not be folded or creased in any way and that the writing should be clear and distinct. The message, anything upto 230 words, was then written on the form and either handed back over the counter or, as was the case in some rural areas where people were concerned with the aspect of privacy, it could be forwarded direct to the London office which was situated in King Edward Building (subsequently KEB), near St. Paul's Cathedral. On arrival at KEB the forms were individually hand-stamped with consecutive numbers by Post Office women workers who worked at an amazing speed. (In 1944 it was stated that 'no machine can match the combination of a swift right arm and a deft feminine left hand thumb and finger.') The forms were then sorted by men and women of the Army Postal Service for the various arms of the Services and the theatres of war.

Airgraph No.3. 8th November, 1942.
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H aving been so segregated the forms were then photographed in miniature by a girl sitting at what looked like a flat-topped metal desk. In the top of the desk was a slit, just wide enough to accept a single form. As each form was inserted into the slit, it automatically operated a light switch and was illuminated for a fraction of a second, long enough to be photographed by a 16 mm camera situated below the desk. The resulting film, 100 feet long and 16 millimetres wide, contained a continuous succession of 1,700 airgraph photographs and, with the metal container into which it was coiled, weighed 5ﵮces (154g.). These messages, if sent by ordinary letter post would have weighed 50lbs (22.5kg.). The film of reduced airgraphs was taken by plane to its destination where the process was reversed and the film projected onto a strip of moving sensitized paper resulting in a series of positive prints approximately one quarter the size of the original. The strip was then cut and each airgraph print inserted into an envelope by hand or machine ready for delivery to the addressee.

T owards the end of the time during which the service operated it was possible to include photographs on the original.

H aving looked at the history and the method of transmission of the Military Airgraph, consideration can now be given as to their usefulness, or otherwise, the the family historian.

Airgraph No.4. 21st February, 1943.
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T he first item of interest is the sender's name and address. On airgraphs from abroad this will reveal not only the name but also the service number and unit. From the address also we can find out where the unit was stationed. From the airgraphs reproduced here it is possible to determine that Albert Edward SIMS had the service number 2357762 and that in 1942 he was serving with the U.H.Q., 9th Army Signals, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and in 1943 he was in the 111 Wireless Telegraphy Section. For these two years Albert served with the rank of Signalman. By 1945, however, we find that he had been promoted to Lance corporal and was serving with the 528 Med. Wireless Telegraphy Section. It is known that Albert served initially in Cairo and later in Beirut.

Airgraph No.5. 6th February, 1945.
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W hen the destination address is considered this reveals that at the end of 1942 and at the beginning of 1943 the family were, mostly, at Woodford Bridge. The address at the beginning of 1943 is c/o Mrs. HURT of Bakewell, Derbyshire. It was to this address that the family were evacuated during the worst of the Blitz. In fact, the children, John and Beryl, spent some two years in Bakewell. The links of friendship that were forged during this time, formed a chain the strength of which has developed further over the years. (As this article [the original - October, 1981.] is being prepared, Rose has just returned from a week long holiday with Mrs. HURT's daughter.)

T he contents of the airgraphs recall some of the happy and tragic events of those fateful years.

AIRGRAPHS REPRODUCED BY KIND PERMISSION OF MRS. R.M. MARFLEET.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Post Haste by Ivor Halstead. Published by Lindsay Drummonds, 1944.
Post Office Went to War by Ian Hay. Published by H.M.S.O., 1946.
The editor gratefully acknowledges the assistance given by the Army and the Keeper of Printed Records at the Imperial War Museum.

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© Marfleet Family History 2000
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