Cover of the Day - 1 June 2020 - RAF Air Sea Rescue Adriatic

[Peter Harvey]

Welcome to the 1st cover of the day for June 2020. We are monitoring the forum to see how popular this 'theme' remains, I hope you can join the effort and post an item to query, display, share or boast about?

Here is my cover of the day with a question about British FPO's 217 and 520 in 1944. KGVI 3d registered letter, with additional 1s 9d air mail rate, registered through FPO 217, recorded this date at 20 line of control PU at Foggia in Italy. Although the registration label is FPO 217, the cover is cancelled FPO 520 - 15 NO 44 - also at Foggia (so I assume received at one office and then cancelled in sorting at the other). Also has a small part APO U-MPK South African date stamp, but that is unclear.

Shows the standard tombstone RN censor signed N.G. Kelly and to reverse the senders address 1365289 Cpl Spark G.W. RAF

Cpl Spark was discharged from the RAF in 1945 with his parent unit showing as 253 Air Sea Rescue. At the time the cover was posted 253 ASR were operational in the Adriatic covering RAF operations out of Italy and into the Balkans.

I am not sure if 217 or 520 may have been operational elsewhere in Italy (Proud is my reference), why a 217 label and 520 datestamp? I also assume that this had the Naval Censor attached as the sender was operational with a motor launch crew on the Italian east coast, any thoughts on which base this would have operated from?

Regards Peter

[Michael Dobbs]

It would appear that Proud got his information from an unattributed and undated typewritten listing headed "LEGEND - FIELD POST OFFICES" on foolscap paper.  I have a (not very good) foolscap photocopy of this listing with plenty of unreadable manuscript notes which look like the abbreviated form that Crouch & Hill used.

I also have a second copy reduced and photocopied onto A4 size paper where various manuscript amendments are more readable, but obviously smaller in size as it has been reduced to fit onto A4 paper!  It also includes a page which I did not get in the above listing (BAPOs and RAF POs).

I also have an unattributed and undated carbon copy typewritten list headed "F.P.O. Locations WW2" which appears to be a similar but simplified listing, as it only lists dates of issue and not dates of return and does not contain other notes as in the first listing.

This is what they show for FPO 217 and 520 (I have omitted full stops after each abbreviated letter) (I have attached a Word document which shows the alignment under the different columns better):

[b]FPO 217[/b]:
Date issued Date returned Formation  Unit  Location
3 May 40                 52 Division PU UK
      ?               HPC RE
1 July 40               10 Corps MEF 2 June 41 - 1 Oct 43 MEF)
          1 Oct 43 - 9 June 45 CMF)
5 Oct 43                 in use outside ME Command
14 Apr 44         FPO S.575 (20 L of C BNAF/CMF)
28 June 46         20 L of C CMF
      19 Apr 47         HPC RE

[b]FPO 520[/b]
Date issued Date returned Formation  Unit  Location
24 Oct 41       10 L of C PU
      19 Apr 43       HPC RE
7 May 43               1st Airborne Div UK (26 May 43 - 16 Oct 43  B...
              (remaining letters not captured in the photocopy)
14 Apr 44       6 BAPO
6 Aug 44               S.575 20 L of C CMF
      1 Apr 46       HPC RE

The third listing (i.e. the carbon copy) only shows those entries under "Date issued" and under FPO 520 it has listed "5.8.44" for date issued to "S.575 20 LofC" and not "6 Aug 44".

I am not sure where these lists originated from or when they were created or by whom - I have assumed that someone at some stage had access to some official records or datestamp returns? .  I'm sure I got the first listing from the late Alan Brown and I think I came across the carbon copy in the mass of paper from Alistair Kennedy's flat.

I keep thinking that, certainly the first listing, needs to be re-typed "as is" to preserve the information - but that it a very big job - but it will enable me to get rid of a large chunk of paper!

I have attached a scan of the reduced A4 photocopy of the page showing FPO 217 (you will see that it has wide borders and so had to be reduced considerably to get onto an A4 sheet) - does anyone have any further background information on these lists or suggest what we do about them to preserve the "original" information?

Mike  :)