WW2 RAF Bournemouth cachet

[John Cranmer]

Attached is a scan of the cachet on the reverse of a letter to Canada dated the 6th of August 1943.  This was sent by a Canadian attached to 311 the Czech bomber squadron.  The date stamp is from FPO 539

The top line of the cachet is not complete.  I can read what appears to be [b]C WING O[/b] but I am curious as to the rest of the letters I assume that the O is followed by FFICE.  Can anyone help

John

[Michael Dobbs]

John

I cvannot answer your particular query but I have attached my write up on the Canadians at RAF Bournemouth which I hope will prove useful.  I hope to return to the National Archives sometime in October and if I do I will try and remember to look up the Operational Record Book to see if there is a reference to C Wing.

Mike  :)

[John Cranmer]

Mike

Thanks for that info and copy I will look at it tonight.  Was that taken for a published work ? if so what was it please ?

Re C Wing - It did cross my mind that it may have referred to a wing of a building or an outbuilding.  Perhaps unlikely but just a thought.

It is a shame that the National Archives had not got round to digitising the AIR29/479 before Covid struck otherwise we could have downloaded it for free at the moment. - I wonder how long the free downloads will last.

John

[Michael Dobbs]

John

Not really, its my way of collating and writing up information - I always do it for all the researches I am currently involved in, as though I hope to publish  it someday!  Its the only way I can ensure I know where information I have is held!

However, this particular article was one of three I had published in "A Canadian Military Postal History Anthology" published by the Canadian Military Mail Study Group (part of the British North America Philatelic Society) to commemorate their 100th CMMSG Newsletter; published 1991.

Mike

[Chris Grimshaw]

Hello John

Just a thought but looking at the layout of the cachet 'Office' seems a little short to complete up to the dividing stars, from apart that I'm stumped.

Chris

[Neil Williams]

Dear all

'C Wing' will be one of a number of 'administrative groupings' within the structure of the PRC, as all transit personnel would be assigned to a 'Wing' on arrival for discipline, rations, accommodation etc. Whether 'C' was just a letter (as in A-Z) or stood for anything (eg Canadian) perhaps has to wait for Mike's researches.

As for the indistinct part of the cachet - if it starts 'O' I would suggest it's more likely 'Officer Cmndg' (or some such) as 'Office' would be more likely be the last word. I also think it might start with 'C' rather than 'O' ......

Neil

[John Cranmer]

Thanks all for the input (so far !!) and Mike for the explanation about the "Wing" as an admin unit.

Looking at the cover I do not think that there is any way to tell for sure if the first letter is a O or a C.  I still think it is an O but I could easily be wrong.  It will probably have to wait until someone can provide a better example of the cachet. 

John