PERSONAL PROFILES
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To navigate the Personnel section, all veterans are grouped alphabeticaly by the first letter of their last name. Click on the links listed above to take you to the correct alphabetical group. Using the scroll bar on the left, scroll down through the list of names contained within this left border then click on the one you wish to see. Alternatively, you can use the scroll bar on the right and scroll down through all the personnel listed on this page.
Corp William John Bliss Adams
Corp William John Bliss Adams, 27480 RAF, 49th Balloon Section, 113 Squadron. Born: 6 March, 1886 Died: 1 February, 1956
Enlisted: May 1st, 1916 (01/05/1916)
Shipped Overseas: Egypt on 18 July 1917 (18/07/1917)
Demobbed: 13 October 1919
Driver, Petrol: 01/05/1916 to 31/12/1918
Corporal in Charge of Transport: 25/08/1917 to 31/12/1918
Demobbed as Corporal Mechanic.
Born at his father's cow yard in Little Lant Street, Southwark, London, known as Will, he was the tenth of his parents thirteen children. The family then moved to Fawnbrake Avenue, Herne Hill, London when Will was eight years old. He became a brokers assistant and then chauffeur, driving a Gladiator car, and married Lena Bach (Anna Marie Madeleine Bach) 4 June 1910, at Corpus Christi in the Strand, London. The family moved to Chestnut Road, Merton where they lived until buying the house his widowed mother owned in Bockhampton Road, Kingston upon Thames in 1921. During this time he also had the use of his employers mews house in just off Hyde Park.
 He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as a driver in May 1916 and was sent to Egypt with the 49th Balloon Section of 113 Squadron where he was promoted to Corporal in Charge of Transport. (The photo on the right is noted Syrass,Jan 15 1918. Will is second from left leaning nonchalantly on the fender. Steve Adams, Will's grandson believes the truck is a Lancia and that Syrass may be pronunciation error.) The squadron followed the artillery as it moved into Palestine to liberate the country from Turkish occupation. On 21/09/1918, RAF aircraft in Palestine attack and destroy the retreating Turkish Seventh Army at Wadi el Fara.
Corp. Adams center behind Officers with sticks. Steve believes this is likely a training camp on Sailsbury Plain which would mean it was taken in 1916. Aside from Corporal Adams, at least some of these in the picture would have ended up on the 113 Squadron.
Little is known about this period and according to Squadron Historian F/O Pat Woodward the Orb's only cover the 27th and 28th October 1917 during active service at Julis where `ops' over Beersheba and Gaza are detailed.
Will in an even more nonchalant pose! This appears to be in
a barracks somewhere. Note the cot, naping with uniform on
and the Stetson hat behind him is same as the fellow in the
Lancia picture is wearing.
Will was demobbed as a Corporal Mechanic in October 1919 and scarcely four months later on 1st February 1920 (01/02/1920) his squadron was disbanded and reformed as 208. Will has the proud and unique distinction of being one of the "very first members" of the 113 squadron when it came into existence on 17 August 1917 and also one of the last. (Rather ironically he is once again the very first in the squadron as the name Adams puts him alphabetically as the very first person on the first page in the list of personnel. A fitting tribute !! )
Under the scheme where ex-servicemen were found jobs he gained employment with John F. Renshaw & Co. as a driver in November 1919. Later he became foreman in charge of almond supply, an important position in a firm whose mainstay was production of marzipan! He and Lena had three sons, Albert William (Bill) in 1911, Matthew Conrad (Con) in 1914 and Leslie Sidney in 1927. He retired in April 1950.
Family group with (clockwise from top left)
Will, Bill, Con, Les and Lena.
October 1933.
Always a keen gardener he largely designed and built a garden and maintained two allotments behind their house in Bockhampton Road, Kingston upon Thames, a property he bought from his mother in 1921. She had had numbers 33 and 35 built in 1899 and the family owned number 33 until after Les' death in 1984.
SOURCE: Research and pictures are copyright of, and very kindly provided by Will's grandson, Steve Adams. Steve also has a family website (from which much of this was obtained) at http://steveadams.clickhere2.net/family/wjba.htm
Contact: Steve Adams <XXXS.L.Adams@qmul.ac.uk>
F/O Donald Stanley Anderson 
F/O Donald Stanley Anderson, 40458, Pilot, Age 28, Son of Stanley Farmer Anderson and Grace Anderson, of Lindfield, New South Wales, Australia. Coll. grave 23. B. 9-10. HALFAYA SOLLUM WAR CEMETERY
26/11/1940 T2067 Mk IV, FTR, shot down on sortie from Ma'aten Bagush, Sgt. George Lee Obo, Sgt Earnest Young WOp/Ag also KIA.
Recorded in S/Ldr Keily log June 1939, P/O at the time
(This is a DOUBLE NUMBER in the Crews and Losses SEE T2067-A 26/11/1941)
Sgt George Edmond Anderson 
Sgt George Edmond Anderson, No624878 Sgt RAF, Australia. Singapore memorial Col.425
On the 25/05/1943 Blenheim BA494 Mk V FTR from a raid on Buthidaung in bad weather. F/Sgt Alan Lancaster - pilot , W/O Arthur George Nourse - Obo, Sgt George Anderson - WOp/Ag killed in action.
Lt Gus Alder
Lt Gus Alder SAAF, Pilot. 42/43 era (45 Squadron ?) Posted in from 45 Sqd 24/10/1942
Known to have been on the 10/11/1942 shipping strike on Akyab. Crew on this op was F/O Corbett and Sgt Brooks RAAF.
SOURCE: W/O Jack Barnes
Note also F/Lt Tony Day records F/O Corbett to have posted in from 45 Sqd on 27/10/1942 and back out on 22/11/1942
(CLICK ON NAME FOR PERSONAL PAGE)
W/O Bernard (Dick) Douglas Allen, 157641 RFC, RAF. Fitter-Airframes. Born Reading Berks 27/02/1901. Service from 1917 to 1945. Served throughout both world wars in England, the Middle East and Far East. W/O Allen has the great distinction of being one of the few original members of the squadron when it was reformed at Grantham prior to WW2.
RFC and RAF Service record – Bernard Douglas Allen
1901 - Born in Reading Berks. 27 February
1917 - Applied to join the Royal Flying Corps on his 16thbirthday.
 Reported to Cranwell Air Station, Bedfordshire 14 December 1917.
 1918 - Was transferred to the RAF on it’s formation on 1 April , with service number 157641
 Trade – Aero Rigger.
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