agripper Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I know that prior to the war and upto the 50's that there was a meaning for the first few digits and of a RAF service number. What I want to know and have been unable to find out s is there any meaning to the letters used in the service numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Signals Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 I take it you are meaning the first letter of, for example, 'M 41' ? If so hopefully this will help you. The above being M= Maintenance Command, 41 Group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agripper Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 It the personel service number of each Airmen. For example. mine was L8226738 and my mates was S8226741. wanted to know what the letter was ment for or if just random. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Gotcha yes there is a meaning to the number but not the letter. I joined in 64 as a craft apprentice; we continued the old Boy Entrants numbers which were 19*****. Halton were attested 48 hours before us at Locking the first number issued to the Entry there was 1960000 when the letters were issued some time later 1960000 would have got A 1960001 would have got B etc etc. Some letters were not used. I was the alphabetically the first in the block of numbers allocated to Locking when the numbers were introduced I was A . Looking at your number and your mate's he should have been P as O was not used. I will ask my daughter in law if she knows she was at PMA for several years. At the time the letter was added we were told it was to make our service numbers compatible with a computor system being introduced at Records later known as PMA TED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Signals Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 It the personel service number of each Airmen. For example. mine was L8226738 and my mates was S8226741. wanted to know what the letter was ment for or if just random. Ah, right, confused by it being put in 'MV Chatter'. Makes a bit more sense now. Not a lot mind you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
79x100 Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 It sounds as if the letter is simply a computer check letter intended to pick up on simple input errors. The chance of a number entered wrongly having the same check letter is not very high so the input would be rejected rather than being entered on somebody else's records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unionjack Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 WAAF/WRAF numbers were preceded by a "W" to denote a woman's number. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 It sounds as if the letter is simply a computer check letter intended to pick up on simple input errors. The chance of a number entered wrongly having the same check letter is not very high so the input would be rejected rather than being entered on somebody else's records. When I joined in 1964 it was purely numeric, as the first computer based system came at PMC which was late 65 or early 66, we each got a letter mine was A the lad with the next number to mine was B and so on. TED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 WAAF/WRAF numbers were preceded by a "W" to denote a woman's number. Not correct --Females had there own blocks of numbers and in late 65 or early 66 they too were allocated a prefix letter alphabetically in service number order at the same time as the men's numbers were amended. The project was also to do with a joint service ID card which on the reverse had a joint service air trooping card- needless to say that project failed !! TED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyH Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Ay, the letter was added as a computer check, when they came out in mid sixties. An explanation was given with long complicated formula of multiplying adding and subtracting bits of the service number to come up with an answer that correspondes to a letter. I cannot remember the exact sums, but it did work as dozens of NAFFI beer mats were scribbled on. BillyH.. C o C W C S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unionjack Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Sorry, not entirely sure what you mean. Do you mean the letters weren't added until the sixties? I can assure you that wartime ATS/WAAF/WRNS service numbers were prefixed with a letter W, That's a fact. And I have many items of uniform with the owners number marked in to back it up. I only added WRAF as I felt sure my Mother in law said her number had a W infront in the sixties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) Sorry, not entirely sure what you mean. Do you mean the letters weren't added until the sixties? I can assure you that wartime ATS/WAAF/WRNS service numbers were prefixed with a letter W, That's a fact. And I have many items of uniform with the owners number marked in to back it up. I only added WRAF as I felt sure my Mother in law said her number had a W infront in the sixties. I am talking 1965/6 All RAF and WRAF had a prefix letter added- previously RAF/WRAF numbers had been purely numeric; Turning to WW2 -looking on a CWGC site giving lists of female deaths WAAF did not have a prefix letter but ATS did. TED Edited January 23, 2012 by ted angus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ted angus Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) RFC and RAF SERVICE NUMBERS This will help answer the original question rfc_raf numbers.pdf Edited January 23, 2012 by ted angus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillyH Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 In the mid sixties a letter was added to RAF service numbers as an entry check..All numbers were 7 digits long. Now. Multiply the first digit by 8 second by 17 third by 4 forth by 16 fifth by 2 sixth by 13 seventh by 5 Add em all up answer A Divide A by 23 Get rid of all the decimal places and multiply by 23. this is answer B l Subtract B from A Answer C is a letter of the alphabet, exclude Oscar and India. Zero =A, 1=B etc. Hope this helps. BillyH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unionjack Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 I am talking 1965/6 All RAF and WRAF had a prefix letter added- previously RAF/WRAF numbers had been purely numeric; Turning to WW2 -looking on a CWGC site giving lists of female deaths WAAF did not have a prefix letter but ATS did. TED I've not noticed that about the CWGC. I can however re-iterate that surviving WAAF numbered Items from WW2 do have a W prefix. I've seen caps, tunics, & paybooks all done so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawn Higgins Posted September 24, 2019 Share Posted September 24, 2019 Can anyone tell me when the seven number service number replaced the six numbers. Thank you. Trying to find out when my late father joined the R.A.F. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Dalkin Posted February 25, 2021 Share Posted February 25, 2021 Dawn, The first 7 numbers started in Sep 39. I have a PDF document with all RAF numbers until 4099999 issued in Aug 51. kevdalkin@hotmail.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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