The Forgotten Generations

Lest We Forget Timeline

A decade-by-decade record of the RAF and its black veterans since 1918

This selective history summarises some major landmarks in RAF history since 1918, covering:

Relevant developments in British foreign policy in the transformation from empire to commonwealth.
The recruitment and treatment of Caribbean people (or those with a Caribbean heritage) into the RAF, weaving in details of the rich stories of local black RAF veterans of the West Midlands who feature in this exhibition.
The history of migration into the UK and the emergence of Black British identity.

The text was researched and written by Andrew Wrenn, Fellow of the Historical Association on behalf of The Forgotten Generations with funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund . It draws on the scholarship of David Olosuga, Audrey Dewjee, Peter Nevitt, Phil Vasili, Maureen M Dickson, Martin Lawrence, Mike Lepido, Barry Renfrew, Robert N Murray, Ben Bousquet, Colin Douglas, Mark Johnson, Tony Kushner, Stephen Bourne and Carl Chinn.

Sergeant William Robinson Clarke as he appeared in 1914. He was honourably discharged in 1919 and the RAF paid for his passage back to Jamaica.

1918 – 1929

The RAF and Black veterans from 1918 to 1929

The Royal Air Force was formed on 1st April 1918 in the last year of the First World War by merging the Royal Flying Corps (part of the British Army) and the Royal Naval Air Service (part of the Royal Navy).

Among those who served in the RAF in 1918 were Sergeant William Robinson Clarke from Kingston, Jamaica and Lt William Patterson, Britains first black pilot who was an officer despite the official ban on non-Europeans serving in that rank at the time.

1918 - 1939

The British Caribbean

Although Caribbeans (known as West Indians at the time) were brought up to be loyally British and had proved their ability to fight between 1914-1918 there was a racist ban on recruiting non-Europeans at all from 1923.

Although the above map of the Caribbean (known historically as the West Indies) dates from 1898, it shows the individual islands and territories which were British colonies in the 1920s and 1930s, originally acquired before slavery was outlawed in 1834. Each island or territory has its own unique identity, a complex mix of African, colonial European and indigenous cultural influences. Poverty and unemployment were very high among the two and half million inhabitants.

An RAF Bristol F2b Fighter built in 1918. CC BY-SA 2.0 (photographed in 2017 by Alan Wilson)

Public Domain

The College Hall at RAF Cranwell in 2011 by Charles Drake (CC BY-SA 3.0)

1920s

The British Empire

While the British Empire expanded as a result of the Versailles peace settlements of 1919 which ended the First World War, taking over former German colonies and Turkish territories, the British struggled to maintain their control over it. Air Power offered a cheap alternative to traditional military campaigns when post-war budgets were tight. The RAF established bases worldwide and self-governing dominions such as Canada set up their own air forces.

Poster for RAF Display, Hendon, 1925, published in Flight Magazine, 2 July 1925. (CC BY-SA 4.0)

1930s

The RAF

British people feared a dreadful new kind of warfare where planes would destroy European cities by dropping bombs and poisoned gas. In 1935 German dictator Adolf Hitler announced his creation of the Luftwaffe, a new German air force.

The British were shocked at its size and began to expand the RAF to meet the new threat. In 1937 radar was introduced which could detect incoming aircraft. Shortly afterwards the famous Hurricane and Spitfire fighters entered service but on the eve of war in 1939 the RAF was about half the size of the Luftwaffe.

To boost numbers it could have recruited from Britain’s Caribbean colonies but the racist colour bar of 1923 remained in place. Yet young Caribbeans of the time were eager to escape their impoverished and discontented islands and territories.

Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister stands on the far left of the photograph with Adolf Hitler in the centre at the Munich Peace Conference 1938. CC BY-SA 3.0 de

A new Spitfire being flown by a pilot of No.19 Squadron in 1938 (Public Domain)

A map of Europe showing territories invaded by German, Italian and Soviet forces between September 1939 and May 1941 (the Soviet Union signed a pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939 to divide much of Eastern Europe between them). Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

This British propaganda poster designed for a British audience gives the impression of imperial unity and solidarity behind the Mother Country in defence of freedom. But closer observers would have noted that soldiers of colour from India and West Africa are in the rear (a Caribbean soldier, sailor or airman is not depicted). IWM (Art.IWM PST 8457) (Fair use)

1940s

The RAF and Caribbean Recruitment

Manpower shortages drove the gradual lifting of the pre-war colour bar in 1939 and 1940 but serious RAF recruitment in the Caribbean only began in November 1940 after Britain narrowly won the Battle of Britain, just avoiding a German invasion.

Around 6,000 Caribbeans were recruited, the majority serving as ground crew with around 400 as air crew.

Caribbean Recruitment to the RAF

1940s

The motives for young Caribbean people volunteering were mixed; patriotic duty to Britain as the Mother Country, a sense of adventure, an awareness of the threat fascism posed, a wish to exchange the poverty and unemployment of Britain’s Caribbean colonies for a secure wage and better economic prospects and a desire to travel beyond the confines of their own islands or territories.

A blue plaque commemorating Cy Grant (CC BY-SA 2.0)

A few Caribbean volunteers such as Cy Grant from British Guiana flew in multi-national bomber crews where 44% of men did not survive the war. Such men were rarely promoted to the position of pilot as it was unfairly assumed that white crew members would not accept their leadership. It was more typical for recruits to undertake basic training at Filey in Yorkshire and serve as ground crew.

Training at RAF Hunbanby Moor, Filey, Yorkshire (IWM D 21136).

In the above image, air gunners Sergeant J.C. Dickinson RCAF and Sergeant Leslie Gilkes, 9 Squadron, 1943 (Courtesy of Audrey Dewjee). Sergeant Dickinson survived the war, but Sergeant Gilkes was shot down and killed on 3rd August 1943.

The Trinidadian has no known grave. This photograph is evidence of the friendships that could be forged between air crew of different backgrounds.

Nineteen year old Jamaican Billy Strachan arrived in Britain to volunteer for the RAF. He had enthusiastically sold all his few possessions to buy a passage to Britain on a banana boat. Unusually, he rose to be an officer and served as a wireless operator/air gunner on Wellington bombers, surviving thirty operations. The RAF also used Strachan to investigate reported racial discrimination within the air force as the war progressed. He claimed he never experienced racism.

Lilian Bader, a black Briton from Liverpool with a Barbadian father and mother of Irish descent succeeded in joining the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force), becoming one of the first black women to be recruited to the British Armed Forces. She described herself as ‘the only coloured person in this sea of white faces’.

Lilian Bader

RAF AND BRITAIN IN THE 1940s

Young Trinidadian Ulric Cross joined RAF Bomber Command as a navigator and officer. He completed 80 bombing operations and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

He left the RAF in 1947 as a Squadron Leader and went on to become a judge and diplomat in an independent Trinidad and Tobago. It was unusual for black Caribbean aircrew to be accepted as pilot, partly because it was believed that white crew members might not accept their judgements.

Cross attributed his appointment to his friendship with a famous Caribbean cricketer who was popular in Britain.

The Standard of RAF Jamaica Squadron 139. Winston Churchill officially designated RAF Squadron 139 as Jamaica Squadron in June 1941.

This was in tribute to the donations from Jamaica towards the cost of 12 Bristol Blenheim bombers made from across the population of the island spearheaded in a campaign by The Daily Gleaner, the local newspaper.

£20,000 was raised in the first ten days of the press campaign alone. Impressive monetary and other donations were made to the British war effort from other Caribbean colonies too.

West African veteran John Henry Smythe 1943 pictured far right.

Sergeant Lincoln Orville Lynch DFM, a West Indian air gunner serving with No. 102 Squadron, photographed wearing his flying kit by the rear turret of his Halifax at RAF Pocklington, February 1944.

In August 1944 he was promoted to Flight Sergeant, a rare promotion for a gunner. In September 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

The citation noted his “high standard of determination and devotion to duty”, exemplary conduct and declared him “a worthy member of a fine crew” who had “defended his aircraft with great skill on several occasions against enemy fighters”.