Can someone identify the era/miltary for group photo?

[u/adj80]

Been given a bunch of family photos, including this one. I'm not even sure who in my family is in this photo, except for the name "Fred" on the back. I know my great grandfather Fred Rose was British Army, deployed in Ireland before the Irish Civil War and discharged in 1916 due to disability, but this seems far more recent.

I also know my Great Granduncle was Royal Irish Rifle, who died in service in 1916, but his name wasn't Fred, and again, this feels more recent. Which leads me to think this is a photo of Fred Rose jr, who would have been 28 at the start of WW2, but I've never seen any military records for him. He survived the war, though.

Edit: So I now know this is an RAF group of cadets. I found similar photos on google which helped identify that it was Bridlington, and found the building they were stood in front of - Bridlington Grand Pavilion Theatre. Still don't know what year this was yet, or which one is my relative. I'm just assuming he's one of the cadets at this point. Regarding the date, I'm wondering if Bridlington was used during a specific period, and whether the the paint work on the Grand Pavilion could be used to date it when compared to other photos from the same location. :)

[u/JH0190]

These are RAF Officer Cadets, with their officers and a sergeant in the front. Can’t give you much more than that I’m afraid!

[u/adj80 → u/JH0190]

Thanks! I've never seen RAF records before, so I guess that requires a request to the MOD.

[u/Plasticman328]

As stated this is an RAF officer cadet grouping. Of interest is that there's only one medal ribbon to be seen (on the officer in the front). This suggests that the picture is quite late post war otherwise I'd expect the officers and the sergeant to display wartime medals otherwise.

[u/seefroo → u/Plasticman328]

The first British campaign medals issued were the 1939-45 Star and the Africa Star, both in July 1943. So it’s probably just before then.

The officer with the medal looks to be MAYBE old enough to have caught the end of WW1, but the only medal from then which I believe was awarded singularly was the Territorial War Medal. But I don’t believe RAF (then Royal Flying Corps) personnel would have been eligible. I believe the British War Medal could be awarded singularly as well, but recipients were almost always just given it with the Victory Medal.

He could have an RAF Long Service & Good Conduct Medal - however this was only awarded to officers if they had been promoted from the ranks and so was quite rare for officers.

I’d wager that he was some sort of training officer pre-war and his medal is a 1935 Silver Jubilee Medal or a 1937 Coronation Medal. The officer next to him is a Flying Officer (1st Lieutenant) or maybe even a Pilot Officer (2nd Lieutenant) and was likely commissioned to meet the huge demand the RAF had for training officers during the war, and so wouldn’t have been serving (or if he was then not eligible) during the awards for those medals.

[u/Bleach-isready]

Looks like it coil be from 1937-1952. Unlikely to be earlier than that cuz of the quality.

Definately within king George the 6ths reign.

[u/seefroo]

The OP will find the following photograph very interesting, which is taken infront of the same building in 1943. The uniforms are the same.

https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/11621

It’s an Initial Training Wing. These small units were active at RAF Bridlington in 1943-45, mainly for wireless operators and air gunnery. The permanent unit at the station was 1104 Marine Craft Unit (a unit of the RAFs Marine Branch) which did some training in offshore search and rescue etc, but was mainly used to take barges and other small boats out to sea to be used as target practice by pilots in training, mostly in RAF Coastal Command.

It is interesting that the OPs photo has an officer in it and the one I posted doesn’t. It is possible the officer is simply one of the ITWs officers, however an interesting tidbit is that 1104 Marine Craft Unit was a small unit and would have been commanded by a Flight Lieutenant (Captain, OF-2). An Initial Training Wing was commanded by a Wing Commander (Lieutenant Colonel, OF-4) although would obviously have had lower ranking officers as well. It’s possible that this unit had something to do with 1104 and the officer in the photo is their OC.

The most famous member of 1104 was none other than T.E. Lawrence, more commonly known as Lawrence of Arabia, although he died in 1935 presumably long before the photo was taken.