Information about relative's contributions during WW2

[Disdam]

I'm hoping to find out more Information about a relative's life during WW2 and don't really know where to start.
I have full name and year of birth and place of birth. I know he was a RAF pilot and if the rumors in the family are true, he was recruited under unusual circumstances which is what I am trying to confirm. I am not sure if there would be any mention of this in military records.
Related to this, is a story regarding the rescue efforts at a munitions and/or tank factory in Newcastle after it came under enemy attack. No idea of which factory it was or when but if any one knows where to start looking for any information on the attack I would be grateful for a nudge in the right direction. I was imagining that it would probably have been reported either on the radio or in the newspaper at the time but haven't been able to find anything so far.

There is a Wikipedia page about the Newcastle Blitz with dates of the raids. Perhaps that might help a bit.

The National Archives hold some RAF records.

Just done some digging and it appears that there was a huge Royal Ordnance Factory at Aycliffe, near Gateshead, where they made bombs.

Would there be anything in the local paper/parish records/ reference library?? It sounds like a really interesting story

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/royal-air-force-personnel/

They didn't say a lot in the newspapers during the war. They didn't want to damage British morale, nor did they want the luftwaffe to know whether they'd been successful or not.

There are lots of people interested in local history and RAF research. Have you tried googling his name? When I googled my dad's name, with various other key words, I found there was information about him on the internet already. In fact, I was able to find out who he flew with, and searched for their names. I then found a recording of another member of the crew on some Canadian radio station archive, describing their crash.

As to his service records from the war, as @Chickadee26 said, you need to apply to the National Archives. From Section 3.4 of that web page

"Records of RAF Officers who served after 1939 and who completed their service before 1963 have recently been transferred from the Ministry of Defence. These records are in the process of being catalogued and being made available on Discovery.

Records which have been catalogued can be found by searching within the series AIR 84 by surname and year of birth."

[...]

For records that cannot yet be found through our catalogue, or for records that are currently closed, you can request to access them by using our Request a military service record service.

Records of RAF officers who served after 1963 are still with the Ministry of Defence. Look on the GOV.UK website to find out how to obtain service records.

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As to the factory, @Cotopaxi mentioned

"Just done some digging and it appears that there was a huge Royal Ordnance Factory at Aycliffe, near Gateshead"

The factory was never bombed, but it did have a number of explosions that led to deaths. Is it possible that it could be this?

For example, it was reported in the Newcastle Journal ( 23 Feb 1942 page 1 column 7):-

4 Women Killed In N.E. Explosion

Four women war workers, three of them married, lost their lives in an explosion at a Royal Ordnance factory in the North-East during night shift on Friday night.

It was a terrific explosion and all the victims were killed instantly. It is understood that they were the only operatives in the building at the time.

The building itself was completely shattered and other buildings in the vicinity were also damaged, many windows being broken.

The dead women were: Edna Thompson (30) single; Irene Irvin (24) married; Alice Dixon (22) married; and Phoebe Moreland (24) married.

The following official announcement was issued on Saturday:-

"The Ministry of Supply regrets to announce that there was an explosion at a Royal Ordnance factory in the North-East last night, as a result of which four women operatives were killed. It is not likely that production will be interfered with."

Sorry, just to add to the above. Not all RAF pilots were officers but the same process applies for finding their records as well.

Thanks for the tips. I did try googling the name but unfortunately it's a common one and the results I'm getting don't fit.

I dont think the explosion mentioned is the one we are looking for.

According to family this relative was involved in the rescue of a number of people after an attack/explosion at a munitions factory and as a reward for his bravery was offered a job as a pilot in the RAF. The story may have been distorted over time or may have been totally made up, at the moment I'm not finding anything that would indicate it's true.
But as someone mentioned, it could be that it was never reported on to keep morale up and unfortunately there is no immediate family left to ask.

I will do an application for the military records, I think he would left service before 1963.

https://www.gov.uk/get-copy-military-records-of-service/apply-for-the-records-of-a-deceased-serviceperson