Graphical version

Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

THRALE, Ralph (1905-1993)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Thrale

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: THRALE, Ralph (1905-1993)

Date(s): 1916-1984

Level of description: Collection level

Extent: 2 boxes or 0.02m3

Name of creator(s): Thrale | Ralph | 1905-1993

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1905; volunteer Aircraft Identifier, Royal Observer Corps, May-Jul 1944; died 1993.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Ralph Thrale, 1916-1984, mainly relating to the Royal Observer Corps, including: memoir 'Seaborne', co-authored by Thrale, detailing experiences of Thrale and a colleague while Royal Observer Corps 'Seaborne' volunteers posted to merchant shipping as aircraft identifiers, 1944; Thrale's Royal Navy certificate of service, 1944, and Royal Observer Corps certificate of war service, 1946.

The collection also includes publications collected by Thrale on related topics, including books: Aircraft of the fighting powers by H J Cooper and O G Thetford (Harborough Publishing Company, Leicester, 1941); Britain's wonderful Air Force edited by Air Cdre Peregrine Forbes Morant Fellowes (Odhams Press, London, 1942); Forewarned is forearmed: the authorized history of the Royal Observer Corps by T E Winslow (William Hodge & Co, London, 1948) and Observers' tale: the story of Group 17 of the ROC edited by H Ramsden Whitty, Commandant, 17 Group, Royal Observer Corps (London, 1950). Journals: The Journal of the Royal Observer Corps Club, Oct 1941-Nov 1942 and an incomplete run of Aircraft recognition Sep 1942-Sep 1984. Ministry of Information publications: The Battle of Britain, August-October 1940 (HMSO, 1941); Coastal Command (HMSO, 1943) and Combined Operations, 1940-1942 (HMSO, 1943). Also The Bystander's Fragments from France, volumes of cartoons by Bruce Bairnsfather detailing life in the trenches (numbers 1-6, c 1916-1918) and article, 'The reply to English propaganda' by Joseph Paul Goebbels, translated from German and reprinted from Völkischer Beobachter, 14 Jul 1939.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

In sections as in Scope and Content.

Conditions governing access:

Open. In order to view archive material you will need to sign a reader's undertaking form and provide two forms of identification.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archives and Information Management.

Finding aids:

No additional finding aids exist.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Centre by the family, January 2004 and January 2008.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Archivist's note: Compiled by Katharine Higgon.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Nov 2007, Jan 2008


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Military aircraft | Aircraft | Vehicles | Transport
War | International conflicts
War propaganda | Propaganda | Persuasion | Communication process
World War Two (1939-1945) | World wars (events) | Wars (events)

Personal names
Thrale | Ralph | 1905-1993

Corporate names
RN | Royal Navy x Royal Navy
Royal Observer Corps

Places