Mystery of wartime pictures found at bus station

The search is on for an airman, known only as 'Yours Truly'.

Mystery surrounds the Second World War veteran after photographs of his life overseas were left behind at Cardiff coach station.

The collection of sepia-tinted images were found on a seat.

The man is pictured playing the piano.
The search is on to find out who 'Yours Truly' is.

When they were found by staff, they began looking for a name to begin their search to solve the wartime mystery.

But on the back of the 33 photographs they could only find the airman neatly signing his name in fountain pen ink as "Yours Truly" or "Y.T.".

The pictures, which could have been sent to a sweetheart, appear to show the young man enjoying life on RAF bases in Egypt, India and Pakistan.

Cardiff coach station manager Donna McDonald, herself an army veteran serving for seven years in the Royal Logistics Corp, is leading the attempt to reunite the pictures with their owner.

The photographs are a precious memento of a stranger's time serving their country.

The pictures are believed to have been taken with a B Roll camera in the mid to late 1940s.

They include snaps of the immaculately turned out "Yours Truly" relaxing with a book, writing, playing the piano and sailing.

Very little is known about where some of the photos were taken.
A damaged plane is pictured in some of the photographs.

Others show airman enjoying a fancy dress football match during a Boxing Day spent overseas - plus one snap with German prisoners of war who are described as "very nice fellows".

One shot shows a military parade taken from a window of Buckingham Palace bearing the caption "View from Ann Ryans Bed Sitting Room in Buckingham Palace".

Sources at the Palace have been unable to shed any light on the date of the photograph or who Ann Ryan may have been.

What makes the pictures particularly unusual is they were taken at a time when it would have been unusual to have a camera and high costs deterred many people from printing their photographs.

RAF sources believe the photographer could have served as a ground engineer.

Not your typical view of The Mall in London: Taken from Buckingham Palace.

Flight Lieutenant Gavin Tipple has spent 33 years in service and is the Officer Commanding the RAF division of the Armed Forces Careers Office in Cardiff.

Flt Lt Tipple said: "These pictures are incredibly historical and show a bygone age.

"There is a real nostalgia to them and also historical significance as they offer a rare on-the-ground view of crisis' past.

"Whoever owns them must clearly want them back and I do hope they are reunited with their rightful owner."

The photographs were left behind at the coach station in the Welsh capital six months ago and have been kept safe under lock and key while the search for their mystery owner continued.