New on Ancestry - UK, Royal Air Force Operations Record Books 1911-1963

[alf mcm]

This set of records should be useful. Searching by name is fine, but there seems to be problems searching by date.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62280/

Regards,

Alf McM

[Coldstreamer]

Thanks for sharing . I’ve a few odd men who ended up in the RAF so will check them out

 

[charlie962]

Thanks for heads-up. 

I am disappointed. Nothing much on ww1 for 9 sqdn and nothing at all on ww1 for 63 sqdn. Or is it me?

[ICM - RAF Retd]

If, as I suspect, these are the records from RAF Forms 540 and 541, there may be a degree of disappointment for many if the 10 Squadron records are any guide.  These cover the period from formation in 1915 to the outbreak of WW2 in a single file, clearly edited from originals and put together at some later point on RAF F540 pages.  Whoever did the editing was able to choose dates on which something is recorded, so it's a patchy result.  As to finding individual names, changes of command are pretty much all that can be seen.  Other units may, of course, have been treated differently - best of luck all round.

 

[quemerford]

These are AIR 27 files, which are currently free for download at TNA anyway. They sadly don't include the WW1 War Diaries/Daily Occurrences etc.

[ICM - RAF Retd]

As I thought.  I attach a sample 10 Sqn page.  No idea how representative it is of other units.

 

 

 

[pierssc]

22 minutes ago, ICM - RAF Retd said:

As I thought.  I attach a sample 10 Sqn page.  No idea how representative it is of other units.

Now that's not bad.  The equivalent for 5 Squadron is a history, which mentions only a few names and is painted with a fairly broad brush.  I'd already found it in the NA (unfortunately several copies under different references exist, so you order something you think is new, and then find you've seen it already). 

The ACTUAL squadron Record Books, if you can find them (for No.5 they are incomplete) are much more interesting (though they do vary in the amount of detail):  for example

August 1916, based at Droglandt

 

 

April  1917, based at Savy

 

It would be nice to see those digitised.

 

[Airshipped]

I quite agree with the obs on the AIR 27 series attempts at ORBs for Nos. 5 and 10 Squadrons. It's the same across many of the earliest RFC squadrons, e.g. just a few paragraphs and then on to various uneventful happenings of the inter-war era.

I think the AHB were working with a sow's ear of squadron, wing and brigade material. Re No. 10 Squadron specifically, here are two examples of what their enquiries generated in 1919. The first image is from AIR 1/166/15/149/2, which would appear to be a failed attempt at humour, but does capture some of the spirit of the squadron. (I like the idea of adding 'when in bed' to any adage or saying). The second image is from AIR 1/166/15/149/1, and consists of data prepared by the CO, C.E. Saunders. This pretty much matches what ended up in the less-than-informative AIR 27 files.

By way of contrast, Ludlow Hewitt chased up the various former COs of No. 9 Squadron for their attempt at a squadron history. The following two examples are from AIR 1/166/15/148/1. As may be noted, it's still reliant upon recollections rather than documentary evidence, but is still better than hearsay.

Unfortunately the AIR 27 series of files can't match the other TNA material. However, the time and effort needed in traversing the various AIR 1 files tends to be disproportionate relative to what's obtaining, particularly if one has a limited time-frame for accessing records. Hopefully Ancestry will take on elements of this task, for the historical value of these early days of military flying would far exceed that of some of the more mundane 'content' that's currently included in a subscription package.

 

[charlie962]

Interesting. So it is not me. So pilots log books may be the only surviving record of daily activity in some squadrons. There is a current thread on an excellent collection of these. Do the RAF museum have a collection?

[ICM - RAF Retd]

Airshipped:  So Lieutenant L's whimsical Diary of 10 Sqn's first 20 days in the RAF has surfaced.  I occasionally wonder if it might be worth starting a thread to see if anyone has a photo of the chap who I'm 99.9% sure wrote it - a Lt William Law, formerly a Cameronian who had spent a short time as a pilot with 53 Sqn before going to 10 Sqn as Reporting Officer.  (Why just 20 days?  Not a clue, as he didn't leave then.)

[Buffnut453]

5 hours ago, charlie962 said:

Interesting. So it is not me. So pilots log books may be the only surviving record of daily activity in some squadrons. There is a current thread on an excellent collection of these. Do the RAF museum have a collection?

 

Yes and no.  The RAF Museum does have a collection of Great War logbooks.  I was fortunate to discover a cousin's logbook there.  However, I suspect the numbers may be limited.

There are other records available at UNKA beyond the Squadron Operations Record Books.  For example, I found a ton of useful information related to 11 Sqn in the AIR 1 collections.  It only covered the last few months of the War into the summer of 1919, but that was precisely the period I needed.  AIR 1/2010/204/305/1 gave daily flying returns and daily states. 

There are also wing- and brigade-level files that contain the responses from multiple squadrons, as well as orders from the wing down to the squadrons providing the daily tasking.   Examples include: AIR 1/1340/204/17/88 (13 and 51 Wg OPORDS Aug-Nov 1918); ; AIR 1/1808/204/161/4 (13 Wg OPORDS Jan-Oct 1918); AIR 1/1850/204/211/11 (13 and 51 Wg OPORDS Jun-Oct 1918); AIR 1/1899/204/227/2 (OPORDS Sep-Nov 1918); AIR 1/1899/204/227/4 (9 Bde OPORDS Sep-Nov 1918); AIR 1/1901/204/227/13 thru 17 (51 Wg Summary of Work and Unit Records) etc etc.  

The above listed items were just files I found related to my area of research...but I'm sure others exist for different units/formations and timeframes.  Sometimes, looking beyond the squadron records can be incredibly helpful.

Edited 10 January , 2022 by Buffnut453

[charlie962]

But none of that impressive listed scanned and available to jo public?

[Buffnut453]

23 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

But none of that impressive listed scanned and available to jo public?

 

Alas, not.  However, the logbooks at the RAF Museum aren't scanned either.  'Fraid it's back to good old detective work, searching the archives for likely material and then showing up in person to determine whether you've struck gold or hit a dead end.