What is in your log book?

[Pontius Navigator]

Following on from the Valiant Tankers thread and question what was what was Trial 306, just how explicit is your log book?

I think we all adopted our own codes and abbreviations for sortie details. Some meant something at the time but nothing now and others you will still remember vividly.

At random, in May 1963 I did A3/4 Track Plot in a Varsity at 1 ANS as 2nd Nav. I can decode most of that A-Advanced Phase but 3/4 gives no clues as to route etc except it was at night, early in the course, and probably an astro sortie for the 1st nav.

Or more recently, Shackleton, QRA Scramble 4xBear 'D'. Now I can't remember that sortie but I can decode it.

However what will happen to your log books once you have gone in either mind or body? Your children*, in later life, may well wonder exactly what Daddy (and now Mummy) did.

May be it would be a good idea to pencil a few notes and anecdotes for posterity.

*My grandson's eyes popped open when I mention casually that his Mummy has fired a GMP, fired mortars, thrown grenades and driven a Bradley :0

[Brian 48nav]

I had the privilege of looking through a friend's late father's log book a few years ago and some of the 'interesting' flights were well documented.

Freddie Prince had been an airman selected for pilot training in the 30s and by Sept '39 was commisioned and flying Hudsons with Coastal; 224 Sqn at Leuchars IIRC.

One entry showed the crew searching Norwegian fjords for the Altmark, which I believe was carrying as POWs, RN survivors of Graf Spee attacks, and another entry showed them searching for any survivors of HMS Glorious, the carrier that was carrying the Hurricanes of 46 Sqn which had flown on from Bardufoss.

In my short career as a Herc' nav most of the trips are self-explanatory though maybe readers of my log book after I'm gone will wonder why we went to places like Tan Son Nhut.

[getsometimein]

I heard of someone who had "Hot/Hot *Russian submarine name*" in their log book... I think they had to rewrite that after the boss saw it...

[Pontius Navigator]

getsometimein, cold/hot would have been better but would he have put hot/cold?

[Pontius Navigator]

One entry showed the crew searching Norwegian fjords for the Altmark, which I believe was carrying as POWs, RN survivors of Graf Spee attacks

No, we beat the Graf Spee, no RN POW the British knew that the merchant crews taken prisoner by the Graf Spee in the South Atlantic had been transferred to a support ship,

"The Navy's here" – the Altmark boarded (http://ww2today.com/the-navys-here-the-altmark-boarded)

t was then a propaganda scoop for us "The Navy's Here"

[getsometimein]

One lead wet always seemed to go Hot/Cold/Hot...

Saved us a bit of work for a few hours I suppose...

[Brian 48nav]

Yes thanks for that - I should have put Merchant Navy not RN.

Another mistake in my post; Wg Cdr Freddie Prince was an NCO pilot until 1941.:bored:

[ICM]

PN: Maybe I can help, if we assume that not much had changed at 1ANS by 1965? Having only entered basic Navex numbers at 2ANS, I see that I've got a little more from Strad, though nothing on routes, I'm afraid:

A1/2 All Aids Day
A3/4 All Aids Night
A5/6 Pre-computed Astro .... praying for an ontime take-off!
A7/8 Airways/Astro
A9/10 Gib and back
A11/12 Coastal/Tactical

And I've done the posterity thing. Quite salutary when a bit of Googling proves that some memories nursed over many years have slipped timescales and so on.

[Pontius Navigator]

And I've done the posterity thing. Quite salutary when a bit of Googling proves that some memories nursed over many years have slipped timescales and so on.

Quite. I was convinced of two particular features almost 50 years ago. Checking my logbook and a calendar proved both were not quite correct :)

Thanks for that.

Now for posterity, what would someone make of All Aids? It did of course exclude Gee but I see from my log book that it included a Sun line by day and pre-comp astro by night :)

[Lima Juliet]

What's in my logbook?

An all-star end of tour signature block signed by:

Wg Cdr Bond - OC FI AW

Sqn Ldr 'Elvis' Costello - OC 1435Flt

Tony Hadley - OIC Spandau Ballet

(Yes, the Tony Hadley that sang "Gold", "True" and other Spandau records of the 80s)

:ok:

LJ

[BEagle]

Wg Cdr Bond - OC FI AW

Sqn Ldr 'Elvis' Costello - OC 1435Flt

Tony Hadley - OIC Spandau Ballet



Ah yes, I was temporary Sqn Ldr (Air) down there for 6 weeks at the time.

I recall the SSAFA show which included Tony Hadley; the dancing girls were astonishingly attractive (by local standards.....), but the lousy sound system destroyed Hadley's rendition of 'Gold'; it was so appallingly bad that a lot of people just walked out.....

Another problem at the time was that 'The Goose' was causing a lot of trouble. After 2 spurious fire warnings and evacuations, OC twenty five to three was warned that one more event and the place would be shut down.....

As for logbook entries:

13 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV428 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS 1:40
14 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV461 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS! 1:25
15 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV428 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS!! 1:40

What a fun-filled 3-day period that was....:hmm:

[Pontius Navigator]

As for logbook entries:

13 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV428 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS 1:40
14 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV461 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS! 1:25
15 Jul 82 Phantom FGR2 XV428 Self / (...) Ex. Priory NO TARGETS!! 1:40

What a fun-filled 3-day period that was....:hmm:

Ah yes.

12 Jul scrambled at 1645 - 5-15 D 0.30 N no trade
13 Jul scrambled at 1445 - 6-35 D no trade
15 Jul a/b 0640 10-45 D no trade.

Bare 14.15 between first two and barely time for a wet before the 3rd sortie. Exercise Deny Drinking; did they name it after that famous clinic or the other way round?

[tarantonight]

My father was an FAA FJ Pilot (of the day!) between 1957 and 1969 and died in 2003. I have his Log Book among other items and often sit down with a pint and have a read. Fascinating stuff.

Not so much what is in it, what is not. He suffered a low level ejection in '67, which is not a completed flight as the majority of you will know. His life changed from that day, for the worse I am sad to say.

Back to that book..................................

TN

[BEagle]

'Scramble a Shackleton' - surely the biggest oxymoron after 'Fun Run' or 'Army Intelligence'......:rolleyes:

[Pontius Navigator]

BEagle, that refers to the mad rush from home and the stagger across the grass from the car park.

One day, a rather lazy and dipsomaniac Master arrived just 'too late' to get to flying clothing and get ready as the aircraft was about to taxy.

I intercepted him and hurried him to the aircraft with him protesting about his para-harness, bomb dome etc. I had thwarted his excuses by putting them on the aircraft for him.:}

Frequently, when we scrambled on Q we would arrive on barrier a day late.

[gpugh]

One interesting day in my fathers log book notes him crashing on the deck in a Sea Fury after a sortie over Korea after suffering damage , which he ended up with him going over the side into the sea, and was flying again later the same day

[Sanf]

Great thread - I have my dad's log book from his RAF career from 67-76. I've spent many an hour looking through it and wondering what on earth half the entries mean.

Some are quite straight forward, but others....:confused:

Some examples -

June 16th 1970 - (29 sqd) -Lightning T5; Combat with 104 g's
August 11th 1970 - (29 sqd) Lightning F3; GH & aeros (I assume GH is general handling)
Oct 1st 1970 - (29 sdq) -Lightning F3; AAR+S7A+PD ?? 2h40 long flight for a lightning

During Dec 1970 - 3 trips have 'Profit' one with W3E

Feb 1st 1971 - (29 sqd) - Lightning T5; AAR Sub PI's s7B+Viz

is AAR - air to air refuelling??

April 71 - a couple of 1v1, Q scramble, combat and lots of FvF and in May 1.3-headon

Think he was in Cyprus July 71 as the return flight only is shown - 5 hours, during the trip did some Buccaneer Affil 's

August 71 - F3 Lightning - TGT for shad shep; another just says Coffee

Jan 25th 72 - F3 - V3A DNCO Birdstrike

April 72 - F3 - Standoff Profile & conventional profile

June 72 - Ex Sandmartin

While on 2(T) during 73 codes include - LLPI's / R86/R84/R69/TGT/PD Mar/S7E+Vis+evas!/opex 1a

While on a CFS course at Valley in 74 - Manual give/manual mutual/manual give back/unlock/unlock mutual/MLT give/MLT mutual

Nite fam 4 (yeuk!)

Clarkson Trophy aero's 1500 (lost)

Dec 75 (4FTS) - Gnat - Ex7 DNCO control rest

Really enjoy looking through and trying to figure out all the codes.

[Wensleydale]

12 Jul scrambled at 1645 - 5-15 D 0.30 N no trade
13 Jul scrambled at 1445 - 6-35 D no trade
15 Jul a/b 0640 10-45 D no trade.

My log book records the same Shackleton sorties......all with Beery Weir as Captain. If I may cross threads, the aircraft for 13 Jul was WR963 - the subject of civilian registration at Coventry.

As for "Scramble", we frequently held a nominal 2 hours state at home which frequently led to scramble rather than escalating through the other states. My record was airborne from home in 35 minutes, which is not bad when you consider:

a. I lived 17 miles away

b. In those days we were not allowed to travel home to station while wearing flying kit - even when holding QRA. The result was that those of us who lived a fair distance away would arrange for flying kit in a bag to be taken to the aircraft, and we would change into goon suits etc on the aircraft - frequently on the taxi out. This allowed us to sprint from motorbike directly to the line and onto the aircraft. I remember that and one occasion during an exercise, a crew forgot the 2nd Nav/Radio Operator - he fell asleep on the crew coach and was missed in the mele during taxi.

I recall that some exercises such as Priory had the next shackleton crew to be airborne on alert - normally at 30 minutes in the crewroom then scrambled by the SOC as needed. Sadly, if the barrier was in the Neatishead sector, it could take up to 3 hours to reach the area, and the activity had long passed when we arrived. We were frequently overtaken by East Coast trains on long transits with unfavourable head winds.

[bakseetblatherer]

Yeah my log book has a lot of TLAs etc, probably won't (don't) remember what it all means.

Still have my Grandad's log book, WW2 FAA which starts:
"Brought forward from previous log book lost in Ark Royal 13th Nov 1941
TOTAL HOURS: 190:20
TOTAL DL's: 43
TOTAL HOURS IN SQDN: 106:20
TOTAL NIGHT FLYING: nil
Machines Shot down: 2 SM79s, 1 BR20"

[getsometimein]

I sometimes wish I could have put a lot of detail in my logbook... Had some very interesting sorties in my short time!

Perhaps I'll do that after I leave...

[BEagle]

June 16th 1970 - (29 sqd) -Lightning T5; Combat with 104 g's

104G means dissimilar air combat training against F-104G Starfighters

August 11th 1970 - (29 sqd) Lightning F3; GH & aeros (I assume GH is general handling)

Yes, general handling and aerobatics.

Oct 1st 1970 - (29 sdq) -Lightning F3; AAR+S7A+PD ?? 2h40 long flight for a lightning

AAR is air-to-air refuelling, S7A is a type of practice interception, PD is a practice diversion to another aerodrome.

During Dec 1970 - 3 trips have 'Profit' one with W3E

EX. PROFIT was electronic warfare training, usually against a Canberra.

Feb 1st 1971 - (29 sqd) - Lightning T5; AAR Sub PI's s7B+Viz

is AAR - air to air refuelling??

Sub PIs + Viz probably means subsonic practice interception and visual identification work – closing to short range using the radar and finally looking out to identify the other aircraft. AAR is indeed air-to-air refuelling.

April 71 - a couple of 1v1, Q scramble, combat and lots of FvF and in May 1.3-headon

1v1 is basic single fighter versus single target training, Q scramble is a quick reaction alert scramble against (probably Soviet) aircraft approaching the UK air defence region.

Think he was in Cyprus July 71 as the return flight only is shown - 5 hours, during the trip did some Buccaneer Affil 's

August 71 - F3 Lightning - TGT for shad shep; another just says Coffee

TGT for shad shep means he acted as a target aircraft for some purpose, although I don’t know what ‘shad shep’ means. Perhaps the other aircraft was required to practice shadowing and intervening? Coffee means EX COFFEE – an electronic warfare exercise with jamming, spoofing and all manner of villainy from the target Canberra.

Jan 25th 72 - F3 - V3A DNCO Birdstrike

DNCO means ‘duty not carried out’. He hit a bird at some point and had to recover early.

April 72 - F3 - Standoff Profile & conventional profile

June 72 - Ex Sandmartin

Sorry, don’t know.

While on 2(T) during 73 codes include - LLPI's / R86/R84/R69/TGT/PD Mar/S7E+Vis+evas!/opex 1a

LLPIs means low level practice intercepts. I don’t know what the alphanumeric terms described, PD Mar is probably a practice diversion to Marham. Vis + evas! probably meant carryong out a visual ident against an evading target? Opex 1A was probably a work-up exercise of some sort.

While on a CFS course at Valley in 74 - Manual give/manual mutual/manual give back/unlock/unlock mutual/MLT give/MLT mutual

Manual give/manual mutual/manual give back means being taught to teach flying the Gnat in a degraded flight control mode, simulating loss of hydraulic power and reversion to ‘manual’ controls. ‘Give’ means being taught, ‘mutual’ means practising the exercise with another trainee instructor and ‘give back’ means practising by giving instruction to an instructor. ‘Unlock’ was another Gnat degraded control mode, but not as serious as ‘manual’. Usually when electrical failure precluded the availability of ‘feel trim’, so the elevators were unlocked from the slab tailplane, allowing the aircraft to be flown without feel trim provided that the speed was kept below (I think) 300KIAS / M0.7. ‘MLT’ means medium level turning, involving turning at maximum rate at medium level. A very tiring exercise; the student would pull to 5g then squeeze to 6g, in a descending steep turn with full power – whilst looking back at the instructor to see how many fingers he was holding up! The instructor had to ensure it was flown correctly without the student overstressing, being too timid or failing to look out properly...

Nite fam 4 (yeuk!)

Night flying familiarisation. Not an instructor’s favourite activity!

Clarkson Trophy aero's 1500 (lost)

Probably the end of course aerobatic competition, which he didn’t win. 1500 probably means a minimum height of 1500 ft above the aerodrome during the aerobatic sequence.

Dec 75 (4FTS) - Gnat - Ex7 DNCO control rest

He had a flight control restriction which meant he couldn’t complete the exercise (duty not carried out). Ex 7 would have been an early student conversion exercise.

All squadron flight authorisations sheets included a column labelled ‘Duty Carried Out or remarks’. Back in the days when people had to sign in to visit a nursing sisters’ Officers Mess, some wag included a ‘DCO or remarks’ column in their visiting book....:E It was ages before someone explained – and the sisters weren’t very amused!

[twentygrand]

I've long pasted photographs into my logbook, despite my former AEF boss saying "Its not a bloody scrapbook you know".
Should help my children when I'm too senile to remember!

[ExAscoteer]

August 71 - F3 Lightning - TGT for shad shep; another just says Coffee

TGT for shad shep means he acted as a target aircraft for some purpose, although I don’t know what ‘shad shep’ means.

I would presume Shad/Shep is Shadow / Shepherd.

Ie Intercept a target unseen then shepherd it to an airfield.

[NutLoose]

They're important to help those that read them later and try to piece together your history, it's heartbreaking when you look through these, some are relatively modern too, like the Pakistani AVM looking for his ex instructor from the seventies.

Help Wanted 400+ (http://www.rafweb.org/Help_Wanted.htm)

[Cornish Jack]

Never experienced the 'joys' of shacklebomber flying but a mate on Beverleys had done a tour or two on Mk1s in Malta. He recalled being in the 2nd St,By crew when a VIP Hastings ditched in the Med.1st St.By was airborne and searching but nothing seen, so 2nd was launched. Just got the wheels up when the ditching was located and 2nd not wanted. Mk1s, apparently, did not have fuel jettison and were, therefore, committed to 7 hours fuel burning before they got down to landing weight!!! Great joy!!