Originally Posted by
Chugalug2
Sandisondaughter and Justin (sorry to have misread your ID, Sir!), I wonder if we can trouble you to locate the respective logbooks in question, if at all possible? Whether the pilot in question survived the war or fell victim to it, nonetheless his logbook was maintained from the very first flight until the last, and should have survived no matter its owners fate. Far more reliable than the idiosyncratic nature of a diary, it was by contrast an official requirement to maintain, and outlines the path to operational flying from the very first steps into the military world. With the right interpretation it is a biography of the aircrew member in question. That right interpretation can happen here. All that is needed is the raw data, duly certified each month by a superior officer. Those units, those locations, those aircraft, can trigger many facts and figures. They are in short the description of how Allied Airpower was mobilised to safeguard the world against the greatest tyranny ever faced. The young men who trained to do that, and thereafter faced some of the most dangerous challenges of any Allied servicemen, are rightly revered in this thread that is dedicated to their achievement and to their memory.
Yes - we have log books and in a post in November 2015 I summarised Dad's service. Also have log books for his BOAC career and a host of memorabilia from the Arnold Scheme. He was in 42A (along with 'Regle' who introduced Dad to this forum). He stayed on in the States to instruct for a further year. I hope to add more information to the forum eventually but not ready to do so yet.