This is a great thread, which I have used for several bits of research. Now I have a question about
Flight Reference Cards/checklists. When did they come into use in the RAF?
They are hard to find online, but I have one from a 1963 Jet Provost T. I'm sure that is not the oldest one, it's just the oldest one I have found.
I would be eager for any information on how checklists (to use the American term) were written and used at different times. The reward, such as it is, is a footnote in my book.
See other questions below.
Related question: Were cockpit drills during the war entirely from memory, or did crew ever carry written versions of them, in the cockpit? The Americans sometimes put them on placards, but I have not found pictures of RAF aircraft with them.
Thanks much! You can also email me at Rbohn at... UCSD ... edu
Here is what I have figured out so far:- American checklists I have traced back to 1935, and they were in wide use by 1939. But the RAF version during WW II seems to have been only very brief "drills".
- I have found a very few one page "drill summaries" from 1945 - typically as an insert in the middle of Pilot's Notes. From the format, my guess is that they were meant to be torn out and kept in the cockpit. Does anyone know?
- Then starting the late 1940s, the first few pages of Pilot's Notes contain much longer and more complete check lists, totaling more than 100 items and broken up in categories like "Checks after landing." It looks like these were not meant to be carried onboard.