Flying Log Books

[Milt]

The First Flying Log Book

Is it preserved somewhere and what was its format?
Perhaps the Wright Brothers formulated a Log Book.

I have some elementary flying records of the early Australian Aviation Pioneer - Delfosse Badgery - who learned to fly at Hendon in 1912. He later joined the Australian Flying Corps and served in the Middle East/Egypt during WW1. The Squadron's orderly room produced a hand written one page listing of his flying missions. No suggestion of a Flying Log Book being kept.

Does anyone know when and where Flying Log Books originated?
Did WW1 Squadrons keep flying records? If so where might the RFC records be archived?

[Skeleton]

G'day from just outside Canberra

WW1 Sqns kept Flying Records accessible through th UK's National Archives site.

http://http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

[ICM]

I've seen a couple of personal RFC Logbooks from WW1. Both looked fairly informal in nature, just using small notebooks - and in one of them, the column headings changed quite often from page to page.

[Dave Wilson]

Can't answer your question but there still isn't a 'Log Book For Pilots' as such. Depends where you get them from as to the layout etc. Same with tech and auth sheets. Some work out the servicing intervals using Hobbs hours and some by flying hours.

I've also seen some quite heated discussions as to how you fill them in, this after 110 years of powered flight...

[Rosevidney1]

I thought Pontius would use a wax tablet and a scribe.

[radar101]

In the 56 Sqn archives there is the 1917-19 log book of one Lt Ernest Smy MM. It is a small buff book with

Army Book 425

PILOT'S FLYING
LOG BOOK

on the front.

Iside, the columns are:

Date and Hour / Pilot / Machine Type and No / Passenger / Time / Height / Course / Remarks

[tarantonight]

Log Books are a fantastic historical document come the day. My father's wings folded in 2003 and I have a number of his relics, Log Book included. Many an hour spent reading it and seeing what trip he was on, the same day in the dim and distant.

TN.

[4Greens]

Check out the RAF Museum at Hendon.

[goofer3]

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae294/goofer33/6c28ca50-55de-4d13-a64b-5ed56e3a0d4d.jpg?t=1387206615

[Pontius Navigator]

In the 56 Sqn archives there is the 1917-19 log book of one Lt Ernest Smy MM. It is a small buff book with

Slightly TIC, how many pages in the WW1 log books?

[Innominate]

The RAF Museum ([email protected]) has a large collection of logbooks, the earliest military-issue log being one used by Lt (later AVM Sir) Charles Longcroft, with the first entry dated 9 July 1912. It's a large (foolscap size) red volume, and he also kept a rough log in a simple notebook (Army Book 129) to which the necessary columns were added using what seems to have been a large rubber stamp.

Most RFC logbooks were in a similar format to the RNAS version in Goofer's photo, first printed in 1912. They're slightly smaller than A5 size and about a quarter of an inch thick - not sure how many pages that equates to.

Lord Brabazon of Tara kept a log of his balloon flights from 1903; it's not clear whether he bought it from someone like the Royal Aero Club or had it printed specially.

[goofer3]

Showing the inside of the R.N.A.S Pilot's Flying Log Book. The book is 18.5cm high and width 11.8cm with approx 100 pages. (Copied in B/W for better contrast).

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae294/goofer33/PilotsFlyingloginsideBW.jpg?t=1387199339

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae294/goofer33/PilotsFlyingloginside2BW.jpg?t=1387285620

[Pontius Navigator]

Looking at the photo it appears that the log was a daily log whether flying or not, that would accord with the requirement to log workshop periods as well. Maybe workshop equated to ground school or ground instruction.

[goofer3]

P.N.
Looking at the other pages in the log, not every day has a comment, but it would appear that if he could not fly due to the weather then it was logged. Also when he was "Duty Officer of the watch".