RAF / RN Chinagraph Pencils (Cold War era) for Kneeboards
 

Hi all,

I'm researching British flying clothing and equipment through the 50's to 80's for some web pages I've been writing to share my research, and this is a little detail I can't find any information on! I have a small collection, and thought I'd best document what I learn about it as I have a tendency to forget the details!

Can anyone shed any light on the specific Chinagraph pencils issued by the RAF / RN for use on kneebards in the RAF during the cold war era?

Were they a commercially available pencil? If so, which brand? What did they look like? Were they marked with Stores Ref Section numbers? What colours were they issued in? (And more questions along these lines!)

Does anyone have any knocking about form those days that they'd be willing to part with? I'd love to put one with my Mk2/2A and Mk4/4A flying coveralls, they would look much better with the right item in the pencil pocket! I also put my gear on show in Newark Air Museum once a year, so it'd go to some public use too if I can find one (or two)!

Do modern day aircrew still use these pencils or similar, or is there something else in use these days?

Many thanks, Scott.

They were a plastic body you could put a lead in and screw out with the screw on the top like a propelling pencil, see

https://picclick.co.uk/Single-Milita...227087531.html

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...ator-424002585

ones we had didn't have the clip on them as it was a fod hazard.

probably have one lying about at work still.

think they were normally red or balck

Hi NutLoose,

Thank you! I now know what I'm looking for! I was expecting a wooden pencil!

Which era / decades were these typical for?

Many thanks again! Scott.

Thanks Timelord, that's really helpful!

Cheers, Scott.

In an AP about Mk2 / Mk4 coveralls, I read that the shoulder pencil pocket could also be used for a pencil torch.

Any gen on these? Were they issued? If so, same questions as per the pencils please!

Cheers, Scott.

I will have a look, it might be a bit tatty but you can have it, doubt it has any lead in it though

Thank you NutLoose, that's very kind! Old and tatty is fine, as it shows real service life! I'll PM my email address... - Ah, I can't for some reason.. my email address can be found here: http://scottbouch.com/contact.html

Ah Timelord, yes, you've brought back a memory! I somewhere have a piece of white elastic with aluminum eyelets at the ends, that I believe to be for this purpose...

Hi Scott,
I was at Eastern Radar (civil) during the 1980s,and we used these chinagraph pencils for writing on the 'edge-lit board',and also on the radar screen itself - there was no label display in those days,and we were presented with essentially a primary radar display,so in order to retain 'idents',it was necessary to write a/c callsigns on the tube.As it was overwhelmingly an RAF unit,I imagine they supplied the pencils,and they also provided the rolls of 4"x2" cloth (really meant for cleaning rifle barrels ) used for wiping it clear..As we were writing on dark backgrounds,our 'leads' were actually yellow or white,and the plastic pencils themselves were either red or yellow.When Eastern Civil closed,I grabbed a handful of these as they were surplus to requirements,and if you send me your address via PM,I'll post you one of each colour,new and unused.I've seen your display at Newark,and found it unusual &interesting.

I had to hang up my flying suit in 1999 following a final failed medical. In the pocket are two Chinagraph pencils so probably modern at that time one blue and one red. Made by Staedtler and embossed with "omnichrom and 108-2 for the red and omnichrome 108-3 for the blue both wooden. If any use PM me.

Thank you ex82watcher! How very kind! PM coming up!

Glad you've seen my stuff at Newark, for a niche subject it's amazing how many people take a liking to it!

Chinagraphs were wooden in my time (1959-73), painted the same colour as the crayon contained. Sorry, all mine now long gone to the great nav bag in the sky. :(

Quite agree, Timelord, and the way the RAF was run in the immediate pre-digital age. I hope that the historians have fully understood that this cheap disposable item was absolutely crucial to our operation, along with the sheets of Perspex which could cover entire walls (and of course the Ops/Admin Boards beneath the sheets).

Hi all,

Thank you guys for the interest and help on this!

I've started to put together a bit of a rough timeline based on your service dates:

Chugalug2: 1959 to 1973, Wooden, painted the same colour as the crayon contained
Timelord: 1973 to 1995, Plastic - confirmed by ex82watcher: 1980's, Plastic
DODGYOLDFART: 1999, Wooden, Staedtler omnichrom 108

I wonder what current aircrew fly with? Are the Staedtler pencils still the thing?

Excuse the question, but what would you typically note down on a knee board anyway? Would it depend on the type of flight? Would you make notes there pre-flight, or during?

Cheers, Scott.

Hi DODGYOLDFART, these are still on staedtler's website, do yours from the late 90's look the same? https://www.staedtler.us/en/products...non-permanent/

There were 'wooden' pencils with chinagraph 'leads' and string that unwound to uncover new lead at the UAS/AEF I spent time at during the late 90s.

Many years ago (Cold War), most flying squadrons and stations ran on ops boards generously coated with Chinagraph. All the information was tracked that way, crew and aircraft status, progress through training serials, tasking, flypros, weather etc. I observed to a colleague that all the Sovs needed to do to ensure victory was to develop a bomb that would erase Chinagraph, denying us all our normal information. And if they wanted to be doubly sure, arriving at 1800 on a Friday would also help!

Yes Scott identical. However when I was stopped from flying P1 in 1999 I had been out of the mob for nearly forty years and the flying suit bore extensive evidence to this effect.

You rang? A quick rummage in the desk drawers generated the following: 3 chinagraphs and several lifetimes' supply of leads. :)
I'm certain there are more pens in the Attic ... I carried a set of 3 in different colours in a plastic holder that used to contain small cigars, to avoid staining shirt pockets! There may even be one of the 'unravelling' ones mentioned by unmanned_droid, although that was a rather low-end option!!

Note that the 2 black ones are of a later design, with a more rounded end.

Eastern Radar 1970-1973 and 1976-1979 and some other places too. I'm sure we used the same back in 1965 onwards for writing on Tote Boards and GCA plaques [aka flight strips].

To clean the perspex effectively, use a dab of cigarette ash from the "Tray, Ash, Controllers" ... Tengah ones were made from a taxiway blister light cover [heavy glass] mounted in a locally-made aluminium ring support.

https://i.imgur.com/4Phkfui.jpg

Is that a best before or use by date on the top one?, it appears it's not just Humans that have problems with lead in their pencils starting to go soft as they get older... :}

I'm quite certain we had a white or yellow refill in ATC at Marham. There wa a floodlit board and each flight had a peice id perspex written from behind with the skippers name, the airframe no , the fuel load and what the detail was, The writing was about 2 inches high, with a black background and floodlit from behind. On the other side of the airfield in the Self Briefing room in Ops there was copious amounts of propelling chinagraphs but only black or red refills.. I've got one as a keepsake from Shackletons along with the STR HF Radio Tuning tool.(unused)

And as an ops clerk in the hard at Wildenrath we had to use them to write backwards on the tote boards. They didn't have "lead" in them, it was a hard wax or grease, hence the American name grease pencil. I still have two in my man cave (AKA Shed) one of which has the very rare clip, which saved aircrew having to tie them to whatever in the cockpit/on their flying suits. I did see an article once in Airclues or somewhere on how to drill a small hole in the top in order to use a fine cord or line(fishing?) for the above

A342

Brings back the memory, a newly promoted Cpl, on my 1st early shift grasping the chinagraph and allocating the mechanics their a/c for pre-flights.

The chinagraph pencil was a bigger symbol of power than the bright white stripes on my tunic.

I've since used them for years to mark ceramic tiles for cutting.

Learning Command insisted that all kneepad chinagraphs were attached to suitable bits of string (usually para cord) so that if dropped, the chinagraph wouldn't become an arse looticle. Neither were students allowed to use the top pencil pockets in case something should fall out during negative 'g' manoeuvres.

The supplier of chinagraph 'leads' changed some time in the '70s and the new ones were dreadful - much softer and greasy.

Personally, after leaving training, I preferred the Staedtler Lumocolor and would buy my own.

A pen torch was also a useful item and I always had one in my top pocket. For some reason the groundcrew hated them, but they were vastly better than the official rubbish.

I still have a collection of various chinagraphs stuffed into a pot somewhere - liberated from sqn ops when the chinagraph and Perspex gave way to whiteboards and dry markers. Then came the infernal IT-based system which was infernally slow and inflexible.

They only came without clips after clips became a fod hazard.

Without a clip they were a loose article :). One solution was to drill a hole through the twist too and insert a nylon thread, same as in the dinghy knife. Also adding a ring of self adhesive fathom tape.

Came in various colours. On AEW Shacks we favoured white or yellow for marking contacts on the radar screen.

Some lead was was that could beat be removed with a polish. Some lead could be wiped off with a damp cloth - beware walking to your aircraft in the rain with all your mission brief on a knee pad.

I remember those being locally modified to have a velcro'ed down flap added.

MPN11 wrote:

Possibly a more robust design? I recall that the tapered end of the white example in your photo had a tendency to develop hair-line cracks eventually leading to fatigue failure.

Torches were something that were very slow to evolve and most were commercial. Groundcrew ones were usually waterproof and vapour proof. A common aircrew one was green with either a clear lens or red filter, took 2 U2 (nose D type), and had the light at right angles to the shaft. Worked well, fitted in a nav bag slot but were bulky.

Then an aircrew torch was designed by a committee. It was about 8 inches long, long enough to snap if you sat on it. It was black, the case had ribs for grip. The on/off switch was a push button in the base which had a black securing ribbon and would unscrew to fit 2 AA batteries. The lens was also at right angles, had an integral red filter and cast a subdued rectangular beam several inches. Its most endearing feature was battery life. You were lucky to get more than 5 hours life from the batteries - SWITCHED OFF.

It came into service in the 70s and was replaced in the late 90s I think. I don't think its replacement was a personal issue.

I never had a flying suit with a suitable torch pocket though I had one made up by Flying Clothing.
ribbp

The best groundcrew torch in my time was a large aluminium, 'refuelling' torch.
It took 3 U2's (D Cells), had a hexagonal head that unscrewed and a well guarded lens.

It was popular with the RAFP as it doubled as a truncheon.

We had the ‘propelling pencil’ chinagraph from about 1968 onwards with no change that I remember until leaving in 1975; I still have some sitting in my desk drawer both white and yellow plastic. We never had issues requiring holes to be drilled or lines attached, just stuck them into the appropriate pen pocket in the baggy green skin as required.

We only had the goose neck torch which we hung on the D ring on the front of our LSJ or flying ovies so that it shone forward if ever needed in anger. There was much consternation when a new mark of flying suit was issued without the D ring, as its purpose was to secure the O2 hose of a mask and deemed unnecessary for us angry palm tree crew for whom the new suits were issued. We must have been taken seriously because the suits were subsequently fitted with the D rings!

Just found four chinagraphs, one red, one yellow, and two black (one with clip), all the same design as the white one in MPN11's photo. All four were service issue from the 1970s, and marked 'Made in USA' on the top of the knurled knob (needed a magnifying glass to read it!). Also a ten pack of Black Wax Leads (seven remaining), marked with the Stationery Office Logo and Code No. 48-364.

It is kind of interesting to think about how much pens and pencils are a part of our lives. They are the interface for most of our important decisions, as well as daily life.

Being a structural analyst, I spend plenty of time working out problems and sketching on paper. I have gained a preference for quality 2mm mechanical rapid pro pencils by Rotring.

No wonder the RAF no longer use them, it appears we have all of their stock :E

NutLoose ... could be. I've just found a box of 7A/10147 Paper Fasteners, S.O. code 47-11 with a King's Crown ... and ditto 9A/437480 Polished Brass Draughtsmans Drawing Pins code 68-35. :)

spekesoftly ... (May I call you 'Fellow Squirrel'?) ... I went back into the drawer to check the top of my white chinagraph, and agree your findings! i envy you for having some 48-364 leads, though - wanna swap for some -716 or -720? ;)