Who Do You Think You Are? Encyclopedia of Genealogy (33 page)

Squadron Combat Reports held in AIR 50 cover the Second World War period and these can be used to supplement information found in the relevant Squadron's ORBs.

There are some miscellaneous units' ORBs covering 1912 to 1973 in AIR 29. The ORBs of smaller units were kept with those of the larger units to which they were attached.

ORBs for Stations to which your ancestor may have been posted are kept in AIR 28 for the period 1913 to 1966.

Groups ORBs for 1914 to 1970 can be found in AIR 25.

ORBs for the Wings from 1920 until 1964 are in AIR 26.

Commands' ORBs for 1920 to 1973 are in AIR 24.

There are also some logbooks for airships kept in AIR 3 for the First World War period and Aircrews' Flying Log Books for 1915 until 1983 are held in AIR 4. The South African Air Force ORBs from 1937 to 1947 are kept in AIR 54. Squadron Diaries of the Fleet Air Arm for 1939–57 contain similar information to RAF Operational Record Books.

There is a detailed guide to finding operational records for the RAF at The National Archives, which can be located online by going to the Research Guides page on their website and scrolling down the alphabetical index to ‘Royal Air Force: Operational Records'.

Operational Record Books for the most important event for the RAF during the Second World War, the Battle of Britain, have been transcribed into Daily Reports and can be searched for on www.raf.mod.uk/search. There are unit histories of all the Squadrons that took part, a list of the Stations they were based at and information about the periods they were resident there. If you had an ancestor who was involved in the Battle of Britain then this website is certainly worth a visit.

For a detailed history of the RFC, RNAS and RAF take a look at the History pages on the www.raf.mod.uk website, where there is an abundance of photographic archive material as well.

The RAF museum in Hendon, North London, has its own library and an archive mainly made up of documents donated by private individuals, ranging from personal diaries, letters and memoirs to service papers, log books and operational records. The museum's exhibits and collections include medals, uniforms, photographs, film footage and audio recordings, as well as aircraft, engines, weapons and vehicles. Visit www.rafmuseum.org to find out more and have a look at the RAF Online Exhibitions, or search the archive's records via the National Register of Archives at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra. The RAF also has a museum at Cosford in Shropshire that does not have an archive but does exhibit many aircraft and other large artefacts relating to the history of the Royal Air Force.