One Persons History of Flight (The Log Book)
In January 2022 I was kindly contacted by Mr Malcolm Wilton-Jones who had transposed his father's service log book onto a spreadsheet. It makes for a fascinating read as it starts with his basic initial training and ends with him flying on operations in Blenheim light bombers.
Unfortunately the way this web-site was configured does not allow me to up-load the spreadsheet. However, my good friend and nephew Lewis Greaves, who knows about such things, has managed to convert the entries into a format which I can use - as a long series of individual pages. To make the entries fit onto a page that is easily readable, it was necessary to omit some of the information in the original spreadsheet. However, I trust you will agree that the essential information, especially the comments, make for a remarkable record of events.
Page One
Page Two
Page Three
Page Four
Page Five
Page Six
Page Seven
Page Eight
Page Nine
Page Ten
Page Eleven
Page Twelve
Page Thirteen
Page Fourteen
Page Fifteen
Page Sixteen
Page Seventeen
Page Eighteen
Page Nineteen
Page Twenty
Page Twenty-one
Page Twenty-two
Page Twenty-three
Page Twenty-four
Page Twenty-five
Page Twenty-six
Page Twenty-seven
Page Twenty-eight
Page Twenty-Nine
Page Thirty
NOTES: What these records appear to show is that those in the know, in some of the higher echelons in the RAF at least, had realised that WW2 was inevitable, and by 1937 a very thorough training regime had been set in place. Look how long it took before he was posted to an operational squadron. And, even then, training exercises seem to have taken up more time than operational sorties. Which is highly commendable.
However, it is well worth reading the information available regarding how the Blenheim squadrons were actually deployed on so many sorties. Having spent so much effort, resources, and money, on such thorough training, in so many cases they were so often sent on missions which today appear to have been deliberately planned to inflict the maximum amount of casualties. Theories abound of course. Was it simply incompetence, ignorance, or perhaps, as some claim, the work of Nazi sympathisers embedded in the British military machine? Or indeed, a combination of all three?
I expect we will never know the answer?
However, it is well worth reading the information available regarding how the Blenheim squadrons were actually deployed on so many sorties. Having spent so much effort, resources, and money, on such thorough training, in so many cases they were so often sent on missions which today appear to have been deliberately planned to inflict the maximum amount of casualties. Theories abound of course. Was it simply incompetence, ignorance, or perhaps, as some claim, the work of Nazi sympathisers embedded in the British military machine? Or indeed, a combination of all three?
I expect we will never know the answer?
