WW II RAF Documentation

Thanks for that will contact them.

Ah, I see! Great thing to be a part of. I’m sure they’d be happy that you are talking to such an august body as this forum… ok, stop laughing!

Seriously though.. Hendon have the only centralised repository of logbooks – sadly only a ‘representative selection’ were kept back from a mass disposal in 1960. There is no published list that I am aware of, there was one prepared by a researcher a few years back but I haven’t seen it – a good Google should get you a name but your best bet is to contact the RAFM and ask.

Good luck!

Thanks Beermat Ha ha no I am not up to no good I have already been found out but that is mainly due to my user name. The Hurricane in question is Z2389 . I have just in the last few months been honoured to help with the restoration.
She only flew 20 times with 71 Eagle, and that was after all the press interest with the squadron, so no photo evidence, well not yet!!!

So from the ORB for May 1941 I have the following Pilots flying her
P/O T.P McGerty
P/O K.S.Taylor
P/O J Flynn
P/O R.C Ward
P/O P.B. Provenzano
P/O S.A Mauriello
P/O G.A. Daymond
P/O W.I. Hall
PO W.T. Ward

Must admit there are some good names there any idea where to look for the pilots log books?

The reason I have been coy is that the team have been working on this restoration for twenty years and I don’t want to upset them

..to add, if you are researching a particular pilot you shouldn’t just restrict yourself to his logbook if looking to establish a code letter. The ORB will show who else flew that aircraft, and they may have recorded the letter even if your man didn’t.

It really would help if you could explain what you are researching. Giving a specialist forum a serial will not cause any problems, unless you are up to no good. I can’t imagine how, mind.

There was no standard official document that ever existed to link the serial – which came ‘out of the factory’ as it were – with the code, which was applied in the field. The code depended in theory on the flight and even the section the aircraft’s pilot was expected to fly in but this quickly fell apart as a system when turnover of pilots and aircraft began to accelerate.

Pilot’s log books sometimes, but not always, gave both letters and numbers for each specific sortie. Apart from that it’s photo references, I’m afraid.

To be frank, if you can stop being coy about the serial you are much more likely to get someone on here with the photo or logbook reference needed to give the code.

I don’t think there’s anything official over and above the ORBs but I stand to be corrected.

What I am trying to do is find from official documentation. I am trying not to reveal the serial number on an open forum as it could cause some problems. As I say I have got copies of the ORBs when she was active with the Squadron and only the serial number is shown. Did the Squadrons have some documentation saying which serial number had XR-?
Thanks for your help so far.

It would help to know which specific Hurricane too.

XR was the unit code for 71 Sqn. V7608 carried XR-J at one point and Z3174 was XR-B.