206 Sqn Operations Record Book coastal command sortie query

Thanks Ross – that explains it precisely!

I knew there would be someone on the forum who knew!

Very early days of the command it was Search Area but come 1939 abbreviations took over and only S.A.

The area was defined by co-ordinates and could be changed to different co-ords depending on season or time of day

The S.A.s are the bounded sea areas on the wall map from HQ Coastal Command shown in the period photo below.

https://langhamdome.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/CH_013663-e1406300149603.jpg

S.A.4
Crossover patrol off North Sea
53 26N 03 30E
51 54N 02 28E
51 50N 03 00E
53 30N 03 00E

S.A.5
Crossover patrol off Western Approaches
49 15N 05 37W
47 31N 09 05W
47 11N 08 32W
49 36N 06 12W

A, B, C are the seasonal/time of day variants ordered

In addition to S.A.s the were also coastwise patrols and these were given names created using the from and to locations

eg Bert – Bergen to Stavanger, Stand – Stavanger to Kristiansand or your Emro – Emden to Rotterdam

Ross

Thanks Ian, that’s possible. Will check whether the summary for the respective days make reference to search operations too. I’m sure I’ve seen a wartime map of the North Sea somewhere too with a grid overlaid, which might help make sense.

Another sortie detail listed (though I’ve only noted it once now) appears to be EMRO, if I’m reading the first letter right. Any thoughts on that one?

Maybe it’s Emergency Maritime Reconnaissance Operations???? But only guessing!

Thanks Ian, that’s possible. Will check whether the summary for the respective days make reference to search operations too. I’m sure I’ve seen a wartime map of the North Sea somewhere too with a grid overlaid, which might help make sense.

Another sortie detail listed (though I’ve only noted it once now) appears to be EMRO, if I’m reading the first letter right. Any thoughts on that one?

Could “S.A.” be Search Area?

Just guessing

Ian