Missing RAF Operational Records Book

No, the second tranche wont be through to the end of hostilities. It will be quite a long process, I fear.

Thanks Andy.

If they were doing August 1940 through to the end of hostilities I can see how it might have taken longer than the first tranche, 1939-40..

Looking forward very much to the forthcoming ‘release’ of records – there might be some interesting results to a proper reading of some of these files.

If you email me, Beermat, I will try to get you a PDF of the feature which you should find enlightening!

The process is not dealt with by either AHB or TNA, but a specialised MOD Department. I do know that a whole tranche of documents post 16 August 1940 is ready to be transferred to TNA and must be imminent. However, the scale of the task is absolutely massive on the part of the MOD office, who supply them ‘shelf-ready to TNA: boxed, indexed, referenced etc. Once delivered to TNA they are ready for public access, and all TNA have to do, in effect, is to receive them.

The delay is not on the part of the MOD section who are dealing with the transfers.

Many thanks to all who replied. Agreed with the thinking needed sometimes to reveal what the Discovery search engine holds.

Spoke to AHB and they have confirmed they are not holding the ORB I seek.

So its back to Kew and a rethink on the question to ask methinks.

You never did mention the ORB you’re looking for….?

Loads of ORB’s, War Diaries etc are not available because they simply do not exist: they once did, but are now lost forever. Generally the farther back one goes the worse it becomes, but I know that a number of 1960’s-era books don’t survive either.

Folks didn’t think it mattered back then, sadly.

Hi Andy

I do mean the casualty packs. I did not use the term as it might not mean as much to those who hadn’t heard it used in context. The NA have them as ‘Enquiries into Missing Personnel, 1939-1945 War”

Both the AHB and the NA were unhelpful, and in the case of the AHB rude to the point of obnoxiousness, when I asked about the process in relation to a very specific item.

Because I am not used to this aggressively negative tone from dedicated and knowledgeable people, I was led to believe (wrongly, perhaps) that the people who dealt with my inquiry were neither. I have not read that issue of ‘Britain at War’. What is the process in ‘preparing’ the casualty packs? They would not tell me – I guess I am not a magazine journalist, just a member of the public with an inquiry. I appreciate the sensitivities, but that should be all the more reason to deal professionally with the public.

It does seem to be taking longer than anticipated.

Many thanks to all who replied. Agreed with the thinking needed sometimes to reveal what the Discovery search engine holds.

Spoke to AHB and they have confirmed they are not holding the ORB I seek.

So its back to Kew and a rethink on the question to ask methinks.

The ‘missing’ aircrew records (I presume you mean the RAF casualty Packs?) are being carefully prepared by a dedicated and very knowledgeable MOD team at Portsmouth rather than a ‘minor functionary’. It is not being carried out by AHB.

We covered the full story of this operation in a special feature quite recently in ‘Britain at War’ magazine.

A good start for the ORB would be to put in a request to AHB. I’d very much doubt it is with the Portsmouth team, although they are looking at a the release and archive of a huge remit of other historic MOD documents – an absolutely massive task. Some of it is still restricted or secret and not yet for release.

Yes, the problem seems to be in the transfer of files from the AHB to Kew. It is still going on now, with missing aircrew records. Some minor functionary is justifying their existence by making what should be a simple transfer of files and a catalogue from one place to another into a process that looks like taking ten years or more, and that seems to involve a destruction of some records as policy.

Some lateral thinking is required to get the best results from the Discovery sprite.

I thought some stuff was held at the Air Historical Branch before transfer to Kew. It has to moulder somewhere for thirty years first? Someone “weeds” out documentation before the public get to see it first, ISTR that about 98% or so gets binned as “not of interest”
Maybe it has been mis-identifed in “Discovery?” Try using broader parameters when searching on line. I always feel that a capricious sprite lives inside its search engine.