The facility in which the logbooks were stored was the MoD Document Repository at Hayes. I know of individuals who were granted unique access to what was termed “the cage” – literally a cage in a large room in which certain documents were made available. Outside of the cage were shelves of said logbooks. On one occasion one individual made a note to look more closely at the logbooks on his next visit which was due to be the following week.
The following week work inevitibly got in the way.
When he finally returned the week afterwards he was horrified to find the shelves bare. When asked where the logbooks had gone, he was told that they had had a clear-out. “Oh, we were expecting you to have been here last week”, he was told.
When asked where they had gone, he was told that they had been bagged up and dumped outside to await collection to be destroyed. When he asked if he could delve into some of the bags to ascertain whether there were any specific logbooks of interest his request was politely but firmly declined on the grounds that it would make a mess.
The logbooks went.
Logbooks are, technically, still Crown property. At the end of an individual’s service he/she is supposed to hand them back. Of course this never happens in reality.
However, one time it does tend to happen – certainly in the past – is when that individual dies in service. The personal effects would be returned to the family but such a Crown document would have been returned to the system for storage.
It is our firm belief that on those shelves of logbooks were, amongst others, those of one Lieutenant Commander Eugene Esmonde who, of course, won the VC for his part in leading the attack on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during the ‘Channel Dash’ in February 1942. He was killed during the attack and his logbook has never surfaced. Presumably it was returned into the system and ended up at Hayes, never being claimed by his relatives.
It is a shameful episode in history that such documentation was willfully destroyed without a proper understanding of its value to future generations. Sadly, it’s not something consigned to the past; logbooks still slip through fingers even today. House clearances, the perceived financial value of the items and the subsequent constant threat of going to the highest bidder on eBay means that the national museums and major collections are often denied the opportunity to either take custody of originals or at the very least a photocopy.
The Fleet Air Arm Museum has a substantial collection of both original and photocopied logbooks in their archive and they always welcome new additions or loans for copying.
Indeed many years ago Peter Twiss had indicated that his logbooks would be forwarded to Yeovilton in the fullness of time. On that basis we waited patiently. Sadly, of course, they now seem to have disappeared into someone’s private collection which has robbed those of us seeking to record aviation history the opportunity to fill in significant gaps in coverage. I sincerely hope that whoever secured their purchase will ultimately allow the Museum to at least take a photocopy to ensure that a duplicate record can be kept in perpetuity.
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