Filed under RAF Squadrons and Operations Records: A Method Guide
Where should you start looking?
Research a loss from the operation entry, the casualty record and the service record together, in that order. One source alone can mislead on crew, aircraft or place, so a loss is only settled when the sources agree.
Before you search, decide what would count as a match for this person, and write that standard down, so a near match cannot quietly become a match. A search term that returns nothing in one catalogue may return everything in another, because catalogues index different fields. Try the holder catalogue directly.
Making sense of what you find
An entry that flatters, an entry that blames, and an entry that is purely routine are written for different readers. The reader shapes the wording. Do not read a unit diary as if it were written for you. It was written for the unit, in unit shorthand, and personal details appear only where the unit needed them. The order of sheets in a file is not always the order of events. Rebuild the date order yourself, and do not trust filing order to do it for you.
What are the common dead ends?
If a published history fills a gap smoothly, be suspicious of the smoothness. Original records leave gaps, and a history that shows none may have filled them without saying so. A record set described as complete usually means complete for its own purpose, not complete for yours. Check what the set was made to record.
- A squadron disbanded or renumbered, breaking a simple number trail.
- An operations book that is thin or missing for the exact dates.
- A crew list that gives initials rather than full names.
- A published history that fills gaps without saying so.
Working through it in order
Order matters more than speed here. The same records, opened in a different order, produce a different timeline, and only one of those orders can be checked. If you are unsure which step comes first, choose the step that fixes a date. Dates order everything else, and an unfixed date disorders everything else. Work forward through time, not backwards, unless a later record is the only one that names the earlier period. Forward is the direction records explain.
- Take the posting dates from the personal file before opening any unit record.
- Open the operations record book for those dates only, and note its reference.
- Check names, ranks and roles in crew or personnel lists against the personal file.
- Use station records and published histories only after the unit record for those dates has been read.
What should you check next?
Where this record and another disagree, the next record should be one that can explain the disagreement, not one that repeats one side of it. Work the chain one link at a time. A timeline built link by link can be checked; a timeline built by jumping to the most interesting record cannot. A short timeline built from records beats a long story built from guesses.
Primary sources for this guide
This guide keeps its claims general and points to the official holders, so the holder itself is the place to check the current position. It is general educational information only, not personal professional advice, and it offers no record lookup service and no determination of any individual's service.