rjw 48 Posted March 8, 2013 I had two e-mail communications with Wayne Ralph relating to info on William Barker and he gave permission to quote him should anyone be interested. So here are two replies from him which might be interesting to anyone who has read the book or is interested in Barker. 1st Reply "I did not ever find original log books belonging to Barker VC. There is one photocopied log book in the National Archives collection. It presumably came from the Barker or Mackenzie family in the 1980s when they donated his medals, uniform, and personal letters. This log book only deals with his time as observer and pilot in Corps Cooperation. If he kept a log book when flying on Sopwith Camels and Sopwith Snipes (he was not required to!) it has disappeared. The log book of Sopwith Camel B6313 is held by the Imperial War Museum in London. Barker did not write in that book; it was kept by maintenance engineering personnel. B6313 was disassembled in Sept-Oct 1918, but some wise person retained the book and forwarded it to RAF HQ in England. Orval Barker told me that personal family material inc letters, weapons, pieces of enemy a/c, etc was stolen and/or never returned sometime after the Second World War by an American author. No other details. Cheers now" 2nd Reply "It is only a guess by me that he did not bother to write a daily entry for combat missions. He was not chatty or informative with his only surviving book (unlike his pal Gerry Birks) so even if a missing book surfaces it won't be educational. Much of what I am telling you is published in the footnotes and comments of my biography. You are welcome to share. Just please credit me online or in print. Cheers" Best Regards; Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Flyby PC 23 Posted March 9, 2013 For some reason, whenever I'm reading my own father's logbook as a wireless operator (1938-39), I always seem to remember the line in MGM's Battle of Britain when the Poles are getting a dressing down "Strict Wireless protocol must be observed at all times, and it is never, repeat never, to be used for idle Polish chit chat". (Sorry that's not word perfect, but close). There is very little chit chat in my Dad's log books. My point is, familiarity in a log book is less prevalent in the early pages, where all the information is very perfunctory, brief and to the point. I see the same in my own diving log books. You don't really 'open up' to include more personal observations until you are much more familiar with the practice of keeping a logbook, and presumeably seeing what other people are writing in their logbooks too. In the early log books, especially in the forces, I would expect them to be very formal 'classroom' type documents, but later logbooks might be much more informal and enlightening. It's a chore in the beginning, but the interest grows. Just to add however, when you get right into a logbook, and I mean anorak keen, there are all sorts of cross references you can make to other logbooks, other squadrons, locations and aircraft, and even the occassional 'celebrity' in air crews. It was also a lot of fun linking log book flight numbers with photographs. Maybe I was lucky with WW2 records, and there might be much less to learn about WW1, but I wouldn't say a logbook wasn't educational. I was amazed at the 'critical path' of information that fed through the logbook. For example, from a picture, to an aircraft number, to a flight, to a date, to a location, to the logbook, to a note naming a ship which could then be identified in the picture, where it was presumed to be one of two or three sister type. The logbook could string everything together and reveal ten times as much info. Just an observation... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rjw 48 Posted March 9, 2013 Hi Fltby-PC; Yes, I concurr with your observatins. That is why I always try to find out if logbooks are known to exist and if they are available when I read books about pilots. There is so much more to learn about the ;pilots nature and characteristics beyond the normal statistical data and related occurrances that are normally written in the biographical books. Letter home, diaries and log books can add so much more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shredward 12 Posted March 10, 2013 Check out Art Whealy's log books : http://whealy.com/grandfather/index.html Cheers, shredward Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rjw 48 Posted March 10, 2013 Check out Art Whealy's log books : http://whealy.com/gr...ther/index.html Cheers, shredward Thanks Shredward. It's exactly an example of what I was speaking to. Much appreciated! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
