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The Operations Record Book Other than the terse mysteries of the personal Record of Service forms, perhaps the next most misunderstood official RAF document is the Operations Record Book, although its functions and varying imperfections are quite well-recorded in a variety of places, including the various Guides published by The National Archives UK and others. So for example, the correct title is indeed as shown: Operations Record Book or RAF Form 540, often nowadays the ORB for short. The National Archives UK Discovery catalogue refers to these as Summary of Events, although that is no more than a column heading on the Form. Written up as a monthly diary, it is some times said that only Squadrons kept these formal records, and then only while operational in war-time. In fact all units including HQs were required to keep such a record—whether in time of war or peace, whether operational or stood-down, and from formation until disbanded. The Form 541 Detail of Work Carried Out, the daily summary of sorties, was an additional requirement: an Appendix form to be completed for major operations, and continuously in time of war. The form is referred to by National Archives UK as Record of Events, again a misnomer (if convenient). It is sometimes thought that the Operations Record Book is made up only of the Form 540 and Form 541. In fact the expected Appendices (of which the Form 541 was just the first) vary somewhat over the course of the war, and might include any or all relevant operational orders, combat reports, raid reports, photographs, pro-forma strength and equipment tables and (in the India and Burma theatre, for example) the Sortie Report or OPREP. As a historical record, the Operations Record Book is, like the Flying Log Book of individual aircrew, a rich source of wonder and sadness, delight and frustration: varying in completeness and accuracy from day to day, much dependent for its quality upon the immediate needs of the moment and the man. Nor is it all that unusual to find discrepancies between the ORB and the Flying Log Books of aircrew for the same event (or even between individual Log Books). Indeed, this is true of every conceivable form of war-time Service document, whether original or summary, primary and thus contemporary, or secondary reportage then or later. From every period, in every circumstance: all are liable to error, omission or loss, whether in press of war or in carefree peace. What was wanted “2349. Operations Record Book.—1. Every unit and each formation headquarters will maintain continuously in duplicate an Operations Record Book (Form 540). 2. The object of the Operations Record Book is to furnish a complete historical record of the unit or headquarters from the time of its formation, including an accurate record of each operation carried out by the unit. Officers responsible for compiling the Operations Record Book are to ensure that the entries made are sufficient to achieve this object. 3. Entries should include 4. During major operations or when a unit is placed upon a war footing, the Operations Record Book will be compiled from day to day and the following documents will be attached as appendices to the original and duplicate copies of the book: 4A. Form 765A will be completed in full and inserted as an additional appendix to Form 540 when special instructions to this effect have been issued by the Air Ministry, In these circumstances a copy of the form will be rendered daily to the Air Ministry as required by para. 41 of Chapter XX of the R.A.F. War Manual, Part II (A.P. 1301). If the special instructions have not been issued, operational flying and armoured car units engaged in minor operations will complete certain parts of the form only, as specified on the form. A copy of the modified Form 765A will be inserted in Form 540 but a copy will not be forwarded to the Air Ministry. 4B. Non-operational units, flying and non-flying, will not in any event use Form 765A. They will use Form 765B or 765D in accordance with the instructions given in A.P. 1301, Chapter XX, para. 41. Form 765B and Form 765D will not be inserted as appendices to Form 540. 5. Events should be entered up promptly, otherwise much of importance may inadvertently be omitted. 6. Writing will be on both sides of Form 540 and will be distinct. Names of persons and places will be given in block capitals. The spelling of place names will be that shown on the latest maps issued. Map references will be given. 7. The Operations Record Book (Form 540) will be secret. 8. The extraction of appendices, maps, etc., from the Operations Record Book (Form 540) is an offence under the Official Secrets Act. 2. When a unit is placed upon a war footing, or is called upon to undertake major operations the performance of which may make it difficult for the unit to provide safe custody for the original Operations Record Book, this, with appendices, will be sent through the usual channels to the Air Ministry together with the duplicate form (and appendices) compiled since the beginning of the year. A new record will immediately be started as directed in para. 2349, clause 4. 3. During the conditions referred to in clause 2, both original and duplicate copies of Form 540, together with all relevant appendices, will be forwarded monthly through the usual channels to the headquarters of the command or force. The latter will forward the original (and appendices) as soon as possible after the end of each calendar month to the Air Ministry. It will forward the duplicate copy to the Air Ministry when the copy is no longer required for reference, in any case not later than six months after its receipt from the unit. 4. On the resumption of normal conditions, the Operations Record Book (Form 540) of any unit which has forwarded it to the Air Ministry for safe custody under the terms of clause 2 will be returned to the unit, and the action described in clause 1. will be recommenced 5. When a unit is disbanded or otherwise loses its identity, both copies of the Operations Record Book will be completed to the date of disbandment by the insertion of full details of the unit's distribution and will then be forwarded to the Air Ministry.” The Operations Record Book was thus intended as a running history recording the life of each RAF unit in peace and war, its content laid down by formal regulation. The extent to which these requirements were met in practice and in action is another matter, varying not only according to the immediate needs of the chain of command but also in depth, completeness and accuracy, both over time and between units, according to the whim, resources or application of the signing CO and his compiling officer in the Adjutant’s Office. And subject, too, in time of war, to damage and loss (or, as a Secret Document, to destruction if ordered). What was done Decorations are generally recorded, regardless of rank. Casualties, whether in action, or through accident or illness, are almost invariably recorded, regardless of rank or duty. Sometimes the detailed reports from the various ground Sections are also included, either as Appendices or, later in the war, fairly consistently as part of the Form 540.
“See instructions for use of this form in KR and ACI para 2349 and War Manual Part II chapter XX and notes in RAF Pocket Book.” RAF Form 541
Appendices Subsequently, these were sometimes filed together with the Forms 540 but more often separately—in which case the TNA Catalogue shows them, where they exist, as Appendices in separate “pieces” in the relevant AIR Class, though not necessarily numbered in order of creation. Entries in the TNA Discovery catalogue warrant close study of description and order, in the initial Search results and when checking the Browse from here option, lest the full set be missed. What remains The filing of the various parts and periods is sometimes complex, occasionally muddled, and sometimes incomplete. For 211 Squadron, the main run of the Operations Record Book Form 540s and Form 541s for 1937 to 1941 is in “piece” 1302: the TNA reference therefore is AIR 27/1302. So, for example, because the 211 Squadron record in AIR 27/1303 began in January 1944, the period for 1943 in India was thought by some to be missing, but it had simply been filed all along with earlier material: in AIR 27/1302. For 1940 and 1941 all other Appendices are held in AIR 27/1304, 1311, 1312 and 1313. Those for 1944 and 1945 are in AIR 27/1305, 1306, 1307, 1308, 1309 and 1310. Details of all the remaining 211 Squadron records held are shown below in date order. Whatever order they are now filed in—not always date order—the documents in any individual item or piece might also be stamp-numbered in sequence at some point. Clues to missing documents can be found by comparing the original, written, page numbering order with the stamped sequence, by date and piece number. Pages apparently missing from an archived set may simply turn out to be pages missed on photocopying. 211 Squadron Operations Record Book The remaining 211 Squadron set is laid out in detail below and in more summarised form on the Sources page. For some periods, substantial parts of the remaining record were scarcely legible as paper copies: in recent years, the creation of digital greyscale PDF images has eased that difficulty somewhat. June 1937 to May 1940 June 1940 July 1940 to February 1941 March to June 1941 July 1941 to November 1941 December 1941 to March 1942 August to December 1943 January 1944 to May 1945 January and February 1944 AIR 27/1305 June 1945 to March 1946 72 Operational Training Unit Operations Record Book November 1941 to January 1942 Transcripts 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943 and 1946. For 1942, I have compiled a partial reconstruction from available Flying Log Books, Diaries and other records of the day, in the absence of the formal Squadron record. The sheer volume (and legibility) of available material for the years 1944 and 1945 makes further transcription essentially impractical. The copies gathered some years ago, thanks to Elizabeth Kaegi, have been of considerable use in drafting personal accounts and aircraft fates. In the meantime, digital retrieval at the UK National Archives has at last made at least Squadron records readily accessible to all, at reasonable cost. Sources Air Ministry The King’s Regulations and Air Council Instructions (AP 958) HMSO 1943
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