RAF Air Gunner/Wireless Op Log Book 619 Sqn Lancastersflying Lancasters out of

[John Brandon]

Every once in a while something turns up that is a little bit special. As a dealer I always look at items as if I'm just a custodian waiting to pass it onto the next owner. This was offered to me, it has never been in a collection before. and it really does make some fascinating reading. It is a well documented squadron, flying Lancaster's out of bases in Lincolnshire. During the period the log book refers 17 April 1944 28 September 1944 RAF Dunholme Lodge, Lincolnshire 28 September 1944 30 June 1945 RAF Strubby, Lincolnshire. There are all of the training flights with the proper stamps in the book ranging from Wellingtons, Sterlings and of course Lancasters. The very first "OP" the crew carried out was attacking Givors in France. This is an extract of what the "owner" of the book, wrote about it afterwards

Givors is a small town in France with a population of around 24,000 and was important because it had a large rail network and marshalling yards, ideal for troop movements. As this was precision bombing our height over target was 7,000 ft and when we arrived the visibility was so poor that all aircraft were ordered to switch on their navigation lights to avoid any collision.

Our flying time on this operation was 9hours 32minutes.
As a crew we did 32 ops together



The “Operation” on the 4th Dec 1944 was formation bombing a town in Germany Heilbronn

This is an extract from Bomber Commands "diary for that night

On the night of Monday, 4th December 1944, Bomber Command operated a total of 1,000 sorties. 535 aircraft were briefed to attack Karlsruhe, 283 aircraft to attack Heilbronn and 182 aircraft were despatched to Hagen, Beiefeld, Hamm with 47 aircraft on Radio Counter Measures and 60 aircraft on patrols. From the night’s operations a total of 18 aircraft: 15 Lancasters, 2 Mosquitoes and a single Halifax would be struck off charge. From these 18 aircraft there were 104 casualties: 80 airmen died and 24 airmen became Prisoners of War.

This is one of those items that becomes so precious, not in monetary terms, but in human life, and death. It wasn't a cheap item to buy, but I couldn't resist it, and it is, as they say, a "keeper for sure" as I will not be parting with this item, no matter what!
I have attached some scans to give you an idea of it's content. The crew, as stated did 32 ops together and all survived. A rare feat by any stretch of the imagination

[harryamb2]

very nice find John.