Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and 40 Boston bombers in 1942 – can serials be identified?

[Dan History]

Originally Posted by Stig Jarlevik

To get any further I believe a good starting point is to get the relevant British AM 78 cards and the
corresponding US IARCs

Stig,

Thank you for your message.

I have seen plenty of examples of the Air Ministry Form 78 (Aircraft Movement Card) and the USAAF Individual Aircraft Record Card (IARC). I also have a copy of Robert A. Mann’s Aircraft Record Cards of the United States Air Force: How to Read the Codes. There is even a YouTube video on the subject, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et021XJDoes

None of that helps very much in identifying these 40 Bostons, because both the American and the British cards were intended to record the service of a particular aircraft within the USAAF or RAF. Transfers to other air forces are not recorded consistently, or with any clarity even in cases when these are in fact recorded. Since these Bostons were transferred initially from U.S. control to some RAF rear services unit and then to SAAF squadrons, it is not at all likely that the record cards will contain any relevant information. The place to look is either SAAF records, or else the records of the RAF rear services units in Iraq. Have any members of this forum looked at either of these sets of sources?

Kind regards,

Dan