Battle of Britain Squadron ORB accuracy

[Jon]

I have found what i think are many errors on 1940 Battle of Britain Squadron ORBS.
Just how accurate are they, is it possable the ORB can record the wrong pilot on a certain operation or forget him completley... show wrong aircraft serial numbers and even forget to mention "little" things such as pilots getting shot down ?
I appreciate during the summer of 1940 filling in forms came low down a list of thigs to do but can they really be that poor sometimes.
Have you all experienced this too?
I am asking the question as somethings with 238 Squadron just do not add up againts the ORB.

Thanks

Jon

[Peter Cornwell]

Jon,

In short, the answer is 'Yes' to all you said. But don't be too quick to dismiss the ORBs entirely for they are only as good or as bad as the squadron scribe at the time they were compiled and, by the way, they are usually all we have. Some can be total nonsense on occasion (No. 610 Squadron is a good example), many others are less than reliable, while a few (No.609 Squadron comes to mind) are real gems. In my experience they are best approached with complete objectivity - if you consult them expecting full and immediate confirmation of some self-fulfilling prophecy you will normally be disappointed.

[Chris Goss]

Another bad example is 213 Sqn but as Peter said, it is down to the diarist. For example, the ORB for Hawkinge in Oct 40 says, from what I remember, 'Nothing Significant to Report'. They were busy and hectic times for all

[CJE]

It remembers me the famous entry in Louis XVI's diary for the 14th of July 1789 when he wrote : "rien à signaler" (nothing to report) ! Three years and a half later he would be beheaded because of this fateful day.

[Hans Nauta]

Dear Jon,

During past years I've checked thousends of ORB entries and yes, there are a lot of mistakes regarding serials, dates, names and lesser details.

However, just as Peter stated, it's almost the only thing there is, but I would suggest to cross check the entries with those on Wing, Group or Station level to have reliable data.

At the other hand, if everything was available and 100% true, what kind of fun would be left regarding our attempts in reconstructing unknown parts of air war history?

Good hunt and best regards,
Hans Nauta

[Jon]

If a Squadron ORB does not mention a certain pilot but, i have reason to believe he was flying that day, how can i look further into it to establish a definate yes or no?

[James A Pratt III]

This is O/T but Louis XVI wrote "nothing" alot in his diary because, it was his hunting diary and he didn't do any hunting ect that day.

[paulmcmillan]

Another option is to use the ORB andvstation records. To get a list of all aircraft with 238 Sqn. And then look up the aircraft record card and any accident card to see if the loss of 21st July 1940 is listed. Also Aircraft of the Few by Bowyer has a 238 BoB aircraft serial number listing from 1st July and some fates where known. 238 lost an aircraft on the 20th and the pilot was rescued from the sea but died a day later in hospital (the 21st!)... It did occur to me that this story and Banns may have been confused in some official records!

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Jon

If a Squadron ORB does not mention a certain pilot but, i have reason to believe he was flying that day, how can i look further into it to establish a definate yes or no?

If you don't have the man's logbook, the answer would be to cross-reference with any other source that you can find/think of. This might be higher formations' ORBs (as has been suggested already), other pilots' sortie reports (surviving ones are at the National Archives), letters, diaries, printed memoirs etc. Anything that might mention your guy's name, in fact.

Also at the National Archives you can find Medical Officers' reports for some Squadrons (usually headed "Medical History of the War") and, appended to ORBs, there are sometimes Personal [or is it Personnel?] Occurrence Reports. Most of these are adminstrative but they might reveal something about a person's health or whereabouts at a given time.

[Peter Cornwell]

Originally Posted by Jon

If a Squadron ORB does not mention a certain pilot but, i have reason to believe he was flying that day, how can i look further into it to establish a definate yes or no?

Jon,

You cannot. Nothing is ever definite for long with this type of research and the best one can hope to achieve is a fairly accurate picture of what occurred for, as the saying goes, 'absence of evidence is not evidence of absence'. But have you also considered that things simply didn't happen the way you have 'reason to believe' ?