Hi Kathryn,
If nobody in the family has your Uncle’s log book, it will have been retained by the RAF. The vast majority of these were tragically destroyed in the late 60’s, as they were taking up too much space! – more information here: -
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/collections/archive/aircrew_logbooks.cfm
It might be worth sending an enquiry to DoRIS (Dept. of Research & Information Services) at the RAF museum, Hendon, on the off-chance that your Uncle’s logbook was one of the few saved. I contacted them through the website, asking the same question about my Uncle’s logbook, and I also enquired about obtaining a copy of the Form 78 for his aircraft. A few weeks later, I received a lovely letter from them saying, unfortunately, my Uncle’s logbook was not amongst those saved, but they included a photocopy of the Form 78 and wished me good luck in my research; which I thought was nice. The on-line contact form is here: -
http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/research/contact.cfm
This page on the RAF website gives some details of the losses in November 1943:-
http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/nov43.html
I don’t know how you’d go about finding the crash site, but 431 Sqdn’s ORB (Operations Record Book) may give you more details. This can be viewed at the National Archives (formerly the Public Records Office) in Kew. You can also obtain these documents, or parts of them, on-line. Go to
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ for more info.
Go to ‘Search the archives’, then ‘the Catalogue’ and put the piece references below, in the box, in the top left hand corner – then click on ‘Go to reference’
431 ORB piece reference: AIR 27/1857
431 Combat Reports piece ref: AIR 50/259
For each one, click on the ‘Request this’ button on the right hand side, and follow the instructions to request an estimate of cost.
Hope that helps,
Dean.
