WW2 RAF pilots training diaries - help please

[honeycombe]

Hello all. I'm new to the site. I wondered if some of you might be able to help me. I recently acquired the diaries of a WW2 pilot. He was in the first wave of chaps to be shipped over on the 1st June 1941 to start his training in Arizona. It is an incredibly detailed set of daily diaries, charting his journey across on the boat from day to day activities through to precise cockpit descriptions. He writes beautifully, clearly a well educated man with a natural flare for descriptive writing. He draws sketches of his barracks and surrounding countryside and describes war and home life. There are parts of the wing of a plane stuck in a signed by a dozen other pilots. Its all just so fascinating! The diaries seem wasted with me now that i have read them.Have you any idea if an RAF museum might be interested in them or are these sorts of diaries fairly common? There are 6 large daily dairies and a scrap book 300-400 pages in total at a guesstimate. Thanks all. x

 

[Snautzer01]

There will be intrest plse see here: Allied and Soviet Air Forces - Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum
Those are gentlemen who research Allied and Soviet Air Forces. I will post there and direct them to this post.

 

[honeycombe]

Thank you so much, much appreciated x

 

[gumbyk]

Where was he from?

 

[honeycombe]

He was from Leicester.

 

[Airframes]

It might be possible that either The RAF Museum, Hendon, London, or the Imperial War Museum, Lambeth, London and Duxford, Cambridgeshire, could have an interest.
Both establishments hold numerous diaries and Log Books. but, as this one deals with training overseas, there might be a particular interest.

 

[gumbyk]

From your description, it sounds like they're ripe for publication, so that everyone can appreciate them. Especially as he was English, but trained in the U.S.

 

[vikingBerserker]

That actually would be a great idea!

 

[Ross Sharp]

Hello all. I'm new to the site. I wondered if some of you might be able to help me. I recently acquired the diaries of a WW2 pilot. He was in the first wave of chaps to be shipped over on the 1st June 1941 to start his training in Arizona. It is an incredibly detailed set of daily diaries, charting his journey across on the boat from day to day activities through to precise cockpit descriptions. He writes beautifully, clearly a well educated man with a natural flare for descriptive writing. He draws sketches of his barracks and surrounding countryside and describes war and home life. There are parts of the wing of a plane stuck in a signed by a dozen other pilots. Its all just so fascinating! The diaries seem wasted with me now that i have read them.Have you any idea if an RAF museum might be interested in them or are these sorts of diaries fairly common? There are 6 large daily dairies and a scrap book 300-400 pages in total at a guesstimate. Thanks all. x

Actually, if you are looking for someone to author this story and get it published, I would be happy to do so. I was last published in Flypast in 2015. If you are interested, please contact me at The People's Mosquito [email protected]

 

[Marcel]

Be careful with posting your email adres in plain text. You're inviting spammers.

But cool! Sounds like an interesting read.