Lancaster BMk111 A Rear Gunners Tale

[Blake7]

My Grandfather(Sgt D.W.Hornsby) Was a rear gunner on Avro Lancasters during WW2 and completed his operational Tour between May 1943 And December 1944 my Grandfather passed away in 1985 but my family have his log books in our possesion.

We Gave permission to The 156 Pathfinder Squadron Association to publish his log books online and i would like to give you this link so you can look at them and it gives a personnel insight into R.A.F. Air crew activities and exsperiences.

                                                                  Here Is The Link
                                                      http://www.156squadron.com/DWHornsby.asp
There is available his Flying Log And His Personnel Notes were He and fellow Aircrew would make comments on raid events.

I would like readers to pass comment on the books and also if they had family who served during ww2 tell us all they can about there experiences and this also applies to those who read this who did serve.

I am especially interested to hear from any one who can give a accurate account of the control system of the B17 Rear Turret.

[beau32]

nice thanks for the readint!

[CAP1]

wow...i just linked the page so i could read more later.

thanks sir!

one thing i noticed though. he wrote his night time flights in red. i;m surprised he wrote in his logbook in red. a lot of pilots i know refuse to write in red.....dunno why, but they won;t.


<<S>>

[Blake7]

wow...i just linked the page so i could read more later.

thanks sir!

one thing i noticed though. he wrote his night time flights in red. i;m surprised he wrote in his logbook in red. a lot of pilots i know refuse to write in red.....dunno why, but they won;t.


<<S>>

Thank you sir for taking the time to check out the the web page. In regards to my Grandfather Writing his ops in red as far as i know it was to help him keep track how many Ops he had done. In the R.A.F. during WW2 an Operational Tour was 35 missions.Other entries are put in the log book such as Air Tests after repairs,Cross Country Training Exercises And Fighter Affilliation Flights.The Whole Crew had to be in the aircraft.

I can tell you though Pilots fear of writing in red probablly comes from Superstition.Thinking about it gives rise to the fact that it was probablly considered Unlucky to write in the log in the same colour as blood.

[007Rusty]

wow thanks for sharing 

[Stoney]

wow...i just linked the page so i could read more later.

thanks sir!

one thing i noticed though. he wrote his night time flights in red. i;m surprised he wrote in his logbook in red. a lot of pilots i know refuse to write in red.....dunno why, but they won;t.


<<S>>

I thought Red Ink indicated a combat mission?

[Wobbly]

Thanks for posting Blake, very interesting read, you must be very proud 

[DustyR]

Thanks so much for sharing your grandfathers log.  You should be proud, one fine airman.
Sgt D.W.Hornsby 

[FTJR]

The Red ink, imho,  is to distinguish between a night flight (combat) and a day flight...  If you look at the start times, it makes sense. You can then look at the top of the book and see hour many hours day/ night have been flown prior to that page.

Thanks for sharing.