Catalogue description Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence: Operations Record Books, Royal Air Force Stations

This series consists of Operation Record Books (form 540) and appendices (form 541) for RAF Stations. Also included are some Operation Record Books for RAF Stations which, although under British command, were used by Dominion and allied air force units.

Though the system of Operation Record Books started after the First World War, few books in this series date from before the mid-1930s.

Air Ministry, 1918-1964

Ministry of Defence, 1947-

Royal Air Force, 1918-

From 1974 Ministry of Defence

The operation record books provide a comprehensive record of operations, patrols, training flights etc in war time. Listing targets attacked and unit losses, many include names of those involved in operations, and individual aircraft by serial number. In peacetime they provide a record of the units daily activities such as visits from other units, visits by the unit involved, visits by people the compiler of the record deems worthy of inclusion. There is normally a record of the weather that day, details of sporting activities. Summary of event forms (also known as Form 540) Squadrons are the main form of flying unit of the Royal Air Force (RAF). These include Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) squadrons incorporated into the RAF when it was formed on 1 April 1918, during the First World War. Other squadrons of the RAF include those from Commonwealth air forces which have served within the RAF structure and squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm before it transferred to the Royal Navy in 1939. Active squadrons are the full and part-time units of personnel and equipment that carry out the RAF's mission. RAF squadrons can fly aircraft or be ground based carrying out many different roles.