RAF aircraft periodic inspections

[robstitt]

Pavel, on the Form 78s I’ve seen, they’re annotated ‘M.I.’ for Major Inspection but I don’t know how consistently this was applied. Please let us know what you find if you go that route.

Robert

[CZ_RAF]

Robert, it is very good remark!

Results - 311 Sq Wellingtons only:
1) one kite where I know date of 320 hr inspection really has MI at the date when flown from squadron to Sywell,
2) some have MI when assigned to MU and than returned back to squadron,
3) some have MI noted next to the record when damaged - I suppose when the repair was done close to the limit for inspection, the inspection was done at once,
4) some have not MI noted in the whole service record even there are recorded flown hours >400.
5) some have abbreviations DA or MR or RE noted in the same manner as MI but I do not know if they are related as I have not their explanation in my list of abbreviations.

So the conclusion is - yes sometimes MI is noted but not always. So nothing is 100% (as usually:-)
Also it is impossible to find out which of those MIs is noted as flown times are not always recorded.

Anyway I have to say it is very good quidance and I am please I was able to learn something new!

Pavel

[robstitt]

Hi Pavel,

Glad that was useful.

Am sure someone here has the answer for those abbreviations. Just guessing... DA: Damage Assessment?, MR: Major Repairs?, RE: errrrr? Perhaps what happened to the aircraft just beforehand, such as hit by flak or belly-landed, would provide a clue.

I went through all 67 Coastal Command Fortress IIA/II/III Form 78s and none of them had these abbreviations. Perhaps they were Wellington-related.

I’ve found there’s no end of head-scratching analyzing these forms. Some entries will always defy being solved but once in a while all the threads come together. Michael Bowyer once told me that there was just a handful of ladies at any one time receiving the movement information and making the Form 78 entries. One can only imagine the volume of transactions as the war ground on - there were bound to be a ‘few’ errors!

Robert

[bvs]

Hi Pavel
Re the Wellington I wonder if RAFM/Cosford may still have the original F700 for their a/c,as with the first image I posted above any changes/amendments to the inspection cycle might be hand written (amended by hand) and any changes might be visible.

rgds baz