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johnnie214
26th November 2009, 09:27
I was wondering if any members had access to the 357 Squadron ORB for 1945 as I am trying to find out more about operations carried out from May onwards.

Any help would be great.

Johnnie
Matt Poole
26th November 2009, 22:02
Hi, Johnnie,

I have some of it scanned, from June and July, and some hard copy ORB entries from before and after. Also many ops are mentioned in the book "Flights of the Forgotten" by K.A. Merrick, a copy of which I have. The squadron was a bit diverse, with Libs, Dakotas, and Lysanders. A detachment of four Libs went to Minneriya, Ceylon in May, where one was lost on 6 June over Malaya. Later the surviving three were joined by other Libs in Ceylon.

So my records are a bit spotty, but maybe I can help.

Cheers,

Matt
Matt Poole
27th November 2009, 02:43
Robert Quirk has the 357 Sqn microfilm and has begun transcribing it for his website. His rough first draft of 1944 only is up for viewing, but he warns that it is rough, with many anomalies/errors to clean up as time allows. Johnnie, I know you're focusing upon May 1945 and after, but I wanted to mention the existence of the 1944 files on Robert's site.

Matt
johnnie214
27th November 2009, 12:42
Many thnaks for the replies. I had been on his web site prior to posting here, and its a fantastic bit of work.

Are you by any chance the chap doing the work on the Liberator serials?

I'll send a PM.

Johnnie
Matt Poole
27th November 2009, 21:01
Yes, Robert's site is a treasure trove. He is constantly adding more transcribed ORBs of Liberator squadrons -- a monumental effort. It is a site concerned with the presentation of content, with little regard for fancy graphic display.

Have sent you a PM, Johnnie.

Yes, on Robert's website, and also on Gary Fowkes' RAF Liberators website you can find two of my RAF Lib-related serials documents (among my other submissions). One is a listing of serials found in 40-plus logbooks I've seen. The other is a compilation of errors, discrepancies, and further details pertaining to the book "The Liberator in RAF and Commonwealth Service" by James D. Oughton.

Regards,

Matt