No 20 Squadron Missing Operation Orders

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Permalink Reply by Tonia (from NAA) on March 7, 2013 at 22:05

Hi Nelson

It appears that the National Archives of Australia only has six items in the series A1128. This is the series in which the two items you mention belong. 

A11287	200/2/ORG	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Organisation - Change of Command Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1945 - 1945	3491700
A11287	2203/19/ENG	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Maintenance Policy and Organisation - Squadron Maintenance Detail Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1945 - 1945	3491702
A11287	29/2/AIR	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Nominal Rolls - Captains and Crews Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1943 - 1944	3491691
A11287	30/10/AIR	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Minelaying Operations - Radar Countermeasures Support Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1943 - 1944	3491697
A11287	Z1	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Operation Orders Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1945 - 1945	3491704
A11287	Z2	[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Operation Orders Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1943 - 1943	3491705

 I had a look at the series notes, which provides some information on the records in the series.  The note says that the two records in your posting were transferred to the National Archives by the Department of Defence without any control symbols or titles, and so the Archives gave them control symbols and titles based on what they thought were the contents of the file (Z1 and Z2).  I think that the information you are after may be in the item below (which has been digitised and is on RecordSearch). The details of this item in the database are as would have been provided by the Department of Defence:

A11287

30/10/AIR

[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Minelaying Operations - Radar Countermeasures Support Access status: Open Location: Canberra

1943 - 1944

3491697

I hope this helps

Tonia

(NAA staff)

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Permalink Reply by Nelson on March 12, 2013 at 21:09

Tonia,

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately the item you suggested (Barcode: 3491697) only contains one report for December 1944. Hence there are still missing operation orders for most of 1944.

Cheers,

Nelson

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Permalink Reply by National Archives of Australia on March 13, 2013 at 14:50

Hi Nelson

I looked for additional records that the Archives holds for No. 20 squadron, and found the unit history sheets for 1941-1946, which contains a record of the day to day operations. This may contain the information you are after,

Series: A9186

Control symbol: 41

Item title: RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50) [Operations Record Book - Forms A50 and A51] Number 20 Squadron Aug 41 - Mar 46

Contents date range: 1941 - 1946

Item barcode: 1358750

Location: Canberra

Access status: Open

 

The item has already been digitised (over 500 pages) so you will be able to view the record online using RecordSearch.

Regards

Tonia

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Permalink Reply by Nelson on March 14, 2013 at 11:56

Hi Tonia,

Thanks for your reply. You are correct in that the Operations Record Book for No.20 squadron (Barcode: 1358750) does contain day to day operational summaries. Similar information is also available in the Operations Record Book for the North Eastern Area Headquarters:

Series: A9186

Control symbol: 169

Item title: RAAF Unit History sheets (Form A50) [Operations Record Book - Forms A50 and A51] Northern Area Headquarters May 41 - January 42 and North Eastern Area Headquarters January 42 - Dec 45

Item barcode: 1359521

However, the information in these "operational record books" is brief when compared to the "operational orders" information in the two "[No 20 Squadron - General Reconnaissance/Flying Boat Squadron] - Operation Orders" documents.

The fact still remains there is a missing Operation Orders document(s) for No. 20 Squadron for 1944.

Another thing to consider is that from 27 Aug 1944 to 14 Nov 1945 the No.20's superior agency was "RAAF Headquarters No 76 (GR/FB) Wing" (series A11240). Searching on this series yields the following 8 results:

Series no.	Control symbol	Item title	Date range	Digitised item	Item barcode
	A11240	3/2/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Reports on Courting Operations Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3084904
	A11240	3/3/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Monthly mine laying record Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3084905
	A11240	3/4/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Jettison - Mines Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3084906
	A11240	7/19/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Courting Operations Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3084907
	A11240	7/52/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Operations instructions Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3084908
	A11240	7/65/AIR	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Timforce - Operations Access status: Not yet examined Location: Canberra	1945 - 1945		3084910
	A11240	908/3/P1	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Recommendations for honours and awards - all personnel [130pp] Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1944 - 1945		3045144
	A11240	Z1	[Headquarters No 76 Wing] - Record of operations - Ordered and completed Access status: Open Location: Canberra	1945 - 1945		3084911

So perhaps the missing "operational order" information is these documents? I can't tell because none of them have been digitised.

Regards,

Nelson

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