W J (Bill) Crimmin’s Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot’s Flying Log Book. One
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Title
W J (Bill) Crimmin’s Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot’s Flying Log Book. One
Description
Bill Crimmin’s Pilot’s Flying Log Book from 19th June 1941 until 29th December 1944. During this time he trained as a pilot.
Training started at No. 4 British Flying Training School in Phoenix, Arizona. This continued at No. 3 Service Flying training School, 1517 Beam Approach Training Flight and 25 Operational Training Unit before being posted to 115 Squadron for operations in August 1942. In March 1943 posted to 161 Squadron and then 1483 (Bomber) Gunnery Flight.
Posted to 1655 Mechanical Transport Unit in January 1944 and then 192 Squadron for Special Duty operations. September 1944 saw a posting to Bomber Command HQ Courier Flight.
Served at Thunderbird Field (Phoenix), Falcon Field (Mesa), RAF South Cerney, RAF Ipswich, RAF Finningley, RAF Bircotes, RAF Marham, RAF Mildenhall, RAF East Wretham, RAF Oakington, RAF Tempsford, RAF Newmarket, RAF Foulsham, RAF Halton.
Aircraft flown were Boeing-Stearman PT 17, Vultee BT13A Valiant, North American AT6A Texan, Oxford, Anson, Wellington, Wellington III, Halifax V, Wellington X, Stirling, Martinet, Lancaster, Mosquito, Tiger Moth, Moth Minor, Auster, Proctor, Hornet Moth.
With 115 Squadron he flew 21 bombing operations (2 day, 18 night), 13 night minelaying operations and 1 night special duties. His targets were Mainz, Flensburg, Ameland, Saarbrucken, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Duisburg, Norderney, Dusseldorf, Samso Island, Lingen, Krefeld, Aachen, Osnabruck, La Rochelle, Kiel, Cologne, Genoa, Turin, Frankfurt, Neuwerk Island, Lorient.
His pilot on his first two operations was Sergeant Norrington, and then he flew as 1st pilot on all further operations.
Flying with 192 Squadron he flew 37 night Special Duties operations. Targets for these operations were Dortmund, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Wittenburg, Karlsruhe, The Ruhr, Aachen, Berlin, Liege, Brest, Cologne, Duisburg, Brunswick, Bordeaux, Laval, Paris, Gelsenkirchen, Neufchatel, Watten, Vitry-le-François, Orleans, Dunkerque, Revigny, Bourges, Wesseling, Hamburg, Stettin, Stendal.
Whilst carry out a Special Duties operation to Vitry on 28th June 1944 his aircraft was attacked and damaged by a Mosquito night fighter resulting in a forced landing at RAF Friston. No injuries were sustained.
Training started at No. 4 British Flying Training School in Phoenix, Arizona. This continued at No. 3 Service Flying training School, 1517 Beam Approach Training Flight and 25 Operational Training Unit before being posted to 115 Squadron for operations in August 1942. In March 1943 posted to 161 Squadron and then 1483 (Bomber) Gunnery Flight.
Posted to 1655 Mechanical Transport Unit in January 1944 and then 192 Squadron for Special Duty operations. September 1944 saw a posting to Bomber Command HQ Courier Flight.
Served at Thunderbird Field (Phoenix), Falcon Field (Mesa), RAF South Cerney, RAF Ipswich, RAF Finningley, RAF Bircotes, RAF Marham, RAF Mildenhall, RAF East Wretham, RAF Oakington, RAF Tempsford, RAF Newmarket, RAF Foulsham, RAF Halton.
Aircraft flown were Boeing-Stearman PT 17, Vultee BT13A Valiant, North American AT6A Texan, Oxford, Anson, Wellington, Wellington III, Halifax V, Wellington X, Stirling, Martinet, Lancaster, Mosquito, Tiger Moth, Moth Minor, Auster, Proctor, Hornet Moth.
With 115 Squadron he flew 21 bombing operations (2 day, 18 night), 13 night minelaying operations and 1 night special duties. His targets were Mainz, Flensburg, Ameland, Saarbrucken, Karlsruhe, Bremen, Duisburg, Norderney, Dusseldorf, Samso Island, Lingen, Krefeld, Aachen, Osnabruck, La Rochelle, Kiel, Cologne, Genoa, Turin, Frankfurt, Neuwerk Island, Lorient.
His pilot on his first two operations was Sergeant Norrington, and then he flew as 1st pilot on all further operations.
Flying with 192 Squadron he flew 37 night Special Duties operations. Targets for these operations were Dortmund, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Nuremberg, Wittenburg, Karlsruhe, The Ruhr, Aachen, Berlin, Liege, Brest, Cologne, Duisburg, Brunswick, Bordeaux, Laval, Paris, Gelsenkirchen, Neufchatel, Watten, Vitry-le-François, Orleans, Dunkerque, Revigny, Bourges, Wesseling, Hamburg, Stettin, Stendal.
Whilst carry out a Special Duties operation to Vitry on 28th June 1944 his aircraft was attacked and damaged by a Mosquito night fighter resulting in a forced landing at RAF Friston. No injuries were sustained.
The log book also includes a hand written note from the Officer Commanding RAF Foulsham giving Commendatory Endorsements in regards the Mosquito night fighter attack on 27/28th June 1944.
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One booklet
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This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
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Identifier
LCrimminWJ[Ser#-DoB]v1
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Citation
Great Britain. Royal Air Force, “W J (Bill) Crimmin’s Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot’s Flying Log Book. One,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 16, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/58615.