Charles Cuthill’s pilots flying log book
Title
Charles Cuthill’s pilots flying log book
Description
Pilots flying log book for C R Cuthill, covering the period from 11 June 1942 to 30 April 1948. Detailing his flying training, operations flown and instructor duties. He was stationed at RAF Perth, US NAS Gross ile, US NAS Pensacola, RCAF Charlotte Town, RAF Little Rissington, RAF Chipping Warden, RAF Edgehill (aka RAF Shenington), RAF Stradishall, RAF Feltwell, RAF Methwold, RAF Gamston, RAF Lulsgate Bottom, RAF Finningly, RAF Abingdon, RAF Silverston and RAF Swinderby. Aircraft flown in were Tiger Moth, N3N, SNV-1 Valiant, Texan, P2Y-3, Catalina, Stearman, Oxford, Wellington, Stirling, Lancaster, Master, Dominie, Anson, and Proctor. He flew a total of 27 operations with 149 Squadron, 20 daylight and 7 night. Targets were Calais, Saarbrucken, Dortmund, Duisburg, Bonn, Stuttgart, Neuss, Essen, Walcheren, Homberg, Castrop-Rauxel, Heinsberg, Gelsenkirchen, Fulda, Cologne, Osterfeld, Oberhausen, Merseburg, Witten and Ludwigshafen.
The following handwritten notes have been added:
23.3.44. If you look at my logbook for this date, you’ll see that some hard rubbing has taken place in the line. I believe this showed when I received a ‘Red Endorsement’.
Now if you look at the back of this logbook, you’ll find a ‘Green Endorsement’ - & at the time I received it, the ‘Red Endorsement’ was ripped out (& at the time, I resented this because I was rather proud of the red one).
About 1949, all red endorsements were cancelled & the person (presumably) who issued the Green, had ripped out the Red.
The Red said something like:
“he overtook & passed another aircraft (both aircraft where [sic] Oxfords!) on the perimeter track”. The pilot of the other aircraft had been the C.F.I. – an overtaking without a crash, was an impossibility. To have said ‘cut him out’, might have been nearer the truth.
CC 1/9/86
[underlined] INSTANCES OF AVOIDANCE BY EXCEPTIONAL FLYING SKILL AND JUDGMENT OF LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT OR PERSONNEL [/underlined]
[underlined]Wellington X NA 796 9th September 1947. [/underlined]
Whilst flying as instructor on night circuits and landings F/O Cuthill ordered his pupil to carry out a practice overshoot at 300 [feet?]. On opening up, smoke and flame came from starboard engine F/0 Cuthill immediately took over, feathered the engine & carried out a single engine circuit & landing. The aircraft lost hight [sic] to 150 ft. because the flaps were slow in coming up but in spite of this F/O Cuthill made a successful single engine landing with no damage to the aircraft. F/O Cuthill showed outstanding skill and airmanship in landing his aircraft under very difficult circumstances.
W. R. Wills Sandford
Group Captain, Commanding
[underlined]R.A.F. Station, Swinderby[/underlined]
The following handwritten notes have been added:
23.3.44. If you look at my logbook for this date, you’ll see that some hard rubbing has taken place in the line. I believe this showed when I received a ‘Red Endorsement’.
Now if you look at the back of this logbook, you’ll find a ‘Green Endorsement’ - & at the time I received it, the ‘Red Endorsement’ was ripped out (& at the time, I resented this because I was rather proud of the red one).
About 1949, all red endorsements were cancelled & the person (presumably) who issued the Green, had ripped out the Red.
The Red said something like:
“he overtook & passed another aircraft (both aircraft where [sic] Oxfords!) on the perimeter track”. The pilot of the other aircraft had been the C.F.I. – an overtaking without a crash, was an impossibility. To have said ‘cut him out’, might have been nearer the truth.
CC 1/9/86
[underlined] INSTANCES OF AVOIDANCE BY EXCEPTIONAL FLYING SKILL AND JUDGMENT OF LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT OR PERSONNEL [/underlined]
[underlined]Wellington X NA 796 9th September 1947. [/underlined]
Whilst flying as instructor on night circuits and landings F/O Cuthill ordered his pupil to carry out a practice overshoot at 300 [feet?]. On opening up, smoke and flame came from starboard engine F/0 Cuthill immediately took over, feathered the engine & carried out a single engine circuit & landing. The aircraft lost hight [sic] to 150 ft. because the flaps were slow in coming up but in spite of this F/O Cuthill made a successful single engine landing with no damage to the aircraft. F/O Cuthill showed outstanding skill and airmanship in landing his aircraft under very difficult circumstances.
W. R. Wills Sandford
Group Captain, Commanding
[underlined]R.A.F. Station, Swinderby[/underlined]
Creator
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One booklet
Conforms To
Publisher
Rights
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.
Identifier
LCuthillCR574146v1
Collection
Citation
Great Britain. Royal Air Force, “Charles Cuthill’s pilots flying log book,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed May 19, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/38424.
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