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Over One Million RAF Operations Record Books released on TheGenealogist

 

TheGenealogist has expanded its unique collection of searchable RAF Operations Record Books with the addition of 1.2 Million new records for aircrew operations.

 

Airmen - planning their next mission. Public domain

 

Operations Record Books (ORBs) are official air force documents chronicling an air force unit from the time of its formation. They were intended to be an accurate daily record of the operations that the squadron carried out in peace and at war. The ORBs are for squadrons primarily after the First World War, but there are a few early squadron records from 1911 to 1918. TheGenealogist uniquely has made the Operations Record Books fully searchable by name, year and keywords.

 

This collection also includes some record books for Dominion Air Forces (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) as well as Allied Air Force squadrons under British Command and can be used to find the stories of brave aircrew, giving insights into the operations that they carried out. The ORBs follow a daily diary format giving summaries of events and can reveal the death of aircrews, crashes, as well as less disquieting entries such as the weather for flying, promotions and the decorations men of the squadron received. ORBs also detail the areas that the fighter planes patrolled, or the bombers targeted, as well as where the squadrons were based as the war wore on. These duties and assignments include bombing the enemy, patrolling the skies, convoy escorts, submarine hunts, attacking docks & shipping, dive bombing raids, and more.

 

As aircrew personnel are named in these reports, those wanting to follow where an ancestor had been posted to and what may have happened to them will find these records extremely informative. 

 

Use these records to: 

  • Add details to an aircrewman’s story 
  • Study the war movements of personnel in air force units
  • Discover if a pilot, navigator, radio operator or gunner is mentioned in the action
  • Note dates airman received promotions, medals, or other honours
  • See the names of squadron members wounded, killed, or who did not return
  • Easily search the transcribed records and images licensed from The National Archives

This latest release expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Military records collection and is available to all Diamond subscribers.

 

You can read their article about a famous fighter ace and a bomber pilot who flew more than 120 operations: 

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/air-27-operations-record-books-capture-airmen-from-fighter-and-bomber-squadrons-during-ww2-1261/



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A House Through Time returns to BBC 2

The BBC are preparing to broadcast the third series of the popular house history programme.

Here is the announcement

Twenty Twenty’s award-winning history format A House Through Time is returning to BBC Two for a third series in 2020, this time in Bristol.

Using painstaking detective work - genealogical records, contemporary documents, and the help of expert witnesses - David Olusoga will trace the lives of the occupants of a single house, getting to know individual characters and following their stories wherever they lead.

The search for a new house in Bristol has already begun, and with the city’s rich maritime history, connections to the slave trade and industrial and technological heritage, the team expect to find no shortage of drama for series 3.

Commissioning Editor, Simon Young, says: “This series has swiftly become a treasured part of the schedule on BBC Two. It’s a vitally important returning series for us, perfectly reflecting our ambition for history programmes that connect the bigger sweeps of our nation’s story to individual lives lived all over the country. Having visited houses in Liverpool and Newcastle in the first two series, I’m thrilled that David will delve into Bristol’s rich history next.”

Director of Programmes and Executive Producer, Maxine Watson, says: “The series is hugely popular with viewers and shows just how much we want to know what happened to people just like us in the past. It’s truly a series about and for the people and we are absolutely delighted to be coming back with a new series next year.”

A House Through Time is a 4x60’ part series by Twenty Twenty (part of Warner Bros. International TV Production) for BBC Two. The series has been commissioned by Patrick Holland, Controller BBC Two and Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual and the BBC Commissioning Editor is Simon Young.

It was created by Twenty Twenty Managing Director Emma Willis, the Executive Producer is Maxine Watson and the Series Producer is Mary Crisp.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2019/house-through-time-s3

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TheGenealogist adds extra tithe maps to Map Explorer™

Powerful new map tool now helps trace ancestors land or property with further additions of Tithe Maps

TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ which can help researchers find an ancestor’s property and watch the landscape change over time has now been enhanced by the addition of georeferenced black and white Tithe Maps for Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire.

 

  • Total number of maps in this release is 927
  • Total number of Tithe maps in Map Explorer™ is 3,317
  • Map Explorer™ has over two million selectable records shown using Map Pins

Joining the georeferenced Lloyd George Data Layer, Headstones, War Memorials, and colour Tithe Maps for a number of counties, the new additions to the ever-expanding Map Explorer™ allow researchers to trace property from Victorian times to the modern era.

 

Great Coxwell Tithe Barn Oxfordshire (was Berkshire) used to store original tithe contributions of crops. 

Photo by Motacilla / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

 

  • TheGenealogist’s Map Explorer™ displays maps for historical periods up to the modern day.
  • Various colour and black and white Tithe maps have now been added to this innovative tool and linked to the apportionment books, enabling researchers to locate where their ancestors lived or worked.

The addition to the Map Explorer™ of the black and white tithe maps for Berkshire, Cambridgeshire, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire linked to the apportionment books will enable researchers to find the details of the plots, their owners and their occupiers at the time that the survey was taken in Victorian times while also identifying the plots on the maps. By using the Map Explorer™ controls the researcher can then see how the landscape changes over time with the aid of the georeferenced historical and modern map layers. Tithe maps and records were drawn up from 1836 to the 1850s, with additional altered apportionments in later years when property was sold or divided. Tithes usefully record all levels of society from large estate owners to occupiers of small plots such as a homestead or a cottage. 

 

The Map Explorer™ now features colour tithe maps for the counties of Buckinghamshire, Cumberland, Essex, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Northumberland, Rutland, Surrey, Westmorland, the City of York as well as North and East Ridings of Yorkshire plus black and white maps for Berkshire, Cambridge, Leicestershire and Oxfordshire.


See our article: Tithe Maps on Map Explorer

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2020/tithe-records-on-map-explorer-1255/

 

Find out more at TheGenealogist.co.uk/maps/



About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, who put a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections. 

 

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

 

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

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