News & Articles 2022

Announcing the largest collection of fully searchable RAF Operations Record Books online
11th February 2022

MAJOR NEW RELEASE:

Today we have released over 4.2 million transcripts for our RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs), fully searchable by Name, Rank, Aircraft, Squadron, and Date plus many other fields, making it simpler to find your air force ancestors.

Watch our short video on the new release and see the records in action :

We uniquely allow you to search the period 1911-1963. With over 11 million records online, this is the largest collection of searchable AIR 27 records making it the best place to find details about your RAF ancestors.

These records include not only the journal-like day to day entries recorded on Form 540 in which you can find RAF personnel mentioned, but also all of the appendices that go along with these documents, giving many statistical details as well as "Secret Orders".

What do our customers think?

One of your best. To be able to follow the day to day activities of individuals down to the hours the planes take off and land is amazing."

"A 2 minute search brought up 2 years of operations logs for my Father, who was a pilot in 123 Squadron stationed in North Africa, India & Burma. They are full of amazing information. Everything from a near miss when a Japanese machine gun bullet 'entered his cockpit', what films they watched & complaints about the food. Just wonderful."

"Just to say a big THANK YOU for giving my family access to records of my late Uncle Douglas Thom's operations in 90 Squadron Bomber Command in 1944. We have been very frustrated that his log books seem to have "disappeared" when his home in mid Wales was cleared. Now at least we have a time-line of his sorties and more information to add to his "not often spoken about" story. I will be passing what you have on him to my cousin, his son Doug, in Canada."

Find out more about these records in our featured article about our search for a famous fighter ace and a Pathfinder from Bomber Command.

New Land Owner & Occupier Records
21st January 2022

We have just added over 72,000 individuals to our Lloyd George Domesday Survery coverage. Researchers will be able to discover useful details about ancestors' homes from these new London areas in 1910: Albany, Belsize, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Euston, Grays Inn Road, Highgate East, Highgate West, Kilburn, Priory and Adelaide Parish (Hampstead), St Andrew East, St Andrew West, St Giles East, St Giles North, St Giles South, Saffron Hill, Somers Town and Tottenham Court Road.

These property tax records, collected by the Inland Revenue's Valuation offices, are linked to detailed OS maps that will pinpoint down to plot level and can be searched by name or keywords using the Master Search, or by selecting a pin from the map displayed inside TheGenealogist's powerful Map Explorer™. The ability to switch between georeferenced modern and historic maps allows the researcher to see how the neighbourhood in which their ancestors had lived or worked may have altered with the passing of time.

The huge value of these IR58 records, uniquely digitised by TheGenealogist from the originals at The National Archives, is that family history researchers as well as house historians will be able to discover all sorts of information about the past owners and occupiers of the homes, land, outbuildings and property recorded in these areas at the time before Britain was plunged into the First World War.

To find out more about these records, read our latest featured article, From showgirl to Dame of the British Empire.