Three Pilot’s Flying Log Books relating to Flying Officer D. Robinson, Royal Air Force

Covering the 1924 to 1928 with 4 Army Co-operation Squadron; 43 (Fighter) Squadron at Tangmere; 24 Communication Squadron at Northolt; ‘C’ Flight, 5 (A.C.) Squadron in Waziristan and Quetta, in 1926; and 6 Army Co-operation Squadron, including bombing missions from Mosul, Iraq; together with the recipient’s original Private Pilot’s Licence and Certificate of Competency, dated 14 June 1928, containing two photographs; and three original letters from the recipient regarding the log books and his service, dating from the 1970s; the covers of the log books distressed but the contents and the pilot’s licence good, therefore good overall condition (3) £80-£100

Denniss Robinson was born in 1901 and joined the Gloucestershire Regiment T.A., but was seconded to the Royal Air Force for four years and was appointed to a commission as Pilot Officer on probation on 14 January 1924. He was promoted Flying Officer on 14 October 1925. He relinquished his R.A.F. short service commission on account of ill-health on 12 September 1928, but reverted to the Gloucestershire Regiment T.A.; he subsequently transferred to the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers (6th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment) on 15 June 1929. In one of the letters he states that at the time he was one of only 4 officers in the army to wear R.A.F. wings in army uniform.

From the Territorial Army Reserve of Officers Robinson saw service in the Royal Tank Regiment in the Second World War as War Substantive Captain and temporary Major, with seniority from 1 March 1941. He later served with the 12th Lancers until retired on account of disability, 2 February 1945. He refers to the fact that on one occasion he flew H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (later H.M. King Edward VIII), in a Westland Wapiti, and an entry in one of his log books for 22 September 1926, records that he was flying Bristol F2 B, tail No. F4660, when he suffered ‘Engine failure under Attock Bridge, India, with the tail taken off and fell into River Indus, machine lost and passenger drowned (A. C. Jones)’. Despite his relatively short R.A.F. career he flew many aircraft types. The log books confirm the aircraft types he flew including Avro, Bristol Fighter, Siskin, Snipe, DH 9A, Vickers Victoria, Fairey IIIF, Greber, Gamecock, Avro Lynx, Westland Wapiti, Tiger Moth, Avro Mono, and Bristol Bulldog. He died at Watford on 3 September 1985.