Richard T Eger
06-26-2000, 01:58 AM
From 12 O'Clock High!:
Guy Finch
British Technical Documents
Tue May 23 11:41:18 2000
Although my field of research is British nuclear delivery systems, not the Luftwaffe, I will make the following general comments regarding British Official archives.
Firstly, don't make too many assumptions about what may, or may not, be in the PRO. One of the projects I am currently involved in is the cataloguing of documents
regarding British post-war missile development. Frankly, they are all over the place. Even with regard to Official Documents that should be at the PRO, some are at
the Science Museum or its Wroughton store (where not so long ago they found a brand-new crated BMW801 and an unspecified DB they did not know they had!The
crates were used to support a workbench....) some are still with DERA, some are in aircraft manufacturers archives, and a significant number are in private hands ,
particularly ex- RAE employees, many of whom still live in the Farnborough area... British archival policy,(to grace it with such a name)has been extremely haphazard
both in its selection of documents for preservation(IMPORTANT NOTE!Even without bombing the majority of Government documents were routinely destroyed,what is
left is only a representative sample of the most "significant". This is also not only true of the British Government. Nothing has "got" to exist...) and its disposal of those
that haven't is extremely erratic. I have even found nuclear weapon documents that should be at Aldermaston mis-filed at the PRO and even in the library of a
Cambridge College! As a pointer to further research,my guess(and it is only that!) is that there could possibly be "lost" RAE or Air Staff files(I am about to start
looking...),or even transcripts of German documents regarding aerodynamics, structures and systems with the old archives of various aircraft companies. Most of
these are now with various "heritage groups", but some may even lurk within various County Record Offices. Here are a few addresses for those interested.
Public Relations Dept
British Aerospace,
Warton Aerodrome,
Warton,
Preston,
Lancs PR4 1AX.
AH Fraser-Mitchell
Handley Page Association,
16,Guernsey Drive.
Fleet,
Hampshire
GU13 8TG
For Vickers, Supermarine and Hawker archives:
Brooklands Museum,
Brooklands Road,
Weybridge,
Surrey
KT13 0GN
Note, the private archives may take a while to reply, and none do research for you, you would have to visit. The Brooklands archivists are all volunteers, and they only
attend on certain days.
HTH Guy
Guy Finch
British Technical Documents
Tue May 23 11:41:18 2000
Although my field of research is British nuclear delivery systems, not the Luftwaffe, I will make the following general comments regarding British Official archives.
Firstly, don't make too many assumptions about what may, or may not, be in the PRO. One of the projects I am currently involved in is the cataloguing of documents
regarding British post-war missile development. Frankly, they are all over the place. Even with regard to Official Documents that should be at the PRO, some are at
the Science Museum or its Wroughton store (where not so long ago they found a brand-new crated BMW801 and an unspecified DB they did not know they had!The
crates were used to support a workbench....) some are still with DERA, some are in aircraft manufacturers archives, and a significant number are in private hands ,
particularly ex- RAE employees, many of whom still live in the Farnborough area... British archival policy,(to grace it with such a name)has been extremely haphazard
both in its selection of documents for preservation(IMPORTANT NOTE!Even without bombing the majority of Government documents were routinely destroyed,what is
left is only a representative sample of the most "significant". This is also not only true of the British Government. Nothing has "got" to exist...) and its disposal of those
that haven't is extremely erratic. I have even found nuclear weapon documents that should be at Aldermaston mis-filed at the PRO and even in the library of a
Cambridge College! As a pointer to further research,my guess(and it is only that!) is that there could possibly be "lost" RAE or Air Staff files(I am about to start
looking...),or even transcripts of German documents regarding aerodynamics, structures and systems with the old archives of various aircraft companies. Most of
these are now with various "heritage groups", but some may even lurk within various County Record Offices. Here are a few addresses for those interested.
Public Relations Dept
British Aerospace,
Warton Aerodrome,
Warton,
Preston,
Lancs PR4 1AX.
AH Fraser-Mitchell
Handley Page Association,
16,Guernsey Drive.
Fleet,
Hampshire
GU13 8TG
For Vickers, Supermarine and Hawker archives:
Brooklands Museum,
Brooklands Road,
Weybridge,
Surrey
KT13 0GN
Note, the private archives may take a while to reply, and none do research for you, you would have to visit. The Brooklands archivists are all volunteers, and they only
attend on certain days.
HTH Guy