Personal Log Books

Everybody I knew who flew Air Force planes kept their own logbooks.  Pilots of course, carried with them a Pilot’s Flight Log and navigators had a similar log book.  Most enlisted crew members had a different kind of book or kept track of the flights in a small spiral-ring notebook.  

The books served several purposes.  One was the simple matter of keeping track of your flying time by month, quarter, year, etc. Another was the recording of each flight you ever made.  In the navigators’ logbook there were columns to record the date, place of departure, destination, time of take-off, landing time, total flying time of trip, the name of the pilot, co-pilot, aircraft type and tail number, and there were other columns that could be used for different information.  

At the most basic level, this information was necessary to file for reimbursement of trips away from home station.  Years later, it was always nice to know whom you had flown with on a trip several years ago, and on which airplane they took place.  

I also kept track of basic navigational requirements, such as recording how many night- and day-celestial missions I had flown, and when, and so on.  It also turned out to be very helpful in reviewing stories for my books, although that was that was the last thing on my mind way back then.


The first entry in the old log book, shown at the top, was 5 Sep 1957, the last one was 28 Apr 19 1972.  It saw a significant part of the planet.   The book show on the bottom, above, carries notes of missions flown from 1972 until my last flight on 14 August, 1975, a flight on a KC-135, tail number 72608 The pilot was named Barber and we took off from McConnell AFB in Kansas at 2145, and landed at our home station Rickenbacker AFB, Ohio. We landed on my last flight at 2359, one minute before midnight.

These old books have not been used now for many years and they will never fly again, but they have an honored place in my library and the old entries are full of meaning and almost every one brings back to me a flood of feelings, memories and emotions.

Photos will enlarge if clicked upon.

The "Record" Books

Some of the stories in "Into the Sun", like almost all of those in "Titan Tales" were written from entries I made long ago in a series of 18 "record-books", or diaries, or log books that I carried with me for most of my Air Force career. The first entry was in 1966 on March 26, and the last one was made on May 8, 1975. The entries were of indeterminate length, and a number of days were not even entered. On some occasions up to two weeks would be put on two pages (not much happening!),
other days took up to ten or twelve pages for each day. Often I would simply describe what took place, sometimes I would add thoughts or comments about things going on. Some photographs were added, either taped to the appropriate page or just inserted, and I added sketches as I felt inclined. The pages were numbered, and an "index" was placed in the last six or so pages of the book so the events would be easy to find in the future.


I transitioned from using "Record" log books to "Composition" books in my last year in the Air Force, and now use a black soft-covered 8.5" X 6" book without lines to facilitate sketches. Currently, most of my "record" entries are made in that black book, on my computer and/or my iTouch – later to be combined on the computer.

The two Air Force books that I have written owe much to these records, because there is a lot more in there than just a simple recitation of events, there are also feelings and moods, the fears and joys, and smells and worries that I felt back then at that time.  Now those happy days can come alive again and be enjoyed one more time.

Note:  Photos will enlarge if clicked upon.

Contact

These are stories that I have carried around with me for some time now. Many of them were written out several years ago, some have been recently recalled and put to paper. I kept a “record”, or “log” or “diary” for the last part of my Air Force career, and I used that information for a lot of the writings in the book. Some of the events actually seemed as fresh as if they had happened yesterday, others as if I was reading fiction. I also kept a Navigator’s Log, and made a LOT of pictures. These have all provided tantalizing bits of sunshine and shadow.

One of the reasons for writing this book is to simply tell the stories. Another is the hope of generating response from other people who were either there at that time, or who had similar events they witnessed elsewhere.

The intention of this blog is to collect responses from readers of "Into the Sun". Let me know what you think about it, and I hope you will begin to write down some stories you lived through, and hopefully you can put several of them together and write your own book.

Anyone wishing to contact me can either respond to this blog or write me at johnhwomack@gmail.com