Log Books and Flight Summaries, January 1944

The following are excerpts from the Pilot's Log book of 1st Lt Joseph Elden Leonard and flight summaries from “417th NFS Illustrated History," edited by Dan Whitney.

1st Lt. Leonard and his radar observer Flight Officer Raymond Christensen, were night fighters for the 417th NFS, U. S. Army Air Force.  Both were killed in action when their plane was engaging a Nazi night fighter over the Tyrrhenian sea.  Their plane disappeared from radar and presumably crashed into the sea after being shot down.  F/O Christensen was my great-uncle.

Much of the work of the 417th NFS was to protect boat convoys as they transported allied suppies and soldiers.  As you can imagine, these convoys were prized targets of the Nazis.  Also, the 417th were sent on missions to check out "bogies" that showed upon their radar, and if found to be an enemy plane, engage in combat.

These excerpts resume in Tafaraoui, Algeria.  F/O Christensen was radar observer for all of these flights, so I have not mentioned him specifically.  Other passengers are noted.   The quotes are from the flight summaries of 1st. Lt. Leonard.   Notes between brackets are mine.  All crews from the 417th are named "Bishop 50, Bishop 51," etc.  Note the crazy hours these guys fly!

******

Jan. 1, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 940.  Sgt. Gura also along.  Night Fighter Training.  3:25 pm - 4:40 pm.   "NFT with [Bishop] 70 who returned with a bad engine so I stooged around and flew single engine for awhile."
Flight 2: Beau 940.  Practice interceptions with Woodlog [ground control]. 5:45 pm to 8:10 pm.  "PI's with Woodlog and [Bishop] 59.  Wizard control and a beautiful night.  Ran three interceptions and the AI [airborne interceptor radar] was remarkably good.  VHF [very high frequency transmission] and A/C [air craft] OK."

Jan. 4, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 940.  Night Fighter Training.  4:40 pm - 5:10 pm.  "NFT with [Bishop] 59, my port transmitter went out and bismuth screwed the detail more than usual.  A/C [air craft] and AI [airborne intercept radar] OK."
Flight 2: Beau 940.  Practice interceptions (Woodlog and Perform were ground controls).  6:00 - 9:15   "PI with 53 on Woodlog - very good work on the part of Woodlog.  They turned us over to Perform and we did convoy patrol with them until they vectored us in.  A/C [air craft] and R/T [radio transmitter] OK."

Jan. 6, 1944.
Beau 177.  Convoy Patrol (Woodlog and Perform ground controls)  10:30 pm to 2:30 am.  "Convoy patrol with [Bishop] 53 on Woodlog who ran one PI [practice interception] and then turned me over to Perform who attempted to vector me on to a bogey which they had a plot on.  He went home and so did I.  Port receiver went out, otherwise OK."

Jan. 7, 1944.  Beau 938.  Practice Interception with Fishbone [ground control]. 06:10 am to 8:05 am.  "PI with[Bishop] 53 controlled by Fishbone and was it ever lousy - 2 interceptions apiece.  A/C [air craft], R/T [radio transmitter] and AI [airborne intercept radar] OK."

At this point, they moved to nearby La Senia, preparing for the big move to the island of Corsica.

Jan. 10, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 167.  Also joined by Bernie Brun.  Convoy Patrol.   5:40 pm to 8:00 pm.  Squadron history reports a Nazi Ju 88 plane damaged by 1st Lt. J. E. Leonard off the Coast of Spain.  "Convoy patrol with Fishbone [ground control].  Chased two P-39's and then noticed some gunfire from "across" then Joe Long vectored me on a fighter.  Engaged the enemy twice and got hits on his tail the first time and got two hits on stbd wing.  Got another contact and followed it to the coast of Spain.  One Ju88 damaged.  Cannon all fired.  Chris [F/O Christensen] was on the ball.  A/C [air craft] was perfect.  VHF [very high frequency transmission] good.  Everyone is on the ball I Oh!  What a beautiful morning."
Flight 2: Beau 941, Convoy Patrol.  7:00 am to 8:40 am. "Patrol on 'Links.'  "C" Channel crystal went out.  Beautiful morning.  AI [airborne intercept radar] U/S."

Jan. 13, 1944.  Beau 938.  Pvt. Schoenberg along as well.  Night Fighter Training.  2:30 - 3:20.  "NFT with[Bishop] 53.  Canary check OK.  A/I [airborne intercept radar], U/S and rheostat in gunsight U/S."

Jan. 16, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 938.  Night Fighter Training.  "NFT rather uneventful.  Ship, AI [airborn intercept radar], R/T [radio transmitter] OK."
Flight 2: Beau 938.  Don Barnhart also along.  Convoy Patrol with Perform [ground control].  5:45 pm - 8:00 pm.  "Convoy patrol with Bishop 53 on Perform.  53 ran two PI [practice interceptions] whole damned thing was uneventful.  Everything OK."

Jan. 19, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 204.  On patrol off Balearic Islands.  4:30 pm - 7:30 pm.  "Patrol near the Balearic Islands which was rather fruitless but we learned a lot.  Receiver went rather duff on the way out.  AI [airborne intercept radar] and A/C [air craft] OK."
Flight 2: Beau 204.  Sgt. Filipowics also along.  Convoy patrol with Woodlog [ground control]. 12:55 am to 3:40 am.  "Single plane patrol on "Nipper."  Went to sleep three or four times; ears are still plugged up.  A/C [air craft], R/T [radio transmitter] and ship OK."

Jan. 24, 1944.
Beau 941.  Convoy Patrol (Woodlog ground control).  5:40 pm to 8:25 pm.  "Convoy patrol with Bishop 70.  My port receiver went out so came back on "C" for Charlie.  Port engine rough."

Jan. 25, 1944.
Flight 1: Beau 961.  Night Fighter Training.  2:20 pm - 3:05.  "NFT.  AI [airborne interceptor radar] ropey and then went out.  A/C [air craft] and R/T [radar transmitter] OK."
Flight 2: Beau 961.  From La Senia to La Passet.  "Alert at Lapasset.  Did a dawn patrol and PI [practice interceptions] with [Bishop] 70 and returned to base after having had breakfast at Lapasset.  A/C [air craft] OK."
Flight 3: Beau 961.  Practice Interceptions with Woodlog [ground control].
Flight 4: Beau 961.  LaPasset to LaSenia.

Jan. 31, 1944. Beau 151.  Duty: Tenacle.  4:00 pm - 7:50 pm.  "Tenacle with no results, received Whitetooh, Bradshaw [Tafaraoui RAF Aerodrome control], Madbrain, and Oxter, landing ropey as usual, AI [airborne intercept radar] was out completely, A/C [air craft] was very good."

Log Books and Flight Summaries, December 1943

The following are excerpts from the Pilot's Log book of 1st Lt Joseph Elden Leonard and flight summaries from “417th NFS Illustrated History," edited by Dan Whitney.

1st Lt. Leonard and his radar observer Flight Officer Raymond Christensen, were night fighters for the 417th NFS, U. S. Army Air Force.  Both were killed in action when their plane was engaging a Nazi night fighter over the Tyrrhenian sea.  Their plane disappeared from radar and presumably crashed into the sea after being shot down.  F/O Christensen was my great-uncle.

Much of the work of the 417th NFS was to protect boat convoys as they transported allied suppies and soldiers.  As you can imagine, these convoys were prized targets of the Nazis.  Also, the 417th were sent on missions to check out "bogies" that showed upon their radar, and if found to be an enemy plane, engage in combat.

These excerpts resume in Tafaraoui, Algeria.  F/O Christensen was radar observer for all of these flights, so I have not mentioned him specifically.  Other passengers are noted.   The quotes are from the flight summaries of 1st. Lt. Leonard.   Notes between brackets are mine.  All crews from the 417th are named "Bishop 50, Bishop 51," etc.  Note the crazy hours these guys fly!

******

Dec. 2, 1943.  Beau 911, had passenger M/Sgt Swain aboard.  Mission was [enemy?] Convoy Search.  4:40 pm - 6:25.  "Went out to look for a convoy near Alboran and found another one instead.  Also saw a small one while returning to base.  Otherwise uneventful.  Ship and R/T [radio transmitter] OK."

Dec. 4, 1943,  Beau 911.  Airborn Intercept Target.  10:10 - 11:30 AM.  "[Acted as] AI target for [Bishop] 50 but his weapon bent* so I returned and pancaked [landed]."
*plane, or some part of the plane, not working properly.

During the time period between Dec. 4 and Dec. 13, the 417th upgraded from MK VI radar to MK VIII. Flight Officer Christensen was presumably training on the new equipment; 1st Lt. Leonard continued to fly with other radar observers during this time.  They were based out of Reghaia, Algeria rather than Tafaraoui until later in the month.

We resume with F/O Christensen as the radar observer:

Dec. 13, 1943.  Beau "B", also joined by F/L Quittenden and F/O Van Laecken.  Airborne Interception practice.

Dec. 15, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau "L", also joined by F/L Quittenden, F/O Potter.  Airborne Interception practice.
Flight 2: Beau 938, also joined by F/O Potter.  Airborne Interception practice.
Flight 3:  Beau 938.  Practice Interceptions with "Madbrain" [ground control].

Dec. 18, 1943.  Beau "F", also joined by F/O Van Laecken.  Acted as Airborne Interception target.

Dec. 21, 1943.  Beau 834, also joined by F/O Potter.  Flight from Maison Blanche to Tafaraoui.  3:00 pm to 5:30 pm. "MB to TAF.  Picked up at 155 MI.  834.  Flight without incident."

At this point, F/O Christensen and 1st Lt. Leonard are back at Tafaraoui.

Dec. 26, 1943.  Beau 938.  Practice interception with Woodlog [ground control]. 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.  "PI's with [Bishop] 70 on Woodlog, but 70's radio went out so we returned to base.  Bags of clouds."

Dec. 29, 1943.  Beau 834, also joined by Lt. Johnson.  This mission was a somber one - searching for a missing aircrew (Swift and Kohrman) from their unit.  1:25 pm to 4:40 pm.  "Search - no luck.  Conducted square search in vicinity of Cape Figalo and searched north to 40-50 NE of Oran [Algeria]."

Dec. 30, 1943.  Beau 168.  Practice interceptions with Fishbone [ground control]. 6:10 am - 9:40 am.  "PIs with [Bishop] 59 on Fishbone with Joe Long giving vectors.  Beautiful ship and beautiful interceptions.  AI [airborne interception radar], R/T [radio transmitter] and A/C [aircraft] OK."

Log Books and Flight Summaries, November 1943

The following are excerpts from the Pilot's Log book of 1st Lt Joseph Elden Leonard and flight summaries from “417th NFS Illustrated History," edited by Dan Whitney.

1st Lt. Leonard and his radar observer Flight Officer Raymond Christensen, were night fighters for the 417th NFS, U. S. Army Air Force.  Both were killed in action when their plane was engaging a Nazi night fighter over the Tyrrhenian sea.  Their plane disappeared from radar and presumably crashed into the sea after being shot down.  F/O Christensen was my great-uncle.

Much of the work of the 417th NFS was to protect boat convoys as they transported allied suppies and soldiers.  As you can imagine, these convoys were prized targets of the Nazis.  Also, the 417th were sent on missions to check out "bogies" that showed upon their radar, and if found to be an enemy plane, engage in combat.

These excerpts resume in Tafaraoui, Algeria.  F/O Christensen was radar observer for all of these flights, so I have not mentioned him specifically.  Other passengers are noted.   The quotes are from the flight summaries of 1st. Lt. Leonard.   Notes between brackets are mine.  All crews from the 417th are named "Bishop 50, Bishop 51," etc.  Note the crazy hours these guys fly!

******

Nov. 1, 1943.  Beau 806.  Practice Interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control]. 5 am - 7 am.  "Dawn patrol and practice interceptions with Stalecrust and Bishop 70, ran about 7 interceptions in all thru the clouds.  Joe Howard was a little off the beam, ran into some low cloud, 700 ft., east of field, ship, R/T [radio transmitter] and AI [airborne intercept radar] OK."

Nov. 4, 1943.  Beau 806.  Patrol with Fishbone [ground control].  6:05 pm to 7:25pm.  "PI [practice interceptions] with [Bishop]70, but the oranges were sour [?] so 70 stayed on the ground.  Patrolled with Fishbone  giving the vectors.  Cloud base at 7000 but 5000 over sea, A/C [air craft] OK."

Nov. 7, 1943.  Beau 760.  Patrol with Fishbone [ground control].  5:00 am - 7:30 am.  "Patrol with Fishbone and [Bishop] 59, Patrol, Patrol, Patrol, too tired to do PI [practice interceptions].  [Bishop]59, Damn him, shot me down when coming back to base.  A/C [air craft] in good shape."

Nov. 10, 1943.  Beau 806.  Practice Interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control]. 5:45 pm - 8:15 pm.  "PI with Bishop 59 on Stalecrust with Joe Howard intercepting, made 5 interceptions apiece and got a beautiful workout from  59.  My knees are stiff from kicking rudder, beautiful night, beautiful A/C [air craft] good R/T [radio transmitter] and AI [airborne interception radar] OK."

Nov. 13, 1943.  Beau 814.  Practice Interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control] at night.

Nov. 16, 1943.  Beau 760.  Patrol with Fishbone [ground control].  5:45 am to 7:50 am.  "Patrol with [Bishop] 59, ran a couple of impromptu interceptions, had a dog fight, R/T [radio transmitter], A/C [air craft] OK.  Weather fine."

Nov. 20, 1943.  Beau 819.  Practice Interceptions, returned due to bad engine.  5:35 am - 7:09 am.  "PI with Bishop 53.  Stalecrust [ground control] did a fair job.  My port engine went a little haywire and cut out several times.  Instruments all checked up but it used about 100 gallons more gas than the starboard.  Very cold, and they Africa is hot!"

Nov. 21, 1943.  Patrol duty.  5:20 pm - 8:15 pm.  "Patrol with Perform [ground control] doing the vectoring.  Uneventful as all hell.  Ship, AI [airborne intercept radar], and R/T (radio transmitter] OK.  The night was black, and hazy and black!"

Nov. 25, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau 814.  Practice Interceptions with Perform [ground control]. 6:15 am - 8:45 am.  "PI with Bishop 70 on Perform.  Bradshaw [Tafaraoui RAF Aerodrome  control] really had their head up this morning.  W. W. was really on the ball on 4 interceptions.  Ship, R/T [radio transmitter], and AI [airborne intercept radar] were OK."
Flight 2: Beau 814.  Navy Co-op.  1 hour, daytime.

Nov. 28, 1943.  Beau 819.  Convoy Patrol.  5:00 pm to 7:35 pm.  "Uneventful patrol of "Decode [name of convoy?]."  Saw Wellington, one "Snowball" ship and 4 P-39's took a close look at me.  Used flood for landing; best flood yet.  A/C [air craft], AI [airborne interception radar] and VHF [very high frequency communications] OK."

The Joyce Bricks Start to Crumble

Well, who would have guessed that when I sat down at the computer this morning to drink my coffee, that I'd end up breaking down a significant portion of the hardest brick wall I've ever encountered?

Certainly not me, or I'd have brewed up a whole pot.

Two years ago, I lamented on the difficulties I encountered while researching Michael Joyce.

This latest chapter of the story actually started last week, when I knew I'd have a three day weekend with nothing planned.  I "got off my wallet" and plunked down the $28 for monthly access to an Irish records database.  I was searching for Michael Joyce, b. abt 1829 in County Galway, to "Pat Joyce" and "Rose Maden."  I came up empty handed.  No birth records, no baptismal records, no parents of anyone listed as Pat Joyce and Rose Maden.  I searched every way I could think of.  I did come to the conclusion, as I had expected, that "Maden" was actually "Madden," but learned little else.  Because I couldn't quite give up, I left the browser, with several potentially pertinent tabs, up.

This morning, I decided I'd putz around on the computer while I drank my morning coffee.  I took a look at some of those browser tabs I'd left up last week, and started following links here and there, eventually ending up at FamilySearch.  For kicks, I typed in Michael Joyce, and didn't get anything too exciting, but before I started the laundry I decided to type in "Patrick Joyce" and "Rose Madden" as parents, and left all other fields blank.  I got one return - a death certificate for Bridget Cummings.  Bridget's parents were listed as Patrick Joyce and Rose Madden.  I dug into the life of Bridget Cummings a little deeper, and realized she was just six years younger than our Michael.  My hopes began to rise, but when I realized that she lived and died in Clinton, Massachusetts, where our Michael lived after his arrival in the U.S., I had a strong hunch that I was on the right track.

After collecting a fair amount of information on Bridget Joyce Cummings, I turned to Ancestry family trees.  While I am cautious about information listed there, I like to get an overview of the family I'm researching, and potentially some clues.  I saw on Bridget's timeline that she had a brother, Thomas, in Berlin, Wisconsin.   I nearly fell off my chair - several years ago, we made a research trip to that area, as Michael lived in Berlin, and later moved to nearby Ripon, Wisconsin.   In our research, we ran across records on this Thomas Joyce, but could not make a connection despite feeling that there had to be one somehow.

The family tree I found listed the children of Patrick Joyce and Rose Madden - and among them was Michael, with no information other than that he died in North Dakota.  Our Michael died in South Dakota.  If you ask people who don't live in either area, it's all interchangeable!  :)

Now, the hard part.  I sent off a message to the tree owner, and I now am waiting for a response, although I think I already have the answer.  I will dig out the information I saved on Thomas Joyce from Berlin, and try to find more documentation that he and Michael are of the same family.

There's still more work to do, but it's good to know that Michael Joyce did NOT just drop out of the sky.

Oh, and I'm going to brew up another cup of that coffee.  And I'll do the laundry tomorrow.

Log Books and Flight Summaries, Oct. 10 - 29, 1943

The following are excerpts from the Pilot's Log book of 1st Lt Joseph Elden Leonard and flight summaries from “417th NFS Illustrated History," edited by Dan Whitney.

1st Lt. Leonard and his radar observer Flight Officer Raymond Christensen, were night fighters for the 417th NFS, U. S. Army Air Force.  Both were killed in action when their plane was engaging a Nazi night fighter over the Tyrrhenian sea.  Their plane disappeared from radar and presumably crashed into the sea after being shot down.  F/O Christensen was my great-uncle.

Much of the work of the 417th NFS was to protect boat convoys as they transported allied suppies and soldiers.  As you can imagine, these convoys were prized targets of the Nazis.  Also, the 417th were sent on missions to check out "bogies" that showed upon their radar, and if found to be an enemy plane, engage in combat.

These excerpts resume in Tafaraoui, Algeria.  F/O Christensen was radar observer for all of these flights, so I have not mentioned him specifically.  Other passengers are noted.   The quotes are from the flight summaries of 1st. Lt. Leonard.   Notes between brackets are mine.  All crews from the 417th are named "Bishop 50, Bishop 51," etc.  Note the crazy hours these guys fly!

******

Oct. 10, 1943.
Beau #843.  Practice interceptions.  11:00 pm - 1:10 am.   "Ran a PI with Bishop 70 and made two interceptions.  Bounced twice on first attempt to land, so I went around-starboard engine three fire when I gave it the gun.  The mechanics checked up and found two stacks out."

Oct. 11, 1943.  
Flight 1: Beau #806, Night Fighter Training.  2:05 pm  - 3:05 pm.  "NFT with Bishop 70 who ran interceptions."
Flight 2: Beau #822, Night Practice interceptions.   "PI on Fishbone [ground control group] with [Bishop] 53, made 5 interceptions and controller was pretty damned good.  822 is still the best ship on the line except that the throttles are out a little.  Beautiful night!!"

Oct. 13, 1943.
Beau #822.  Formation and Night Fighter Training.  1:30 pm - 3:30 pm.  "Formation with [Bishop] 53, 56, 70 and it stunk!  Ran NFT with [Bishop] 59 and checked canary with Stalecrust [ground control group].  A/C [air craft] fine."

Oct. 14, 1943.  
With Lt. Fitzgerald along as well.  Beau #822.  Practice interceptions and S/L [?].  6:50 pm - 10:05 pm.
"PI with [Bishop] 70 and Fishbone [ground control]and they made 6 interceptions - all gone but one.  Both 70 and I went over to S/L and flew for about an hour.  We both had S/L officers as passengers.  S/L can really hold on to you if they find you."

Oct. 16, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau #831.  Night Fighter Training.  3:00 pm - 3:50 pm.  "Finally found Bishop 55 for target and ran one interception.  Set was very good.  Beautiful clouds about 6500 ft. so I did a few steep turns and a buzz job on them, stooged around for awhile, then came in.  At last - a good landing."
Flight 2:  Beau #831.  Practice Interceptions with Perform [ground control group].    6:50 pm - 10 pm.  "PI with Perform with Bishop 65 as playmate.  Al Withers did a very good job of Controlling, making 7 interceptions.  Perform on the ball.  (Al Withers).  Pancaked [landed] at 2200."
Flight 3: Beau #831.  Capt. Lathrop joined.  Practice interceptions with Fishbone [ground control].  4:10 am to 7:10 am.  "Bishop 63 [acted] as target.  [Bishop] 65's set went out so he flew target for me.  The controller made 5 interceptions that weren't too hot.  Cloud layer at 10,000.  Plane and AI [airborne intercept radar] Ok."

Oct. 17, 1943.
Beau #743, practice intercepts with Stalecrust [ground control].   11:05pm to 1:40 am.  PI on Stalecrust with Bishop 59 and had three interceptions apiece.  My stbd [starboard] transmitter had a squeal in it so I used it to signal the controller with.  The port tachometer was fluctuating from 200-700 rpm.  And after landing it went out.  Beautiful night."

Oct. 20, 1943
Flight 1: Beau #831, with two additional passengers.  From Tafaraoui [Algeria] to Reghaia [Algeria]
Flight 2: Beau #831, from Reghaia to Tafaraoui, 2:30pm - 5:40pm.  "X-C [cross country] Reghaia and return time 1430-1740.  Had two passengers going up and came back with observer only.  The trip was uneventful and came back the water route which is pretty nice scenery.  Radio and A/C [air craft] both in good shape.  Logged 2:30."
Flight 3: Beau #831. Practice interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control], 10:55pm to 1:40 am.  "PI with Bishop 60 and Stalecrust.  They were breaking in some new controllers and things were rather rough.  My interceptions were without incident as the target did not use any evasive action.  A/C [air craft] and R/T [radio transmitter] OK.

Oct. 22, 1943.  Beau #822.  Convoy patrol, then landed at Reghaia.  12:55 am. to 3:40 am.
"On patrol with Perform [ground controllers] and was told to return to base.  80 miles from base Bradshaw [Tafaraoui RAF Aerodrome control] told me to go to Blida and Perform vectored me for there but Blida had me to go Reghaia.  No damn sleep and a lousy breakfast. Sector said our field was closed in and I finally got fed up and took off anyway."

Oct. 23, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau #822.  Flew from Reghaia back home to Tafaraoui, 9:40 am to 11:00 am.  "Reghaia to Tafaraoui, very uneventful.  ceiling 1200 ft. over field."
Flight 2: Beau #822.  Night Fighter Training.  Flew from 1:50-2:50 pm.  "NFT with Bishop 59.  Very uneventful.  My canary checked very weak with Stalecrust] ground control].  A/C [air craft] and R/T [radio transmitter] both OK.

Oct. 25, 1943.  Beau #822.  Convoy Patrol with Perform [ground control],  Flew from 11:20pm to 2:40 am.  "Convoy patrol with Perform giving the vectors.  Ran two interceptions but neither Bishop 59 or myself was on the ball so we called the whole thing off.  Lots of oranges [?]."

Oct. 26, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau #822, Night Fighter Training, 1:40pm - 2:40 pm.  "Checked Canary with Stalecrust and Fishbone [ground controllers].  Unsatisfactory on both stations.  Had a practice homing by puncture which turned out OK.  Radio, AI [airborne intercept radar], and R/T [radio transmitter] were OK."
Flight 2: Beau #822, Practice Intercept (Stalecrust ground control), 10:00pm - 1:10 am.  "PI with Stalecrust, Bishop 57 was playmate but went back with a rough engine so I stooged around until he got another plane.  57's I/C [intercept control??] went out on the first interception so he ran target for me.  The control was very good, visuals at 1000 ft.  Landing poor, very poor show."

Oct. 28, 1943.  Beau #806.  Night Fighter Training.  2:30 pm t0 4:00 pm.  "NFT with [Bishop] 59, his weapon was bent*, ship, R/T [radio transmitter] and AI [airborne intercept radar] OK."
* something wrong with the plane or a component of it

Oct. 29, 1943.
Flight 1: Beau #819.  S/L.  9:10pm - 9:50 pm.  "Flew S/L with Bishop 53, A/C [air craft] seemed to run rough - control cable caught when turning port, R/T [radio transmitter] very bad so returned to base."
Flight 2:  Beau #760.  Practice Interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control].  10:00pm - midnight.  "Flew PI with Bishop 53 whose weapon was bent* so he flew target.  Joe Howard did a pretty good job of controlling but the night was dark as hell and I lost three visuals the first interception [required to visually confirm the target plane as "enemy"]  Completed about 4 with target's altitude varying from 10,000 - 7,500.  A/C [air craft] OK, R/T [radio transmitter] noisy."
* something wrong with the plane or a component of it

Log Books and Flight Summaries, Part 1

The following are excerpts from the Pilot's Log book of 1st Lt Joseph Elden Leonard and flight summaries from “417th NFS Illustrated History," edited by Dan Whitney.

Joseph Leonard's Log Book

1st Lt. Leonard and his radar observer Flight Officer Raymond Christensen were night fighters for the 417th NFS, U. S. Army Air Force.  Both were killed in action when their plane was engaging a Nazi night fighter over the Tyrrhenian sea.  Their plane disappeared from radar and presumably crashed into the sea after being shot down.  F/O Christensen was my great-uncle.

Much of the work of the 417th NFS was to protect ship convoys as they transported allied supplies and soldiers.  As you can imagine, these convoys were valuable targets of the Nazis.  Also, crews of the 417th were sent on missions to check out "bogies" that showed upon their radar, and if found to be an enemy plane, engage in combat.

These excerpts begin in Tafaraoui, Algeria, North Africa.  F/O Christensen was radar observer for all of these flights, so I have not mentioned him specifically; any other passengers are noted.   The quotes are from the flight summaries of 1st. Lt. Leonard.   Notes between brackets are mine.  All crews from the 417th are named "Bishop 50, Bishop 51," etc.

*****

Sept. 26, 1943
Flight 1: Beaufighter #819, Duty: ground gunnery, 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm.  "Gunnery Mission, Shadow [name of ground control unit] but playmate failed to take off so I stooged around and did some ground gunnery but the gunsight went out and since the radio transmitter was bad I returned to base and pancaked [landed]."
Flight 2: Beaufighter # 819, with S/Sgt Gonzales, practiced interception from 8:15 pm - 8:50 pm.  "Took off on P.I. [practice interceptions] with playmate to follow.  Bradshaw (Tafaraoui RAF Aerodrome ground control) vectored me out and then my radio transmitter went out and I returned to base and pancaked."
Flight 3: Beaufighter # 911, practice interceptions,  9:30 pm - 11:10 pm.  " PI [practice interception] mission after Bishop 53 pancaked with bad engine.  My radio transmitter seemed weak on take-off but I flew the mission and my radio transmission was weak.  I flew [as the] target on four missions in which Bishop 71 failed to get contacts although my observer got back-blips on each one and attempted interceptions.  My radio transmitter went out during an interception I made on Bishop 71 after he failed to make contact.  I then traded headsets with my observer and Stalecrust [ground control unit] made a very good interception with Bishop 71 as target.  On landing I bounced the first one and pulled an overshot.  Got visual at 1000 ft."

1st Lt. Joseph E. Leonard

Sept. 29, 1943.  Beaufighter #760.  Convoy patrol,  6:50 pm - 8:50pm.  "Convoy Patrol on "Manicure."  Bradshaw [Tafaraoui RAF Aerodrome control] vectored me out and I sighted the convoy at 1903.  The patrol was uneventful.  The weather was perfect.  We came in on "Mother" for about 60 miles.  The plane was in damned good shape."

Oct. 1, 1943.  Beaufighter #743.  Practice interceptions, 1:30 am - 3:45 am.  "Ran PI with Bishop 70 and Fishbone [ground control].  Lt. Palmer pulled a couple good interceptions and then another controller took over and got about two interceptions.  I wrote up the prop pitch control, throttles and damned bolt the keeps sticking in your chest on the Sutton harness."

F/O Raymond Christensen

Oct. 2, 1943.  

Flight 1:  Beaufighter #806.  Formation Flying, G. Gunnery, Night Fighter Training.  1:50 pm - 3:40 pm.   "Formation went ok at 500 yds.  But was spread out too far so we closed in to 150 which was too close.  The slip-stream was too close when turning so we tried 250-300 yds, which was much better.  At the close of the exercise we tried some formation over the salt lake at 500 ft. and then made a run over the field at that altitude.  Bishop 70 and I ran an NFT {night fighter training]and his weapon was bent so I ran two interceptions and then went over to Fishbone [ground control group] for a cockrel and canary check.  I ended up by buzzing them a couple of times.  I came into the circuit cut somebody out and landed.  A 3-point!!!!!"
Flight 2:  Beaufighter #806.  Practice Interceptions.  7:20 pm - 10:50 pm.  "Took off on Vector 280 for a mission with Stalecrust [ground control].  Playmate with Bishop 70.  I climbed to 11,000 ft. and Joe Long took over.  Lt. Long made 14 interceptions in 3 hours and all were good.  The radio transmitter on the stbd set was rather weak.  The landing was lovely but someone dropped the runway about five feet."

Oct. 5, 1943.  Beaufighter #819.   Formation and Night Fighter Training.  2:20 pm - 3:40 pm.  "Got into A/C [air craft] 806 and started the engines but they couldn't close the back hatch so I cut the engines and put my chute in 819 and took off on formation with 53, 59, 70.  The formation was "piss-poor" and when 53 returned to the field we climbed up but didn't run an NFT [night fighter training] because of too many bumpy clouds.  The V. H. F. [very high frequency communications] was very noisy and my transmission was weak.  A/C was in good shape."

Bristol Beaufighters in flight

Oct. 7, 1943.  Beaufighter #834.  Practice Interceptions.  12:15 am - 3:00 am.
"Three interceptions with Stalecrust [ground control], Bishop 65 as playmate.  First visual at 1200 and others at 600 - 900.  AI [airborne intercept radar] was poor and plane and VHF were ok.  Interceptions were good."

To be continued...

If you've been pursuing your family history very long, you know at some point the "Happy Dance" moments don't come as frequently as they use to.  You've gathered all of the low-hanging fruit, and it takes a little more perseverance to learn something new.   But, oh, when you do...!!

Today a package came in the mail, addressed to me.  When I saw the return address, I knew what it was, and it was all I could do to get into the house with the armload of things I already had without dropping something.  As soon as I was able, I ripped into it, almost in a frenzy by then.   It was a copy of a flight log book from World War II, kept by 1st Lieutenant Joseph Leonard, the pilot that my great-uncle, radar observer Raymond Christensen, had teamed with.  At best, I was hoping for some mention of Raymond, but I really had no idea what sort of information was recorded by the pilot.  My expectations were far exceeded.

I learned that 1st Lt Leonard and my great-uncle spent quite a bit of time training together in England, which I had not realized.  The book logged nearly every flight Raymond made while in the 417th Night Fighter Squadron, with dates and times, at least those made with Leonard, which were likely most of them.  In addition, other personnel in the plane were noted, the type and number of the aircraft flown, and the reason for the flight (i.e. convoy patrol) and destination, if applicable, and how long they were in the air.  This information, particularly the reason for the flight, when correlated with Raymond's descriptive letters home, will give a particularly well-detailed look at Raymond's time with the 417th.

Unfortunately, the entries in the log book stopped abruptly in February, 1944, 3 months before their ill-fated flight of May 13, when the plane and crew went missing.   As a rule, they would have flown between 2-4 times per week , so there are a significant number of flight logs missing.  My guess is that this book was replaced by a new one which has been lost to history (so far), as I believe the pilots were required to keep these records.  Perhaps finding this log this will be our next big breakthrough - and cause the next "Happy Dance."