The Evidence
In my first post in this series I described the basics of my interest in Observer D. Leach. In this post I will layout the evidence I have to work from. That single piece of hard evidence is a sight log book, purchased in a charity shop in Fareham, Hampshire, England. Sometime in the late 1990′s.
Clearly the Log Sight Book was published for use by the Royal Canadian Air Force. In the top right corner are some official markings:
R.C.A.F. R.213
27M-1-44 (3803)
H.Q. 885-R-213
K.P. 99320
At this point in time I have no idea what these markings mean. The “44″ could relate to the year the book was published and I would guess that H.Q. stands for Head Quarters but I need to do more research to find out if these markings will be useful to my research or are just general stationary references.
The front cover bears the name Leach. D., the subject of the article.
Inside the book there are a number of sets of observations, some ground, some air. The dates of these observations range from 14th Dec to 16th Mar 1945. Readings taken whilst flying have the specific aircraft identified.
Using a sextant an observer can determine his location by reading the angle between the sun (or moon), and the horizon. By cross referencing his readings with the time they were taken, he can use an almanac to determine his exact location.
In this sample page “Sun Air” indicates that D.Leach was flying and using the Sun to make his observations. We can see the date and time the readings were taken. Note that the dates are in the English format rather than American i.e. day/month/year rather).
The next column indicates the type of aircraft and its serial number. The Anson was a popular training aircraft during WWII and saw service in many countries including Canada and Australia. The serial numbers recorded in the log book are: 11745, 12152, 12215, 12227, 12297. These are significant as they may enable me to find the history of some of the aircraft that D.Leach flew in.
The sextant model is noted next, the latitude and longitude in degrees and minutes and the body used to make observations (in this case the sun).
The next three columns relate to the actual observations D.Leach took. The first is the angle between the horizon and the sun, from his location and the next two columns are corrections of some sort.
The last column is a remarks column for qualifying the observation. At the bottom of this page the remark ‘Single Shot’ is made. More than likely this means that D.Leach only had one chance to take a reading for that point, whereas on the others he may have taken more in order to get a more accurate location.
The final piece of evidence in the log book is a certification stamp printed next to the last set of observations in the book. It is signed by an F/L (probably Flight Lieutenant) on behalf of the “C.S.O. No.9 Air Observer School, St. Johns, Que”.
The first name in the hand written signature is “Marcel”. The second name is a little harder to decipher. After researching french surnames and reviewing my rather rusty cursive lettering skills, I determined that the surname is probably “Hout” (although I would be open to suggestions on this). The french sounding name fits well with St. Johns, Quebec being in the French influenced part of Canada.
So there you have it. Two names, two locations and a handful of flight training observations. Is Observer Leach still alive? Did he see action in WWII? What is his story? The task is made a little more challenging by the fact that D.Leach may still alive or may have died since the late 1990′s, therefore any official records relating to Mr Leach are probably largely still under various privacy and secrecy acts. I’m not exactly sure were this is going to lead but it will be fun seeing.
If you have any insights on this topic please leave a comment or contact me at paul@thesunrideshigh.com
