Operational Record Books (ORBs) were kept by each squadron which, although not always 100% accurate, served as a written document similar to a daily diary. They show the targets, dates, losses, crews, bomb-loads and de-briefing comments by the crews.

The maintenance of these records was the responsiblility of the Adjutant, they were signed off by the current Commanding Officer, whose comments and notes they also include.

This is an extract of 3rd and 4th March from the "summary" pages for March 1945.  

3 March reads: "Crews were up early today in preparation for the operation but the daylight was cancelled and the raid became another night attack.  15 aircraft took off, and the guess was correct - the target being DORTMUND-EMS Canal.

4 March reads:  Disaster - This target has cost us another C.O. and this time also two other crews.  W/Cdr E.L.Langlois (whose promotion came through this morning). F/O R.T.Ward and F/O R.B.Eggins were the captains of the other missing crews.  W/Cdr Langlois had the new gunnery leader with him F/O R.K.Taylor - who had just arrived to take over.  The C.O. was on his 18th trip of his second tour, and it was certainly a shock to find him missing.

The standard of ORBs and their content varies from squadron to squadron.  Fortunately both 467 and 463 squadron adjutants were very efficient and ensured that their ORBs were maintained to a very high standard, although mistakes were inevitable on a busy front-line squadron where changes to targets, take-off times, bomb-loads etc occurred frequently.

This section shows only the ORBs for 3 March 1945, the Dortmund-Ems canal operation (shown as "Ladbergen", the nearest town).  I have included scanned copies of the ORB for authenticity and appearance, but I will be transcribing their content for the purposes of clarity and readability in a slightly different format.