Pruden, Joseph Noel (Flying Officer, b.1916 – d.1997)

Collection relating to the Second World War service of 408554 Flying Officer Joseph Noel Pruden, 1 Aircraft Depot, Royal Australian Air Force, Australia, Canada and England, 1941-1944.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Consists of one flying log book, one diary, one letter and two service documents relating to the service of Flying Officer Pruden, dated 1941 to 1944.

The Royal Australian Air Force Flying Log Book [with associated documents] contains entries of flights taken by Flying Officer Pruden dating from 1941 to 1944 relating to his flight training and service in Australia. Entries record information such as dates and times of flights, aircraft types, assessments, certificates of qualifications and duties. Flight duties include cross country, navigation, bombing, formations and retesting. Within this logbook is one portrait photograph of Flight Officer Chippendall [exact identity unknown], one aircraft crew and passenger list, one Half-Yearly Return of Flying Hours document, two lists of flying times and one illustration. The illustration depicts a Royal Australian Air Force serviceman in deep thought, accompanied by an alternative version of the Lewis Carroll poem ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’.

The diary was written by Flying Officer Pruden during training and service, dated from 18 September 1941 to 26 February 1943. This diary contains entries from Flying Officer Pruden’s departure by sea from Australia through New Zealand, United States of America, Canada and England. Entries detail his movements, meal and food rations, accommodation, life at sea, daily duties, lectures and studies, operational flights with associated servicemen, sightseeing tours, receiving and sending mail, local weather and attending theatre shows. Within this diary is a list of addresses and poems.

The letter is dated 10 January 1942, author is unknown [although thought to be Flying Officer Pruden]. Titled ‘Life in Bloody Macleod (Canada)’, he recites an alternative version of the famous poem ‘Bloody Orkney’ by Anonymous.

This wallet also contains two identification cards issued to Flying Officer Pruden, one by Beaufort Division Department of Aircraft and one by the Royal Air Force, dated 1942. These identification cards include portraits.