Warbird Information Exchange

I'm interested in tracing the history of a USAF serial number:

42-22750

Which is believed to have been assigned to a Republic Thunderbolt P47-D.

Tracing the history of USAF serial numbers is a new area of research, and a basic web search has not revealed a great deal (no surprises there).

This must be a fairly well trodden path so hoping the forum members might be able to point me in the right direction?

Knowing which fighter group, air force, and - really hoping - possibly tracing the name of the pilot who flew this airframe - would add much to the story so far.

Try the Air Force Historical Records Agency at Maxwell AFB or the NASM in Washington, DC: both will supply the individual aircraft record card (IARC). From that you will find its unit record/history and from there you may[u] manage to get more on its personal affiliations. The last bit by no means guaranteed, but IARC is the first place to start.

Incidentally the IARC's can be difficult to decipher if you're not familiar: call back in case you need help. Oh - and ask both AFHRA and NASM for a copy of the actual IARC - AFHRA does (or did at least) tend to send their interpretation of the IARC, and it can sometimes miss key info if presented that way.

PS s/n 42-22750 is a Republic P-47D-4-RA Thunderbolt.

Perfect - just the info we need. Thank you so much...I will report back.

These are close, but no cigar...

22749 (386th FS, 365th FG, 9th AF) crshed during wheels-up belly landing 2 mi N of St Lo, France
after aircraft started smoking after strafing truck Jun 7, 1944. MACR 5871. Pilot survived and
evaded capture.
22752 (406th FS, 371st FG, 9th AF) crashed 1 1/2 mi W of Broons, France Aug 9, 1944. MACR 7404. Pilot killed.

http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html

Frustratingly close!

Would it be possible for consecutive serial numbers to be assigned to the same FS/FG/AF?

In other words, could we think it more rather than less likely our aircraft may have ended up in the same squadron as 22749?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no: you need the IARC!

Do not place much hope in ARC card. It covers the home history of the frame and ends with the date of arriving to specified Theatre of Operations. Then comes the salvation day if the craft was lost. No history of abroad service. But You will know where she went, as a base for further research.

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We know the date, time and location of a Thunderbolt loss from another totally unrelated (non-USAF) archive record that records the crash. For this Thunderbolt there does not appear to be an accident or combat report. We suspect it crashed due to combat damage but as the pilot bailed out and was rescued the paperwork never happened.

What we do not have from this record is a serial number or pilot ID...hence we "think" we may have a possible match with 22750.

The IARC has been requested, so we will have to go back to being patient. Its only taken about 15 years to get to this point, so we can wait.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and suggestions so far - much appreciated.

Strange post above - IARC's do indeed have overseas moves, and even if bases are not shown (which usually they are) then so long as you know the unit (always shown) then you know where the aircraft is.

And I assume by 'salvation' you mean 'salvage'? Again, that is not always applicable because many aircraft were assigned to Class 26, MAP/overseas or donated at the end of their lives.

So please don't be swayed - get the IARC and go from there.

Incidentally, if it helps, the following are common codes to locations/assignments seen on USAAF WW2 IARCs:

SOXO - Eighth AF. England
BOLERO - Eighth AF, England
UGLY - Eighth AF, England
WILDFLOWER - Eighth AF England
GLEN- Twelfth AF, Oran, Algeria
DAUB - Tenth AF, ATC, 20 TSP, Karachi, India
DUKO- Twelfth AF, Italy
GLUE- Ninth AF
IRON - Seventh AF, ATC - Oahu Island, Hawaii
OHAM - Fifteenth AF, Bari, Italy
PACT - Fourteenth AF, Chunking, China

There are a LOT of these such as ROMULUS, CAVI etc which I can't recall for now.

EDIT: Oh - and the IARC will have the accident date/loss date etc, so that will also be more power to your elbow.

Great info Quemerford, informative post.
I will add however that the war may have changed so fast that the record keeping may not have kept pace. I have a card that shows SAXO (8th AF), then OHAM (with a 12, possibly meaning transfer to the 12th AF?) followed by WIPE to Sweden after the war. What it interestingly doesn't show is the 9th AF as other sources and photographic evidence shows it was based with.

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Always looking for P-51D parts.

Yes, salvage I mean. Sorry for that.

The cards I've seen never had units in them. And by unit I mean a group, not AF which of course is shown there. At least in the cards I've seen which is not many. I assumed it was a standard situation and would be gladly corrected.

If my post sounded like I was discouraging to look for IARC it only means I have written it wrong.

If the aircraft was lost the way You say Missing Aircrew Report or Accident Report could not have been made but Missing Aircraft Report would. And this is quite specific.

LEFT is V AF by the way, to add to the splendid list posted above. Big Thank You for that from me too.

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No worries: apologies if mine sounded a bit terse. I think we're all just keen to help.

Record cards are strange: some do have little info whereas some B-29 record cards I have, contain really detailed stuff. Date is also important: post-war you get unit info universally, as well as location and other information.

Incidentally, I recall that there were individual Air Force monthly/weekly returns, which contained aircraft s/n data, so that would be the next step once you know which AF or theatre that P-47 operated with/in.

q, Could you please elaborate on this? What does monthly/weekly returns mean? Are these records available from Maxwell? What description would be used to request them?
Thanks in advance!

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Always looking for P-51D parts.

So far, no accident or combat record has turned up. So how would one go about requesting or tracing a Missing Aircraft Report? This would be of extreme interest as we know date, time, location and fate (but not name) of the pilot.



We do know the theatre, in the general sense of UK/England. But nothing more specific at this stage I'm afraid. Would this be enough to commence a search in the weekly returns, given we know the date?

If you haven't checked here yet, AAIR has a great database that is searchable:

http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbMACR.htm

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Always looking for P-51D parts.