List of AAF Forms (Cont.)- AAF Form No. 127 - Personnel Report[1]
AAF Form No. 18A - Monthly Runway Traffic Report of Airplane Landings and Take-Offs
(Source:
Google Books)
AAF Form No. 57 - Compass Correction Card
(Source:
Hathi Trust)
There's also a single reference that suggests that AAF Form No. 64 may be related to an examination in some way.
[2]AAF Form No. 1 is shown being filled out in a picture - the caption of which describes it as something that "every pilot knows":
Attachment:
(Source: “
[Untitled],”
San Fernando Valley Times, March 26, 1945, n.p.)
Many of the forms were managed by the Statistical Control Section of a unit. As described in a 1945 article:
Personnel Service Office wrote:
The most important mission of Statistical Control is the gathering of information from all sections of the base to be evaluated and presented in chart form to the commanding officer and his staff to assist them in the effective planning of current and future operations. This responsibility is met by the assignment of an experienced draftsman to this section by whom charts are prepared, information is evaluated, entered on the charts, and then kept in the Air Room to be referred to by the CO and staff. Statistical control is also charged with the consolidating and auditing for accuracy of all squadron morning reports and the preparation of AAF Form 127 (Military Personnel Report). Operations statistics, also depicted on this cover, is charged with the responsibility of preparing and submitting reports dealing with the activity of all the aircraft at this base. An invitation is extended to all military personnel to visit the Air Room at which time an explanation of the charts will be made, thereby passing information to you that might assist in the part you play in the accomplishment of the mission of this base.
(Source: “
Statistical Control Section,”
Nevada State Journal, September 22, 1945, n.p.)
Finally, the introduction to the Personnel, Training and Crews section in the December 1945
Army Air Forces Statistical Digest provides a more detailed description of the development and usage of AAF Form No. 127 and its importance to statistical analysis:
Office of Statistical Control wrote:
Because the waging of air warfare requires a complex combination of man and machines, It was apparent early in World War II that existing Army personnel reports were entirely Inadequate for intelligent training, placement and control of Army Air Forces personnel. Reports were found to be necessary which contained vastly more detailed information, both qualitative and quantitative.
This requirement resulted in the Institution of two entirely new concepts in personnel reporting; first, the reporting of all personnel by military specialty (that is, by the job held and by qualification to hold a particular Job), and second, the skeletal reporting of trained combat personnel as the unit in which they fight (that is, crew reporting). Both of these new concepts were inaugurated in a new type of personnel report, known throughout the Air Forces as the AAF Form 127 report.
Despite the complexity of this report, its comprehensive coverage of all pertinent personnel information immediately simplified the entire field of personnel management within the AAF. For, by preparing sufficient copies of the 127 report at each base or administrative unit, the Air Forces permitted each echelon of command, up to and including Headquarters, Army Air Forces, simultaneously to have available identical personnel Information for each AAF base and unit.
Furthermore, this report was specifically designed so that it might be used at the lower operating echelons for the transfer, placement and reassignment of specific personnel while at the same time it could be used at the higher planning echelons in the formulation of policy decisions controlling the overall flow and training of AAF personnel.
So successful was the initial concept of this report, that, despite frequent changes in types of detailed personnel information required during the progress of the war, the basic framework of the 127 report was never altered. Early in 1943 the combat crew section was required at a greater frequency than the balance of the personnel information of the 127, and accordingly it was set up as a separate report.
The largest and most valuable section of the 127 report was that devoted to tbs reporting of AAF personnel by military occupational specialty, and thus, several pages of the personnel section of this book are devoted to summary information on specialty data. The 127 report has also served as the source of the basic data from which the summaries have been prepared on strength data by location, grade, arm and service, sex, race and function (Continental US only). Furthermore, the data on shipments of AAF personnel to and from overseas theaters have been compiled from individual 127 reports. All casualty data have been obtained through The Adjutant General's Office. Civilian personnel data have been derived from a companion report to the 127, known as the AAF Form 134 report.
Because the 127 report is an Inventory report showing status as of a particular date, it was never possible to incorporate so-called flow and progress information of tbs type required for complicated training scheduling. Thus, within the general framework of the 127 report, several detailed training reports were instituted for the Training Command. The training statistics included in the following pages are generally derived from these special reports.
AAF personnel statistics have--as a result of the world-wide 127 report--provided a unique opportunity to all higher headquarters throughout the Air Forces for the preparation of meaningful studies and analyses which in turn have provided a constant stimulus to action on the part of staff officers. Chief virtue of the 127 report for this purpose has been that it always provided exactly comparable data for every single unit and person in the entire Army Air Forces--and this data have been collected on a comparable basis from the inception of the report until the end of the war. For example, considerable time has bean spent in studying the utilization of so-called maintenance personnel in relation to the workload imposed; the results of these studies have been apparent in the "improved maintenance” in various units or commands which were found to be lagging. Another profitable type of personnel study has been the projection of personnel requirements by specialty against the projected availability. By anticipating casualties and other attrition, by calculating future increases or decreases in requirements and by taking into account the length of the training pipeline, it has been possible throughout the war to control the input of personnel into the various courses of instruction so that the AAF did not suffer any severe portages of critically needed specialists.
(Source:
Internet Archive)
It is worth noting that, similar to forms 125 and 126 as mentioned in a
previous post, form 127 was also newly created during the war.
Similarly, the introduction to the Operations section states:
Office of Statistical Control wrote:
When the Army Air Forces began its unprecedented expansion from peace-time to war-time strength, two problems of materiel management became most critical: the determination of advance requirements and the effective distribution of equipment on hand. Requirements for aircraft, for spare parts and for expendable supplies had to be gauged for long periods ahead because the production cycle was as long as two years for some items. It was also necessary to make new calculations of the useful life and required replacement rates of aircraft and equipment under combat conditions abroad and under intensified training operations in the United States. In order to study requirements and to make the necessary forward estimates, it was mandatory that a reporting system be developed to provide current, continuous data on aircraft and equipment on hand and on inventory gains and losses.
The problem of effective distribution of equipment on hand could be solved only through a similar reporting system. The Army Air Forces was initially short of airplanes - bombers, fighters, transports and trainers - and bad to be certain that every plane produced was put to use as quickly as possible and in the most profitable place and manner. Close accounting was required to provide the degree of control that had to be attained.
The completed aircraft, as the instrument of air power, was brought under the closest possible control with a detailed reporting system. In the United States, every organization with Army Air Forces aircraft submitted a daily inventory report (the AAF Form 110) by teletype, giving the number of aircraft on hand for each type, model, and series, the number in and out of commission and flying hours. Gains and losses of aircraft were reported on this form by serial number, with the designation of the organization from which the aircraft ware gained or to which they were lost. These dally reports were passed through each echelon of command to Headquarters, Army Air Forces, in Washington, thus providing each command headquarters with the information it needed to control aircraft assignment within subordinate commands or units.
Reporting from overseas theaters was more difficult to organize than reporting in Continental US because of the nature of combat operations and less adequate communications systems. Aircraft loss statistics in preliminary form were reported by cable from the theaters. These preliminary reports were supported (and corrected, as was frequently necessary) by monthly air mail summaries which gave the "firm" inventory figures and the aircraft losses by serial number.
In establishing effective materiel controls, it was recognized early that some component parts of the aircraft, and some types of supply, were vary nearly as critical as the complete aircraft itself. Engines and propellers wore two items for which specific, detailed reports were set up on a continuing basis. High octane aviation gasoline became a highly critical item and was the subject of several special and periodic reports both in the United States and overseas. Gasoline stocks and consumption rates per aircraft per hour were watched closely through the medium of standard statistical reports.
Not all of the hundreds of thousands of items of equipment and supply used by the Amy Air Forces could be covered by the type of report used in controlling the assignment and use of aircraft, engines, gasoline and a limited number of other major equipment assemblies and supply items. For the mass of supply items, a machine tabulation stock balance ledger system was organized in Headquarters, Air Technical Service Command. This system covered only the United States. Like and related items were grouped in "classes" and reported monthly. Because of the great number of items, it was necessary to stagger the complete report over the month, different "classes" of items being reported on different days. There were over 600,000 separate items in the inventory, and the vast amount of paper work involved in tabulating bin cards, filling in inventory transmission sheets, then transcribing the information on punch cards and tabulating a complete record, made this one of the most difficult reporting problems handled by the Army Air Forces.
(Source:
Internet Archive)
Again, note that the third paragraph of the above describes Aircraft Record Cards, or something very similar to them.
Lastly, is the introduction to the Operations section:
Office of Statistical Control wrote:
In the early stages of the war, only summary combat statistics were secured from the routine operational cables sent in from the different theaters of war. As activity increased, it became obvious that a regular and accurate method of collecting detailed combat statistics was necessary. For this reason, the AAF Form 34 was originated to serve as the official report of statistics on every combat mission flown against the enemy. The report contained such data as the number of airplanes participating, the number considered to have accomplished the mission, the number which failed to complete the mission and the reasons therefor, the targets attacked, the tons of bombs, rounds of ammunition and gallons of gasoline expanded, the hours flown by airplanes participating and the losses sustained and inflicted on enemy aircraft.
Although the report was modified from time to time to meet changing needs, the basic material collected was essentially similar. Moreover, the report provided a uniform set of definitions, so that world-wide statistics of combat operations could be compiled on a uniform basis.
(Source:
Internet Archive)
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
