US Navy Aircraft History Cards

[Noha307]

As to G as a third letter, I have never seen that so perhaps
you could ask him which particular aircraft he is concerned with.

So same Bill Armstrong.. and maybe G never used ?? Unless you can find an example of it being used?

I actually don't have any example of it on a card, I just noticed that it was missing from the list above. So, it's entirely possible it was never actually used.

I went ahead and reordered the cards in chronological order, included headers for easier reference, and added a few more formats:

Format 1 (4-4198)


Format 2 (N. Aer. 3244)


Format 3 (N. Aer. 3244)


Format 4 (DIEBOLD ?)


Format 5 (ACME 30736-8P)


Format 6 (NAVAER-1925)

(Source: Photobucket via Warbird Information Exchange)

Format 7 (OPNAV-50-157)

(Source: TBM Avengers & Forest Protection Limited)

Format 8 (OPNAV FORM-5442-1)

(Source: Warbird Information Exchange)

Consider the above numbers potentially provisional because: a) the order may not be exactly correct, and b) there may be examples missing (e.g. OPNAV-50-150).

[Chris Brame]

Interesting tidbit from Baugher on this one:

3914 (VF-6) scored first Pacific War aerial victory by USN or Marine pilot Feb 1, 1942 over Taroa Island in the Marshalls, downing a Mitsubishi A5M4.

What about the eight Japanese aircraft shot down by VMF-211's pilots at Wake Island over a month earlier?

[A7B]

Note the strike code on the TBM-3E card - "33P3."
I have asked our Tech Pubs guy if we might have older editions of the Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 3 & 2, a.k.a. NAVEDTRA 10391-C2. Have also contacted NAVSYSCOM about the current Historian - no where on the website does it hint at one.

Thanks everyone - keep digging!

[A7B]

The Tech Pubs guy at the Naval Aviation Museum says we don't have any editions of the Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 3 & 2, a.k.a. NAVEDTRA 10391-C2.

[Noha307]

Note the strike code on the TBM-3E card - "33P3."

FWIW, that's actually the card for our museum's Avenger. I also took a whack at recreating it in Excel:

(Source: Imgur)

Here's a blank version:

Here is a full size version of the above:

(Source: Imgur)

Here's the stamp I used for the recreated form:

Aircraft History Card - Format 7 Stamp.png (12.61 KiB) Viewed 2831 times

Finally, here's a blank copy of format 6 that I created for our museum's N2S:

The Tech Pubs guy at the Naval Aviation Museum says we don't have any editions of the Aviation Maintenance Administrationman 3 & 2, a.k.a. NAVEDTRA 10391-C2.

Well, shoot. Thanks for checking!

[A7B]

But wait! Yesterday we found yet another type of history card - IBM punch cards. Each A/C had an X card, which shows location, etc. And a Y card which shows maintenance, change of status, etc. Used one year, between 1 July 1965 to 30 June 1966. Will post it Tuesday when I get home.

[Noha307]

Will post it Tuesday when I get home.

Cool, thanks!

I created a version of format 5 in Excel:

If anyone's curious about how to do this, here's a run down of the steps:

1. Copy-paste the image file into GIMP
2. Crop the excessive border so only the card itself remains
3. Add guide lines
4. Deskew the image by rotating it so the lines on the card match up with the guide lines
5. Open an Excel file and add the image as a background
6. Line the tops, bottoms, and sides of the cells up with the ones on the background image
7. Add and format text
8. Screenshot the Excel file after hiding gridlines
9. Upload file to WIX and/or Imgur depending on size (WIX has a max of 1024 x 1024 for image attachments)

A couple extra notes:

• To line up the cells correctly, and because not every column continues all the way down the sheet, it is necessary to use the merge tool in Excel. This is especially important to create the blank cells for inputting the non-preprinted data if you want it to work as an actual functional spreadsheet and not just to create a static image.
• For text that doesn't line up, such as the stamp on the TBM card above, you have to use a text box. This is also sometimes necessary to achieve the correct spacing between lines in the same cell, as Excel does not have a function for changing it.
• For what it's worth, I believe this whole process took me about 1 hour, 20 minutes.

The interesting thing is this whole exercise in reproducing the cards makes me realize how very much Excel and computer spreadsheets are the spiritual successor to these cards. For example, Excel even has a built in double border feature for cells. Here's a screenshot of the Excel spreadsheet overlaid on the image showing how well everything can line up. Note also the number of columns across the top:

Last edited by Noha307 on Sun May 23, 2021 8:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Scott Rose]

This thread is interesting. Thanks everyone for contributing.

[A7B]

Here's the punch card. In Fiscal Year 1966 1 (1 July 1965 to 30 June 1966) the Navy changed to a smaller (punch card sized) card listing only the activity for one aircraft during that fiscal year only. Note this example includes a notation for Decemeber 1964. The next year, these 65-66 card activities were included in the computer printouts. I've figured out how to find an entire history, if its on the films we have, for a single aircraft, but it is tedious. Yesterday I did this R5D-3. 12 cards - and we're missing its history from 1949 to 1964.

[A7B]

We've figured out the history card microfilm, for the most part. It is complex, some reels have been loaded backward, etc. But we're getting thru. A T-28B we just finished had 24 scanned images - some of the images had 2 cards in them. Took upwards of 4 hours to put together.
As to Status Codes, Strike Codes, etc. History & Heritage Command has declassified "Allowances and Locations of Navy Aircraft" thru at least 1986. These are, for the most part, monthly reports. Each one I've looked at has pages which include abbreviations used, status codes, etc. By 1983, the Strike Codes were a part of the Status Code column - i.e. occures 1st: "S40 - Completed Service Life"; next line is: "4SO - Stricken, completed service life."

[jdeters79]

I am a volunteer researcher at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Fl.

The Museum is now the custodian of the US Navy's Aircraft History cards through 1987, and they didn't come with instructions for interpreting them - there are at least 8 different card versions. I would assume History and Heritage Command didn't have a copy of the instructions either, else they surely would have sent them when they shipped the microfilm.

From reading the thread concerning history cards, I was able to glean quite a bit of information, particularly about the TBM-3E card, but I do have a question on the strike code "33P3." The first 3 means strike for admin reasons. The second 3 - there is no 3 within Employment. P - Excess to navy aircraft inventory requirements. 3rd 3 - Jettisoned or abandoned in operational or repairable condition . . . My question, since there is no 3 within Employment, is, what is the date on this specific strike code chart? Were there other editions of the strike code chart, and, if so, where might I find them?

Do you have an expert interpreter of later date history cards, particularly the computer printout ones with 2 or 3 bureau numbers on every page? I would really appreciate contact information for this person.

A7B,

Sent you a PM. Wondering if you might be able to assist with finding a record card?

Thanks,
Jordan

[A7B]

To all interested in obtaining AHCs from the National Naval Aviation Museum:

Please send your request to the NNAM research library at: library@navalaviationmuseum.org
The cards are scanned to PDF format directly from the microfilm, so we need a valid email address to send them to.
We will get you your cards ASAP, but please be reasonable and request only one or two at time - we are really short on volunteers due to Covid-19.

[Clifford Bossie]

To all interested in obtaining AHCs from the National Naval Aviation Museum:

Please send your request to the NNAM research library at: library@navalaviationmuseum.org
The cards are scanned to PDF format directly from the microfilm, so we need a valid email address to send them to.
We will get you your cards ASAP, but please be reasonable and request only one or two at time - we are really short on volunteers due to Covid-19.

I recently did that and was pleasantly surprised to receive a response the next day. The cards on the two aircraft provided the Navy history on two of the airplanes in our museum. Great job and thanks!

[A7B]

To Jordan Deters:

You never got back to me, but here's your AHC for BuNo 3190! Doesn't make any sense to me, what with the disparate dates, except that perhaps it did get stricken, then they changed thier minds and sent it to NATTC at Memphis?

Attachments

[lmritger]

To all interested in obtaining AHCs from the National Naval Aviation Museum:

Please send your request to the NNAM research library at: library@navalaviationmuseum.org
The cards are scanned to PDF format directly from the microfilm, so we need a valid email address to send them to.
We will get you your cards ASAP, but please be reasonable and request only one or two at time - we are really short on volunteers due to Covid-19.

Thank you for this - I just sent in a request to see if there's any info in your files for F6F-5P BuNo 58873, flown by my first cousin (twice removed) Ens. William M Nettles, VF-80. He has been MIA since 5 Nov 1944 when he disappeared on the first Manila strike... I'm just curious to know the history of that specific airframe.

Thank you again for sharing all this info with us!

Cheers,

Lynn