Searching National Archives for specific aircraft

[Mike Bates]

I think you have all the info. The last part hand written is who took care of selling all the aircraft after the war.

Mike

[CoastieJohn]

I have an aircraft researcher buddy who often goes to the Historian's Office at the Navy Yard in DC to get the Navy AHC's.

FWIW on visiting NARA....get there early to get a parking spot and your NARA card. Bring a good camera for taking close-ups or a laptop and small portable scanner. Otherwise they charge you for copies. When I was there last time, anything you want to photo or scan has to get a "declass" sticker on it first. NARA monitors walk around watching everyone to make sure none of the documents/artifacts get ripped off (thank you Sandy Berger! ).

[flightsimer]

Would there ever be photos attached with aircraft cards or is it just strictly typed/written info? Desperately trying to find a photo of our C-47's nose art, but have had no luck.

[jdeters79]

So a brief update. I stopped by National Archives (Pennsylvania Ave), picked up my research card and spoke with a consultant. He informed me they would have nothing, but thought the NARA facility at College Park would. He also suggested checking with Smithsonian. No time to visit College Park (family vacation) but we were heading to Udvar-Hazy anyways. Stopped at info desk there, and a nice gentleman made a phone call up to archives and put me in touch with a researcher. She met me 15 minutes later and brought me to the archives room. Spent an hour digging through microfilm, and left with what I already had (BT-13 card only). She did help with a bit more deciphering of that card, so there was value in the visit. Also learned that their records only contain info for aircraft retired in 1951 or earlier. Two of the aircraft I was unable to locate info for, so it appears they stayed in the inventory past 1951. Learning expereience.

[jdeters79]

I just submitted a couple of requests to the center at Maxwell - got a confirmation that they had received them, and a note stating that they were just starting on requests received last November. That's how deep the pile is ....

Um, yep! Sit back, relax and wait. But they are very thorough.

Expand on "thorough". Will they provide info beyond the individual record card?

Thanks

[cooper9411]

Usually any information they have on a particular aircraft will be included. If there are any accident reports and/or photos ( even though the pictures aren't to clear ) they'll all be included. Remember- usually!

[quemerford]

My suggestion is to go through the IARC and make sure you understand an aircraft's history.

Then it will become apparent if there are any unexplained off-base assignments, transient maints etc.

These are not always the result of mishaps, but you should begin to outline a picture just by looking at dates (where a long unexplained assignment might indicate a repairable crash). From these it is worth submitting a request to Kirtland for mishap reports, but you need to have a basic date range to start with. It's not just the major mishaps ('A' type losses etc) that are recorded, so it's always worth a go.

[43-2195]

I spent a day in the research room at NASM in Washington back in 2006. I was able to print out about 250 Individual Aircraft History Cards for 5th USAAF P-38s. The staff were great. I can strongly recommend it for serious researchers. You have to organise your visit well in advance.

[flightsimer]

just an FYI, but I ended up making a request for all of our Airforce aircraft last week and they said they are now working on December.