B-17F Data Card Deciphering
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Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 43,073
- Mar 26, 2007
Staging area airfield in the US i think. Abbreviation for Alconbury.
B-17 master log:
Delivered Cheyenne 27/4/43; Smoky Hill 6/5/43; Tinker 15/5/43; Lincoln 21/5/43; Dow Fd 24/5/43; Assigned 92BG 3/6/43, transferred 335BS/95BG [OE-T] Alconbury 13/6/43; Horham 16/6/43; 1m, Missing in Action Huls 22/6/43 with Capt Joel Bunch, Co-pilot: Ernie Veilo, Bombardier: John Pearson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Leroy Lambert, Radio Operator: Leroy Morris, Waist gunner: Chas Johnston, Waist gunner: Jim Henley,Tail gunner: Dwight Seale (8 Prisoner of War); Navigator: Harry King, Ball turret gunner: Bob Castle (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft severely damaged cockpit, crashed Hunxe, six miles E of Wesel, Germany. Missing Air Crew Report 4903.
www.americanairmuseum.com
B-17 master log:
Delivered Cheyenne 27/4/43; Smoky Hill 6/5/43; Tinker 15/5/43; Lincoln 21/5/43; Dow Fd 24/5/43; Assigned 92BG 3/6/43, transferred 335BS/95BG [OE-T] Alconbury 13/6/43; Horham 16/6/43; 1m, Missing in Action Huls 22/6/43 with Capt Joel Bunch, Co-pilot: Ernie Veilo, Bombardier: John Pearson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Leroy Lambert, Radio Operator: Leroy Morris, Waist gunner: Chas Johnston, Waist gunner: Jim Henley,Tail gunner: Dwight Seale (8 Prisoner of War); Navigator: Harry King, Ball turret gunner: Bob Castle (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft severely damaged cockpit, crashed Hunxe, six miles E of Wesel, Germany. Missing Air Crew Report 4903.
42-30211 | American Air Museum
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- #4
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 43,073
- Mar 26, 2007
UGLY is code word for England
SOXO = 8 AAF
GLUE = 9 AAF
DUKO = 12 AAF
OHAM = 15 AAF
Destination code SOXO replaced UGLY.
If you want to read these cards properly you should get Robert Mann's
Aircraft Record Cards of the United States Air Force.
SOXO = 8 AAF
GLUE = 9 AAF
DUKO = 12 AAF
OHAM = 15 AAF
Destination code SOXO replaced UGLY.
If you want to read these cards properly you should get Robert Mann's
Aircraft Record Cards of the United States Air Force.
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Just a money-saving tip: you've got all the info you'll get from that record card. Robert Mann's book is now pricey and does give good background but won't add to what you already know! (I have a copy).
I've been reading record cards for years and the WW2 "overseas" entries are a pain. Stateside movements are covered in full but once an aircraft went overseas it was often/usually/always reported by its Theater of Operations/Air Force (by use of the code system) and nothing else; only would its loss/salvage or return to US soil be then appended.
So you'll usually find a "DEPUS" date, then "-code term-" and then "RETUS" date if it survived. These Individual Aircraft Record Cards can be frustrating! Post-war, even if aircraft went overseas into combat (Korea for example), their movements were fully recorded, so WW2 remains a bit of a black hole.
I've been reading record cards for years and the WW2 "overseas" entries are a pain. Stateside movements are covered in full but once an aircraft went overseas it was often/usually/always reported by its Theater of Operations/Air Force (by use of the code system) and nothing else; only would its loss/salvage or return to US soil be then appended.
So you'll usually find a "DEPUS" date, then "-code term-" and then "RETUS" date if it survived. These Individual Aircraft Record Cards can be frustrating! Post-war, even if aircraft went overseas into combat (Korea for example), their movements were fully recorded, so WW2 remains a bit of a black hole.
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- #7
Thanks for that additional information. What I was hoping to find, and it's probably lost to history, is the work done at the various stops in the US before going overseas. But, the "Ugly A" code was baffling and despite searching numerous different ways, was unable to come up with anything. My guess was that it was some sort of depot in the UK, but most references refer to Burtonwood (BAD). I had previously posted looking for information on the addition of the cheek gun positions which replace the flush gun positions for the bombardier and navigator. Whether these were installed at the Boeing factory or at a field modification center. From reading Simons and Friedman's book, it appears the cheek gun mod was incorporated in the block 50 aircraft onward which leads me to think that 42-30211 had them leaving Boeing. I've found a photo of 30212 (later converted to an Aphrodite aircraft) which has the cheek guns but the photo is dated later in 1943...and I am specifically looking for the May/June 1943 period.
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- #8
Thanks Snautzer! this bit of information (the UGLY-SOXO connection) helps immensely!
akdhc2pilot
Recruit
- 5
- Jan 20, 2007
I was just browsing old threads and thought this one was worth commenting on. While the above is a common interpretation of those destination codes, and it usually leads to the right conclusion, it isn't really correct. SOXO, GLUE, and BANG together replaced UGLY, and their respective meanings were Zone I ( Northern Base Section / SOXO) in England, Zone II (Southern Base Section / GLUE) in England, and Zone III (BANG) in Northern Ireland. All war materiel, not just aircraft or supplies intended for the AAF, was addressed to those base codes. After the major Channel ports in France were opened to Allied shipping, Zone II (GLUE) was expanded to include those ports. In other words, the code names were associated with seaports, or groups of them, as in the UK. (Source: HERE, pages 144-145, #1 on your list)
Therefore, the IARC destination codes did not refer to a specific air force anywhere in the world, although in most cases one can make the right inference because their HQs were often in close proximity. For example, DUKO was the Peninsular Base Section in Italy, headquartered in Naples, which served both the Fifth Army and Twelfth Air Force whose HQ's were also located there. IRON was Honolulu, where the Seventh AF was headquartered. Where one finds the associated air force on an IARC, especially during 1944 and 1945, is often right before the a/c serial number, as in this example where 42-99248 was sent to Zone 1 (SOXO) in custody of the Eighth AF. It was condemned for salvage in Zone II (GLUE) by the Ninth AF.
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The point to understand here is that in most cases, we are trying to ascertain aircraft assignment/location. Therefore the GLUE, SOXO etc references on the IARCs are a means of doing that. Thus it's not important to understand that DUVA is referring to an accounting system shorthand, just that you aren't looking at an 8th AF assignment. In the same way, a reference to "McClellan" can be taken as Sacramento Air Materiel Area (or vice versa) and help in obtaining more understanding, or give the interpreter a new avenue to investigate.
