Every listed crash is recorded on an index card including the identification of the plane, the
squadron with which it was connected, the mission, the place and the circumstances of the crash,
as well as the list of the crew members.
There are two ways of accessing an index card for a plane: either by the plane itself (date,
type, roll, place of crash), or by the name of one of the crew members.
By Plane
by the date : to find a plane with a
given date: dd / mm / yyyy. However, some dates can be wrong, depending on the time of the crash.
It is therefore adviseable, to also look for the previous or the next day when you can’t find
what you are looking for. It can also happen that the index card has not been created yet.
by type of plane : if you do not know the date,
but you know that the plane is, for example a B-17, you can view the list of all B-17, in which
you’ll have to find the plane you are looking for. Be careful, for some types of plane, the list
may be long!
by roll : by this means, if you have at least part
of this information, it is rather easy to find the plane. So, for example, the Mosquito DZ516 AZ-O
can be found with DZ or 516 or AZ-or-O. But as the list may be long, it is advised to also indicate
Mosquito in the box called Type of plane (Type d'avion).
by location of crash : it is a good means to find
a plane when you don’t have any other piece of information. You can, either use the exact place of
the crash, or the closest city, when the files is completed, of course...
The first letters can be enough ( for example: Dij refers to everything that begins with Dij,
like Dijon). If you are unsure of the first letters you can use the sign % in front of the
combination of letters ( for example: %jon will take you to Dijon as well as Arpajon).
by MACR (USA) ) :in the USA, each accident
was numbered and a report called macr (Missing Air Crew Reports) was written.
By Crew member :
by name :Same use as by location of crash,
with the sign % to replace the first letters.
by roll :you can look for the whole or
partial roll number without the need to use the sign %. You can obtain a more or less precise
list, which you will need to explore.
The secondary index cards
From the crashes file, you can go to the technical file (Fiche technique) of the plane,
with some photos and different versions of the plane by clicking on technical file of plane
(Fiche technique de l'appareil).
This file can be accessed directly from the main menu, in heading Planes files (Fiche Avions).
In this list, the planes only appear if at least one plane of this type crashed.
Another link takes you to the correspondence of the ranks (correspondance de grades).
It is, in a way, a converter of ranks between the French and the English, the Americans and the Germans.
Finally, you can find a third link called used Abbreviations (Abréviations utilisées) from the
index cards such as decorations, units etc...
You will find regularly an asterisk at the end of the line in the box called place of burial
(lieu d'inhumation) : it is simply to indicate that it has been checked with bodies such as the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission for the English, or the American Battle Monuments Commission for the Americans.