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by Craig R. Scott, CG

The images in this series reproduce more than 16,605 case files of Missing Air Crew Reports (MACRs) and related records of the US Army Air Forces, 1942-1947. In 1943, the Army Air Force recommended the adoption of a special form for reporting the last known circumstances of missing air crews. These reports had to be filed within 48 hours of an aircraft or its occupants being declared either destroyed or missing in action.

The MACR case files are arranged numerically in a single sequence 1-16708 and there may be as many as three MACRs on a single page. There are duplicate numbers in the sequence.

Note that while this title is officially dated 1942-1947, it includes some records for 1941 and 1948 as well.

Missing Air Crew Report

The AFPPA-14 is the basic document in each case file, but not all case files contain this document. For military personnel, the information covers full name, grade, army service numbers, organizations, and home stations. For civilians, the information covers full names, positions, and employers. For the aircraft, it covers the time it was lost. Also required was a statement that the emergency addressee of each occupant had been notified, or that the house station commander had been requested to make such notification. Not all of the reports contain all of this information.

Individual Casualty Questionnaire

The AFPPA-11 was completed by a witness to the loss of a single crew member. It contains the name, rank, serial number, and crew position of the casualty, the number, date, and destination of the mission, the name of the respondent. The respondent was not a member of the flight crew. 

Casualty Questionnaire

The AFPPA-12 was completed by a member of the crew who had survived the mishap and responded to questions about the flight, and all remaining members of the crew.

Documents relating to the loss

Many files contain a “statement” or brief narrative account of the occurrence, signed by members of the crew or an eyewitness to the crash. Occasionally, the files may include aerial photographs of the crash site and of the aircraft, annotated maps of the flight pattern, and the location of the crash. Files relating to aircraft losses over German-occupied Europe often include German documents captured at the end of the war or English translations of these documents. These records typically indicate air crew survivors, the prisoner-of-war camp or place of incarceration. The burial place of dead airmen is sometimes indicated.

Records are organized by year then by aircraft serial number. To locate a name, use the search feature.

There are 25 additional images (No. 5970 – 5990-4) at the end of the images that deal with air crashes with references to pertinent captured German records; a battle casualty report of the XXI Bomber Command for January 1945; a listing of zones, types, models, and series of aircraft; rosters of Army Air Force casualties; and of airplane crashes by type, model and series; miscellaneous correspondence; and a listing of aircraft crashes from January to November 1947. 

• KIA - Killed In Action 
• MIA - Missing In Action 
• WIA - Wounded In Action 
• DED - Declared Dead (Public Law 490) 
• DOWRIA - Died Of Wounds Received In Action 
• DOW - Died Of Wounds 
• EUS - Evacuated To The United States 
• RTD - Returned To Duty 
• ALW - Alive And Well 
• DNB - Died Non-Battle 
• SWA - Seriously Wounded In Action 
• LWA - Lightly Wounded In Action 
• NOK - Next Of Kin 
• ASN - Army Serial Number 
• POW - Prisoner Of War 
• RMC - Returned To Military Control 
• DL - Dead List 

From the following Fold3 title page, you can search, browse, and see what others are finding within these documents:

Missing Air Crew Reports, WWII