THE MISSING AIRCREWS

These reports are devoted exclusively to the official documents on which this documentary is based: the final Missing Aircrew Reports (MACRs) of all the official accounts which covered all reported missing aircrews and men of the 392nd during the Second World War. These MACRs and their final content are set forth and described here in the best possible order - chronologically by dates and mission targets as these took place from the very beginning of combat operations in 1943 until war’s end in 1945.

These MACR records, and the Combat Mission Folders (CMFs) of the Group, both sets of files of which are reposited in the National Archives, Washington D.C. area, were the primary sources of cross-reference and interface during the course of all research at the National Archives with respect to the key and primary official documents investigated for the final writing of these accounts.

It is to be noted for the record that some of the MACR records are sketchy on some supporting details for some missing aircrews, while most all others are revealing with a depth of facts. Additional data searches within all other National Archival files could not turn up any supplementary information on those MACRs having somewhat limited facts. However, it is pointed out further that, given the brevity of data on some these reports, all essential official information regarding the final fate of the missing airmen involved had been well documented and conclusively drawn.

What follows is a final summation extracted from the 392nd MACRs as a historical perspective of the facts of the Group’s "missing" from the first until the last.

The accounts of aircrews and men killed-in-action, or killed-in-line-of-duty, who were casualties of the 392nd, but not covered by any MACR reports at the time due to the circumstance and place of their loss - near Wendling or within friendly territory are listed after the actual MACRs or Crew Loading Lists in the "Mission" section or the site.

Abbreviations throughout this documentary are employed as follows: Killed-in-Action (KIA); or in Line-of-Duty as (KILD); Prisoner-of-war (POW); Evadee/Escapee as (EVD) and Interned in a neutral country for any period of time as (INT).