Combat Mission Only combat missions counted for completion of a tour. In order to be considered a combat mission the aircraft was required to fly over enemy held territory. Early on (July 1943) this meant crossing the English Channel into France, Belgium or the Netherlands. As the war progressed and the Allies moved across Europe the line was moved closer to Germany. If an aircraft aborted its mission and returned to base before crossing the line, no credit for a combat mission was given to that crew.

Aborts Almost every mission had crews aborting for some reason. Usually it was caused by an aircraft malfunction– an engine, oxygen system, fuel system. Sometimes a crew member became ill or unconscious. Other times it was weather related - unable to find the formation in thick clouds, extreme cold. A legal abort occurred when an aircraft went up as a spare to the formation and was not required and thus sent back.

Naming Convention Crews were known by their pilot’s name. In some cases different crews are known by the same name. In order to uniquely identify the crews in these cases, more than just the pilot's last name is required. This database uses the following naming conventions for the crews.

Assignment - Crews were formed in the States and trained together at various locations before being shipped overseas. The original crews were formed and trained as a 388th squadron stateside. They ferried separately across the Atlantic to Knettishall. Later crews were not assigned to the 388th until they arrived in England.

Replacements For some missions, a crew member was not available due to injury, sickness or other causes. A temporary replacement was usually picked from the same squadron to fill in. Sometimes crewmen were permanently replaced due to a variety of causes - injury, death, a completed tour, inability to perform (air sickness, nerves, incompetence), incompatibility, etc.

Combat Tour Each crew member was required to complete a tour of combat duty. A tour consisted of 25 combat missions in July 1943 when the 388th started flying combat missions. Later the number was increased to 30 missions and by the end of the war (May 1945) it became 35 missions. In some cases, men had 28 out of 30 missions completed when word came down that the tour count was to be increased to 35.

When a combat tour ended, several options were available. The crew member could return to the States for a non combat assignment. The crew member could sign up for another combat tour which began after a 30 day R&R (rest and relaxation) in the States. Certain valued individuals were offered a non combat position (e.g. training instructor, staff position) at Knettishall.

Serial Numbers Each aircraft was assigned a serial number at the time of manufacture. The serial number consisted of the year of manufacture and a one up number - eg. Jamaica Ginger (42-97210) was builit in 1942. The serial number was displayed on the tail of the aircraft in an abbreviated form - no leading 4 and no dash eg. 42-97210 was displayed as 297210. In most documents of the time, aircraft were identified only by their last 3 digits, eg. 42-97210 was known as aircraft 210. Sometimes this causes confusion when more than one aircraft had the same last three digits.