The 306th Bomb Group Historical Association archives contain numerous lists and descriptions of individual aircraft assigned to the bomb group. These records include a variety of official and unofficial lists used for various purposes during the war and in the postwar period. These records followed no organized pattern and contain a variety of historical data regarding the aircraft assigned to the bomb group. With extraordinary research and assistance from Mr. Stewart Lanham, of the United Kingdom, in conjunction with the 306th BGHA historian, these records were reviewed and distilled down to a single, complete inventory by serial number, of all aircraft that served with the 306th BG during the War and through to the completion of the Casey Jones project in 1946.
Additionally, a second listing of aircraft is included, sorted by the last three digits of the full AAF serial number. This "Three Digit" listing is included because many documents, particularly mission reports, used only these last three digits to identify the aircraft on the mission, in the formation diagrams, on Interrogation Forms, etc. This simplified the reporting process and also allows the researcher to quickly identify the full serial number for the aircraft from the mission reports.
Also included in the Aircraft Records are the official 306th Bomb Group "Monthly Aircraft Status Reports" (digital copies of the actual WWII documents) that often include "Monthly Aircraft Engine Reports". Later in the war these status reports were renamed "Monthly Inventory Report of Aircraft".
The 306th archives include numerous photos of the aircraft that were assigned during the course of WWII and the Casey Jones Project after the war. Over 200 of these photos have been posted to this website. In both the inventories sorted by full serial number and then by the last three digits of the serial number, those aircraft with photos posted on the website have their serial number hyperlinked in blue, simply click on the blue serial number and it will open the photographs of that aircraft..
The following is the key to the abbreviations in the Fate column of both the full serial and three digit inventories:
US-aircraft returned to the U.S. post-war
RZOI-aircraft remained in the U.S. after 306th BG deployed to England
Lost-aircraft was lost in action
TRF-aircraft was transferred to another bomb group
SAL-aircraft was salvaged due to battle damage or accident
Casey Jones - aircraft flew in the Casey Jones Project after the war, a secret mission to photograph and map Europe