CWGC WW2 Air Forces Database (114400+ / 93.89% Done!) Less than 7,500 to go!

[CZ_RAF]

Many thanks Jagan, I can say only "Waaaaw"!

Pavel

[dennis_burke]

Thats very impressive Jagan. Well done.

[Jagan]

Thanks guys. something else struck me - there appears to be no single site on the internet that provides or attempts to provide photos of all those listed in CWGC.

I figured out that the code and data I have out there can already support photos if they are available.. example

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...php?qnum=33508
http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...php?qnum=16510

Obviously - i dont have the bandwidth to start collecting nearly 124000 photos for this.. Does anyone else want to take up this project ? :)

All it requires is for someone to rename a photograph based on the URL number .. and send them to me in batches. and they can be updated almost immediately

[dennis_burke]

I might like to have a go at editing the database, I have found a a few changes.

For example John Washington 1030618 we found died in 1944, not 1942. CWGC are updating their database, will this find its way into your database or does it need to be manually changed?

[Jagan]

Hi Dennis,

I will set you up with the access. Will email you the details.

I had found your post earlier on the actual Unaccounted thread and had already updated the entry in the current DB .. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/...p?qnum=1030618

If i find any updates posted on the Unaccounted threads - actual cause of deaths, and corrected dates take first priority in updates. I am behind on unit updates though.

[dennis_burke]

Cool. Thanks Jagan.

They are being found. Great work

[Jagan]

The CWGC Database hosted on this site has now over 100,000 records populated with "Cause of Death".

http://www.rafcommands.com/database/wardead/

This is ofcourse Henk Welting's vision - and ably continued by the forum members listed who continue finding details of these Unaccounted airmen and posting them over here. The unaccounted forum has its share of prolific posters for which we should be grateful - the list that i have shared here - http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...787#post145787

The current status of the DB for the WW2 airmen who are commemorated on the CWGC :

Total Records - 124362 (Source)

After removing Luftwaffe and Italian records - 122357

100063 records (81.78%) have circumstances of death.
22294 records (18.22%) do not have details.

Year	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947
Total Records	689	6887	13016	21390	29783	33061	13727	2385	1419
Accounted	673 (97.68%)	6425 (93.29%)	12048 (92.56%)	15146 (70.81%)	25473 (85.53%)	28217 (85.35%)	9929 (72.33%)	1351 (56.65%)	784 (55.25%)
Unaccounted	16 (2.32%)	462 (6.71%)	968 (7.44%)	6244 (29.19%)	4310 (14.47%)	4844 (14.65%)	3798 (27.67%)	1034 (43.35%)	635 (44.75%)

It took me roughly just under an year to work this data into the DB.

I have linked all the Unaccounted Posts with the names except for the year 1942 which I will commence after taking a breather. I reckon atleast another 3000 records will be accounted for once that is finished. There is still a lot of RCAF, RAAF, RNZAF, SAAF data that can easily be sourced and populated. Aus and NZ are being accounted for. Would appreciate if someone can take up RCAF and SAAF data.


And finally :

I acknowledge that the data , even for external websites - quite likely refer to published material on RAF history and losses. Some of these books/authors are acknowledged in our Essential RAF Researchers Book List. These Authors include (But not limited to) Bill Chorley, Colin Cummings, David Gunby, J J Halley,Ross McNeill and Pelham Temple.

[Jagan]

Couple of minor enhancements

1.
There is an option to search by "Force" - RAF, RCAF, RAAF etc that was not available earlier.

The results also show an icon showcasing the force that the casuality belongs to.. (yes some of these are post war insignia - but its just makes it easier on the eyes to discern them)

It appears as below

Corporal

Stanley Thomas WOODS (33039)

1943-01-01

Australia

Sydney War Cemetery

2.

The summary of the index page tells how many records are accounted for and how many are aircraft related and non-aircraft related

eg: 101566 records (83.01%) have some details on circumstances of death. 94075 are related to aircraft incidents and 7493 are non-aviation deaths..

I do think that of the remaining 20,000 odd records, a majority of them would be non-aviation related as those are the ones most likely to be not accounted for...

[Jagan]

I finished the first pass of linking all the forum posts that i could find to the database.

103779 records (84.82%) have circumstances of death.
18578 records (15.18%) are still unaccounted

I have Henk's files - I will see how many of the 18578 records i can try and fill in from Henk's offline files


Currently the unaccounted by region

7318	Europe
3624	SEAC
1903	Americas
1775	Pacific
1452	Africa - North
1149	Africa
1078	Mediterranean
277	Middle East

By force

Count	Force
11750	RAF
2012	RCAF
1720	RAAF
722	SAAF
642	RIAF
455	RNZAF
446	WAAF
305	Polish AF
141	RAF Iraq
73	Rhodesia AAC
52	ATA
46	Greek AF
39	RAAF WAAF
38	SAAF WAAF
28	W Afr AC
25	RCAF WD
22	RNNAS
11	USAAF
8	Netherlands AF
8	BVAF
5	RAF Nursing
5	MVAF
5	S Rhodesia WAAF
4	S Rhodesia AF
4	NULL
4	Norwegian AF
3	NZ WAAF
2	RAAF Nursing
1	Belgian AF

[paulmcmillan]

ATA Casualty list

http://www.raf-lichfield.co.uk/ATA%20Casualties.htm