USAAF aircraft record cards WW2: translation!

[Phil Irwin]

Can anyone tell me what Occident and Ugly mean please.


Have a reference to Occident A and Occident R, also Ugly R


Many thanks

[ian hunt]

Hi Phil
What’s the context of those names, please?
Could they be drop zones, or patrol areas of some sort?

[Stig Jarlevik]

Ocident (written as such in my list), was the codeword for North Atlantic ATC.
It was formerly known as Occidental, meaning that ocident is probably a spelling error in the list

Ugly was the code word for 8th AF in Britain.

No idea though what the letters A and R afterwards mean.
How is it written?

Cheers
Stig

[Phil Irwin]

Thanks for that Stig,

They are literally written as Occident A and Occident R, unless they are both A or R !


It was an anti-submarine B-24 that may have been ferried to UK and back again for mods.


There is also SOXO that seems to coincide with it crashing so I wondered "Struck Off" ?

[Stig Jarlevik]

Phil

I should perhaps have been more explicit.
All these codes are destination codes.
SOXO replaced UGLY at some point for 8th AF in Britain.

The USAAF IARC can be very difficult to read since a lot of what's in there
are in codes. Normally the assigned stations are written with four digits
within the US and one letter + three digits outside the States. If you are
lucky they are written in clear language, now and then shortened.

If you want to read these cards properly you should get Robert Mann's
Aircraft Record Cards of the United States Air Force.
Unfortunately the book doesn't answer all questions, but it is a good
beginning!

Cheers
Stig

[Phil Irwin]

Sorry, my mistake, it is Ocident.


The date beside Ugly is July 43, and SOXO R is Dec 43 when it crashed.


There is also CON AFMSC on the same line as soxo and before it if that makes sense.


Definitely A and R

[Stig Jarlevik]

Thanks Phil, so no spelling error then.

Nice to have an appx date when UGLY became SOXO (I haven't actually tried to figure that out....)

CON means condemned
AFMSC means 'loss reason obtained from HQ USAAF'

There are no digits after AFMSC I suppose? Any such numbers would explain in more detail the reason
for its loss.

With regard to the A and R letters, I have no explanation for them. Possibly, and this is a guess, the
A stood for assigned while R stood for return.

Cheers
Stig

[Phil Irwin]

Well, I bought Mann's book (£57) thanks for the prompt.
Surprised it doesn't contain Ocident !!!

[Stig Jarlevik]

Phil

Nice to see you are that interested.
These destination codes are not the books strong side.

Send me a PM please with your e-mail....

Cheers
Stig

[Leendert]

Perhaps more can be traced if we hear the serial number of the B-24 involved?

Regards,
Leendert