Canadian Military Aircraft Database
VA3KGB's Canadian Military Aircraft Database
(The database page will open without the look of these pages and will have links to return to this page. Links on the result pages will not have icons to indicate if you are leaving this website!)
Background
Aircraft Record Synopsis Infomation
Search Hints
Sources for this Database
Background:
There have been several databases available on the internet that pertained to tracking aircraft used by the varioua incarnations of the Canadian military, however, none that I found cross referenced military serials assigned by different countries and civil registrations. This made it difficult for those who would see an aircraft to determine if it had been used by the Canadian military. On occasions I would see an aircraft in a paint scheme and markings that did not depict Canadian military service only to discover later that in fact it had served. Those that provided a search engine normally searched by military serial numbers or civialian registrations and you would have to dig through the presented information to cross reference serials/registrations.
The RCAF.com then Canadian Wings web site had a very good searchable database but unfortunately it has disappeared from the internet.
Check the waybackmachine.
I decided to create a database that would allow searches by various citreria, that would show relevant serial numbers and registrations, along with operation history etc. This was going to compliment the aircraft pages on my web site. Little did I know how many aircraft Canada actually utilized, and that my current lists as individual aircraft requires extensive work and took a hit on developing as I worked on the database!
I have used RWR Walker's online serial number listings as a starting point. Unfortunately Mr Walker is no longer alive, however, his website is being administered by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, to which at present most of the history links within my database utilize his web site until the individual aircaft histories are created/updated on this web site.
Although I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to display and link to within the database but as I was inputing the data I would add extra fields, and in most cases, records I had already entered would have those fields blank. I still have to go back and enter information where available for those records.
Currently the search results are shown as one page. I will be working to change the number of records listed on a page.
Aircraft Record Synopsis Infomation:
The aircraft history will be displayed in in a table format.
Selecting links will open new tabs/windows for that link.
To see the characteristics of an aircraft type, the link (if available) will open a new tab/window to either a web page on this site or to an external site such as Wikipedia.
To see the operational history of this aircraft, for example: 130333, the link (if available) will move you to the end of the table, or open a new tab/window to the RWR Walker site for one of the pages where this aircraft is listed.
In the information table, dates will be listed in full as Day Month Year.
In the Operation History, the timeline dates will be listed as Year Month Day to quickly find a date.
On record cards, photographs, reports, etc., most dates were listed in DD MMM YY format but expanded as per above.
On record cards, photographs, reports, etc., most locations indicated city and province/state abbreviations. In this database they have been expanded to indicate city, provonce/state, provoce/state abbreviation, and country. If the source listed the Canadian province's old abbreviation I included it but also list the new abbreviation in curly brackets. For example: Quebec (PQ){QC}.
Where known the source of the information in the operational history time line will be annotated [Source Name]
If the information is from a RCAF Aircraft Record Card such as a "RCAF Major Equipment Record Card" (RCAF MERC), the annotaion will be blue, for example: [RCAF MERC Transfers]
Information from a RCAF Aircraft Record Card that was striken through will be displayed with a line through it, for example: RCAF StationLondon Kingston.
My comments or information extrapolated from other entries that clarify a particular entry will be in curly brackets, for example: missing characters from a work order number that are in other aircraft records {CD}W 123456.
Photo thumbnails will open in a new tab/window to either this web site or an external web site. Aircraft ID, location, and who took or sorce of photo will show in a window tip when hovering over the thumbnail.
Photo credits may not indicate the correct copyright holder/photographer, due to no correct credit information given by the poster/source of photo. Any corrections to source information of photographs will be greatly appreciated by all.
Search Hints:
Sources for this Database:
This database has been cross referenced from several sources including:
This is an amateur site - and may contain errors!
(The database page will open without the look of these pages and will have links to return to this page. Links on the result pages will not have icons to indicate if you are leaving this website!)
Background
Aircraft Record Synopsis Infomation
Search Hints
Sources for this Database
Background:
There have been several databases available on the internet that pertained to tracking aircraft used by the varioua incarnations of the Canadian military, however, none that I found cross referenced military serials assigned by different countries and civil registrations. This made it difficult for those who would see an aircraft to determine if it had been used by the Canadian military. On occasions I would see an aircraft in a paint scheme and markings that did not depict Canadian military service only to discover later that in fact it had served. Those that provided a search engine normally searched by military serial numbers or civialian registrations and you would have to dig through the presented information to cross reference serials/registrations.
The RCAF.com then Canadian Wings web site had a very good searchable database but unfortunately it has disappeared from the internet.
Check the waybackmachine.
I decided to create a database that would allow searches by various citreria, that would show relevant serial numbers and registrations, along with operation history etc. This was going to compliment the aircraft pages on my web site. Little did I know how many aircraft Canada actually utilized, and that my current lists as individual aircraft requires extensive work and took a hit on developing as I worked on the database!
I have used RWR Walker's online serial number listings as a starting point. Unfortunately Mr Walker is no longer alive, however, his website is being administered by the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, to which at present most of the history links within my database utilize his web site until the individual aircaft histories are created/updated on this web site.
Although I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to display and link to within the database but as I was inputing the data I would add extra fields, and in most cases, records I had already entered would have those fields blank. I still have to go back and enter information where available for those records.
Currently the search results are shown as one page. I will be working to change the number of records listed on a page.
Aircraft Record Synopsis Infomation:
The aircraft history will be displayed in in a table format.
Selecting links will open new tabs/windows for that link.
To see the characteristics of an aircraft type, the link (if available) will open a new tab/window to either a web page on this site or to an external site such as Wikipedia.
To see the operational history of this aircraft, for example: 130333, the link (if available) will move you to the end of the table, or open a new tab/window to the RWR Walker site for one of the pages where this aircraft is listed.
In the information table, dates will be listed in full as Day Month Year.
In the Operation History, the timeline dates will be listed as Year Month Day to quickly find a date.
On record cards, photographs, reports, etc., most dates were listed in DD MMM YY format but expanded as per above.
On record cards, photographs, reports, etc., most locations indicated city and province/state abbreviations. In this database they have been expanded to indicate city, provonce/state, provoce/state abbreviation, and country. If the source listed the Canadian province's old abbreviation I included it but also list the new abbreviation in curly brackets. For example: Quebec (PQ){QC}.
Where known the source of the information in the operational history time line will be annotated [Source Name]
If the information is from a RCAF Aircraft Record Card such as a "RCAF Major Equipment Record Card" (RCAF MERC), the annotaion will be blue, for example: [RCAF MERC Transfers]
Information from a RCAF Aircraft Record Card that was striken through will be displayed with a line through it, for example: RCAF Station
My comments or information extrapolated from other entries that clarify a particular entry will be in curly brackets, for example: missing characters from a work order number that are in other aircraft records {CD}W 123456.
Photo thumbnails will open in a new tab/window to either this web site or an external web site. Aircraft ID, location, and who took or sorce of photo will show in a window tip when hovering over the thumbnail.
Photo credits may not indicate the correct copyright holder/photographer, due to no correct credit information given by the poster/source of photo. Any corrections to source information of photographs will be greatly appreciated by all.
Search Hints:
- This will apply to any of the searches where there is more than one entry for that category.
- Using the wildcard symbol %, for example: M% (case is not sensitive), in the By Named As search will return records that have names starting with M, however if the aircraft had two or more names the search will not find the name if it is not listed as the first name.
- Do another search, using for example: %m% and the search will return the records that have M or m anywhere in the "Named As" field.
- You will have more records to look at and you will have to check each record as the second/third/fourth item etc. is not shown in alpahbetical order in the results list
Sources for this Database:
This database has been cross referenced from several sources including:
- RWR Walker's Canadian Military Aircraft Serial Numbers
- Joseph F. Baugher's US Aircraft Serial Numbers
- Canadian Military Aircraft: Aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces: Serial Numbers and Photographs, 1968-1998, by John A. Griffith, Robert H. Smith, Dennis D. Castle, ISBN 1-55125-089-6
- Facebook Group: Canadian Military Aircraft
- Aircraft reports on the internet
This is an amateur site - and may contain errors!
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