The 388th BG Database Project will provide information about the courageous men and women of the 388th Bomb Group serving in England during World War II. The project was started in January 2005 and is planned to be completed by December 2005. The work is being done by volunteers who value the contributions of those men and women.

There are four phases to the project. (1)The screen mockup phase is being used to test and demonstrate the look and feel of the web pages. (2)The data collection phase will gather the vast amount of 388th data into Microsoft excel spreadsheets which will then be loaded into a database. (3)The middleware phase will create the software that will access the database and create the web pages on the fly. (4)The operational phase will have the database and a web server providing the web site.

Just about every 8th Air Force Bomb Group has one or more websites providing data about their part in World War II. Some of these sites have more data or present it in a more interesting way than others. This project aims to set a new standard for this type of website.

There is a lot of information available in a variety of books, newsletters, personal accounts etc. However unless one is willing to spend hours reading through all of these sources it is difficult to find certain data. This project's goal is to greatly improve access to the data. The website under construction will excel in providing vast amounts of accurate data in an interesting format and will be ideal for research whether by a relative of a 388th member or military historian.

The website will provide more than historical data. It will also become a meeting place for descendants of these heros who worked and fought together so bravely. As these heros dwindle in numbers, this website will serve to remind us of their sacrifice.

The purpose of this site is to present an idea of how the web site will look and act. While the database and middleware are being created, the vision of the eventual website is represented by these pages. Hopefully this mockup will encourage volunteers to help with the data collection. The other pages of this site constitute the mockup pages and these can be reached via the various links (Aricraft, Missions, Crew, Personnel) in the left hand column.

The majority of web pages will be created from a handful of templates (e.g. Aircraft Detail, Aircraft List, Crew Detail, Personnel Detail etc.). Each page will have links to other corresponding pages. This will allow the user to easily navigate through data

A few caveats should be mentioned. First there are many pages "missing" from the mockup. This is not meant to be a complete and total representation of the future site. Only the more interesting pages are displayed.

Secondly the data in this site is meant to be representative not accurate. (The actual project will have very accurate data.) You will notice that only one page is provided for a given template. Therefore no matter which mission you select you will always get the Brux Mission. Of course the actual project will provide the correct pages.

Thirdly more aesthetic care will be put into the actual site. This is quick and dirty.

The 388th's efforts are documented in a variety of ways - books, photos, lists, personal notes etc. Somehow this data has to be loaded onto a database. The easiest way to load the data is to first "computerize" it by putting it into a spreadsheet.

The data collection will be carried out over the internet via email. Data will be loaded into spreadsheets and then checked for accuracy. All of this will be done by volunteers working on small tasks (about an hour in length).

The data entry task involves loading an Excel spreadsheet with data. The Excel spreadsheet is preformated and contains examples to show how and where the data is to be entered. For instance, a data entry task might involve entering the data for two crews. Various data sources are to be used that identify such data. The information from those sources is to be transferred into the spreadsheet per the example.

In addition to data entry tasks, there are also data checking tasks. The data loaded by a data entry person is verified by another individual. The same data sources are used to verify that no typos, omissions, misformats or additional data exist. Small corrections will be made as necessary and the data returned.

Volunteers only need the most basic level of understanding of Excel spreadsheets. They should have the willingness and the time to complete the tasks ASAP. Access to 388th data sources such as the Blue book, the Brown book or crew cards would be helpful. If anyone is interested in helping us out or has questions, please contact us at

rlhengg@comcast.net