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A Historical Database of
America's Armed Forces
The purpose of this site is to provide an extensive (not
complete) database. The tables
in this site include information about the the the men and women who
served, naval history, aircraft. weapon systems, organizational structure
of the various fighting groups and their civilian support groups,
sources of information, and other information of interest
that helps define our military history,
Email comments or
suggestions, to locker51@hotmail.com
The tables list past and present
American military units, ships, aircraft, military leaders and many other
combatants, battles and other military operations, installations, and
abbreviations, acronyms, and code words for operations. In smaller tables
are current senior Department of Defense officials, civilian leaders and
other civilians involved in military operations, some weapon systems,
including aircraft types, and some of the various present and past defense
contractors. Some of the larger tables have to be downloaded in segments.
Unlike most databases on the Internet, these tables may be copied in total
to your own computer, rather than just being queried on line for a specific
name, etc. Note that these are not text files, and so cannot be read
online. To read and work with them, you must have the software to handle
databases, such as Paradox or Access. You may then use the tables as you
please, by just reading them, or by adding to them, searching them for
files that match a certain name or other characteristic, sorting by almost
any field you choose, etc.
The tables are in Microsoft Access format, and should be convertable to
Paradox format also. A few of the smaller tables are in Paradox format.
(All were created originally with Paradox, which is the datebase software
that I prefer.) In either case, they have been compressed into.zip files using
WinZip. They may be decompressed into their normal format using WinZip or
other decompression software.
As with all database tables, these can be queried (once they are
decompressed) to find useful information. For example, properly structured
queries of the Ships table would produce a list of all of the American
ships that participated in the Battle of the
Coral Sea or the Battle of Midway, and
considerable information about each ship. Another query would produce a
list of most, but not all, of the American ships that participated in the Okinawa campaign. Queries of the Aircraft table would
show, for example, all of the F-86s, which B-29s were built in Wichita, or
which B-24 (by serial number and manufacturer) had a particular nickname
(for only a few of the many thousands produced of this type). The database
is being constantly augmented, and should not be considered as complete or
final in any respect. However, it is very broad and pretty comprehensive in
many ways.
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Note: For more information, downloads,etc.,
click the topic title.
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Department of
Defense
Official information from the Department of Defense,
about the Department and the military services,
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Other
Sources
To see a list of some sources of information about the
people, places and things in America's military.
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Defense Department Officials
(Updated July 26 2009) The current top officials of the DoD, the Military
Departments, and the Defense Agencies are shown. This table is just 44
records. Because names are constantly changing, these may not be completely
current, even as of the date the table is uploaded. NOTE: This is NOT a
.zip file. It is an ACCESS file.
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Ships
This table contains over 46,000 records of U.S. ships and other vessels.
The data about the different vessels varies, but for a great many ships the
builder, dates of commissioning and decommissioning, and some history,
including participation in battles and commanding officers during some
battles, are shown. For many, the person for whom the ship is named is
given. That person can then be looked up in the "Military
Personnel" table, below. The ships table is divided into five files
for downloading. For information about the files that make up the Ships
table, and to download those files, click on heading.
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Military
Organizations/Units
This table contains over 39,000 military organizations. Queries of this
table would produce comprehensive lists of the units that participated in
several major battles of the Civil War and World War II, including the
Battle of Gettysburg and the invasions of North Africa and Sicily, for example,
as well as the Battle of Midway. It is divided into five parts for
downloading.
For information about the files that make up the table on Military
Organizations, and to download any or all of those files, click on heading
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Military Personnel
This table includes military Leaders and a total of more than 739,900
military personnel. It consists primarily of many who have died in service
in the 20th Century wars plus a large number of people who served in the
Civil War, and some from other wars. It also includes senior officers (down
to regimental commanders, Navy officers who commanded ships in major
actions, and Air Force wing and group commanders) as well as some lower
ranking but relatively prominent persons, such as the Air Group and
Squadron Commanders at the Battle of Midway. It primarily is made up of the
names of many of the nation's other veterans, including over 3,000 of the
Medal of Honor winners. It is intended as being representative to honor all
of those who served and sacrificed, and is still growing. It is divided
into three parts for downloading.
For infomation about the files that make up the MILPERS table, and to download
those files, click on heading.
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Military
Installations and Bases
Updated August 10 2009) All currently active major US military
installations are shown, as well as Air Force reserve and National Guard bases.
Many former bases, including overseas bases, are also shown (particularly
many that were used in WW II.) In most cases for the latter only the state
or (if foreign) the country is shown. Some from the Revolutionary War, the
Indian Wars, the Civil War and WW I, and a few from the Korean War and
Vietnam War, are included. The total is 3,624 records. THIS FILE IS IN
MICROSOFT ACCESS FORMAT.
This table consists of two files that will require about 884 kilobytes of
disk space. The file you will download is a compressed version of this
table in a file called instal.zip which is 159 kilobytes. To download those
files, click on heading.
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Important Civilians
(Updated September 11 2009) This table lists 1,261 persons who achieved
prominence or deserve recognition as civilians in leading or supporting America's
defense. Included, for example, are the Secretaries of Defense, Defense
industry pioneers, several representative Merchant Marines who served in
World War II and a few of the civilians killed at Pearl Harbor, and some
other civilians who died while in service to the military. It is a file
named civpers.zip and is 81.4 kb. This file, when decompressed into
separate files, makes a table of two separate files totalling 400 kb. THESE
FILES ARE MICROSOFT ACCESS FORMAT. To download this file click heading.
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Aircraft
This table currently lists over 439,000 individual aircraft, including many
drones and missiles (by Air Force/Army serial number or Navy bureau number)
used by the U.S.
military forces. The table is divided into two files for downloading. THESE
FILES ARE IN MICROSOFT ACCESS FORMAT. For information about this table, and
to download the files, click on heading.
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Contractors
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Updated December 23 2009). This table lists 1,603 past and current Defense
Department contractor organizations, some showing addresses and/or types of
products. Major aircraft manufacturers are included. Many World War II ship
builders are also listed. Most of the current major contractors, and
several smaller ones, are shown. THIS FILE IS IN MICROSOFT ACCESS FORMAT.
This is a file called contract.zip and is 118 KB. This file, when
decompressed into a table totalling 556 kb. To download this file click on
heading.
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Battles and Other Military
Operations/Actions
Updated September 9 2009). The table lists 12,010 military engagements,
large and small, largely of the Civil War but representative of most of our
wars. For further information, and to download this file, click header.
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Classes of Ships
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Types of Aircraft and Other Weapons
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Abbreviations and Acronyms
(Updated September 20 2009) This table lists various abbreviations, such as
USN and FEAF, some of the code words used for opertions in World War II,
such as Overlord, and acronyms, such as COMDESPAC. It includes 6,216 such
items and their meanings in a MICROSOFT ACCESS table of about 1.04 mb. It
is compressed on line to a file of 168 kb. To download this file, click on
header.
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