David Maxwell began doing research on his father Lt William Maxwell, a pilot in the 505th Bomb Group. Lt. Maxwell flew the B-29' in the Pacific based on the island of Tinian. David had only a partial list of some of the crew members which he took from the 505th's first reunion held in 1970. Through the years he wondered about his father's service experience but had little to go on. While searching the Internet he found a lot of information on WWII but mostly in Europe and very little on the Pacific and the B-29's.

David found one small site, now the largest and foremost site on the B-29 and the veterans that crewed her - Sallyann's B-29 Superfortress Than and Now . . .After years of research we have come up with this page of hints that may help you in your search as well.

David got his "big break" when he made contact with Prof Terrence J Lindell, Professor of History at Wartburg College in Iowa. Prof Lindell does research on all aspects of WWII and through his personal contacts, David was able to connect with the Equipment Officer of the 482nd B-29's, Wendell Van Syoc . Mr. Van Syoc is a active member of the 505th Bomb Group and provided David with the names and addresses of the members of his father's crew still on the Group Roster .

A central gathering place for heavy bombers is Scott Burris' site, Heavy Bombers, at www.heavybombers.com

If you know the unit (i.e. Bomb Group or Bomb Wing) a person was assigned to click here. This link will give you all available contact information.

If you don't know their unit but have a photo of your research subject with a plane look for the tail symbols here.

If you have a photo showing nose art work and can read the name of the plane check out Maxwell's site and search for the name of the plane by Bomb Group. David Maxwell has over 25 books on nose art as well as personal contacts with access to more.

If you don't have a persons unit write the Military Personnel Records - NPRC(MPR) You will need to download form 180 . This form does not seem to be complete, but is necessary. Include a cover letter when returning the form with all you may know, such as place of birth, date of birth, and any other information you may have that can help narrow the search . (This resource may not work for everyone as there was a fire and many records were lost.) Another advantage of this site is that a veteran or their descendant can also receive free replacement medals.

If you are looking for a certain person or various members of a crew there are several "People Finders" or phone search directories available:

AnyWho: Telephone Number, Email, Home Page URL, FAX, Toll Free, and Address

Switchboard: The Internet Directory - YellowPages - WhitePages - PhoneBook

Missing air crew reports or MACR. There are several resources available to obtain a MACR. One such place is USAAF & USAF Aircraft Accident Reports 1918-1955 This service charges a fee of $25 .

To obtain the history of a particular plane, there is a free service from the
Air Force Historical Research Agency. Here you can obtain a "card" on a plane. To get this card you must have the plane's serial number. When filling in the "request info" form you will need to include your "snail mail" address as well.

As we get new information and places to search, we will post them here. David Maxwell has agreed to help you with your research projects AFTER you have availed yourself of all of the above methods. Since David and I both have full-time jobs we cannot do this for you, but will help you when you reach a dead end. You can contact David here. Please be considerate and if calling long distance to help David cut his expenses, please put the calls on your phone bill.

I would like to thank David Maxwell for sharing his research tools with us and for agreeing to be the site's "research guru".

- Sallyann