Records About Air Sorties Flown in Southeast Asia

The first type is the Control Set with data on mission date and number. The second type is the Fragged Set with information about the initial order for the mission. The term "fragged" refers to "fragmentary orders" or those that were derived from the authority of standing general orders of the U.S. Seventh Air Force.

The Fragged Set contains the military branch or service, launch base, number and type of military airplanes, function, and type of target. The third type of data is the Flown Set, and it provides information on the mission as flown. It identifies the number and type of aircraft flown, flying hours, time over target, and type of target in the air warfare.

Every record has these three sets of data. As appropriate, a mission record may also contain one or more additional types of data called "Periodic Sets." The first was the Deviation Set with data on missions that deviated from the fragged orders including the number of aircraft deviated and the type and reason for the deviation. The second possible periodic set was the Target / Load Set with data about bombing missions including the type and quantity of ordnance, description of the target, and the results of the mission.

The last periodic set is Loss / Damage data for those missions that sustained loss or damage during the mission including the cause of the loss or damage, the location and activities of the aircraft at the time of loss or damage, and the status of the flight crew. This data comprises government records extracted from the Archival Research Catalog (ARC). See the ARC catalog entry for this series for more information on this data and how to order it.