Database Search Tips

A "record" contains information about a specific SAR. Each rescue pickup aircraft has its own record. So if two helicopters each picked up a single survivor from a 2-seat aircraft, there would be 2 records from that SAR. A few SAR's have several records for a downed aircraft because multiple attempts were made to rescue the survivors.

A "query" is a technical term for a search. They mean the same thing for your purposes.

Searches are not case dependent. Searching for LaPointe, lapointe, or LAPOINTE will all result in the same records being returned.

You have to do one search at a time and narrow it down with follow on searches. This means you can only type in a search request into ONE (1) blank space and then hit "Submit Query." You do not have to delete the text from the original search (or searches) when submitting follow on searches. But, if you try a query with two NEW typed entries using a single "Submit Query" you will get the message "No Records Returned'

The easiest search is by last name. If you know the name of of a person on a mission, or if you want to know all of the missions a specific person flew on. Type the last name in the appropriate search block/s. If you know the survivors name and want to find out who rescued him, type his last name in the appropriate block/s.

No Records Returned Message: If you get this message, but believe that there are records that should have been returned, manually delete ALL text from the search blocks and clidk "Submit Query" If you then have records listed below the search blocks the database has reset and you may begin again. Try entering your searches in a different order than the one which cause the error message.

ACType: F-4 will result in all records with F-4 in it. F-4C (etc) will list only "C" model planes. F4 will not list any records. Without the "-" between F4 (F-4) the database will not sort. This formula works for all aircraft flown in Vietnam

Downed: This is the date the aircraft was shot down in the following format 8/25/1972 (month/day/year) or the full year as in 1972. If you wish to search using more than one type of query, and the date is one of the fields you will search in, then you must start your search in the "downed" space and narrow it down from there. The database will not sort if you try just month and year searches (i.e. 10/72 or 10/1972 for October 1972 queries. This is a FrontPage issue and I cannot change the date format for searches. The database requires that some value be in each data field. If you see 12/7/1941 in the "Date Rescued" block, that date would have been left blank and it means that there was no rescue accomplished.

SARUnit: Valid units are either ARS or ARRS. Valid numerical designations are 37, 38, or 40. Valid searches include the number followed by ARS or ARRS. Example 38 ARRS or 38 ARRS. You may also search by detachment number within the 38 ARR / ARRS by typing Det + number (ex. Det 7) will relult in all records from Detachment 7 38 ARS / ARRS

Location: Only the following 3 letter codes will work. NVN = North Vietnam SVN = South Vietnam
LAO = Laos CAM = Cambodia THA = Thailand GOT = Gulf of Tonkin SCS = South China Sea

PJ 1/2/3: Depending on which aircraft did the rescue, it was usually crewed by 1, 2, or 3 PJs. The database has three fields in which this information MIGHT be in. Start by typing the name in PJ1 and hit "Submit Query." After viewing those results, delete the name from PJ1 and put it in PJ2 (etc). Following this process will result in all records with the name queried being returned. If you do not do multiple single name searches, you may not find all records with the name being search for.

Pilot & Copilot: Each SAR aircraft had a pilot and a co-pilot. Like the PJ names, to find all records with a pilots name, it will need to be entered first in the pilot space. After viewing those results, delete the name from Pilot and put it in CoPilot and repeat the query.

SurvivorA/B: Search first in SurvivorA. Then, delete name from SurvivorA and type in SurvivorB and repeat the query.

Typing search requests in more than one blank space can be used to narrow down searches for specific missions. But you must do one query at a time and narrow the results using separate searches. For example if you are looking for information about an F-4, downed in North Vietnam in 1969, you first type 1969 in the "Downed" space and hit "Submit Query." After the results are displayed type F-4 in the space for "ACType" and hit "Submit Query." Then enter LAO in the "Location" space and hit "Submit Query." Each search will narrow the number of missions down. Remember, if one of your searches include the date, then the "Downed" field must be queried first.

You can bring up a "Search Tips" popup window from the search page. You could drag it to the upper right of your monitor screen and you should be able to see all of the search fields and the tips simultaneously.

On the results of your searches you will see data fields named H2O, H2OL, PJ Out, Night, and Hoist. H2O means it was a water SAR and H2OL means the rescue aircraft landed on the water to rescue the survivors. It a record says "false" that mean it did not happen. If a record say "true" than the event happened. So, if under H2OL you see "True" then a water landing happended. PJ Out means that one or more PJs deployed out of the rescue aircraft to recover the survivor. Med means medical treatment was given to a survivor. Night means it was a night SAR. Hoist means the survivor was rescued using the hoist.

The "Saves" data field is the number of personnel who were rescued. The "Type" column is the type of save credited. It will be either a Combat Save unsing a "C" or a noncombat save using the code "NC"

For technical experts in MS-Access. This is an access database inserted into the website using the FrontPage 2003 Data Base Results Wizard. All fields are text fields and all criteria for queries uses the "contains" value. There is no numeric or date fields because the webmaster could only get this to work using text criteria. If anyone knows better code that can be used to search all of the name fields simultaneously AND keep the other search fields available for use, please contact rlapointe@gci.net and he will try to use it to improve the search form/s. Several MS-Access consultants have tried to assist, but so far all suggestions have failed.