Help finding US aviator

georgerutherford1861 · 17 July 2012, 04:51 AM

Hello everyone,

I had a perplexing request from a friend who is doing some research. He is trying to find an American aviator named Elza Crain. I've asked him to see if he has any additional info on the officer as well, but I have no idea where to steer him to. Are there any good references out there for tracking an aviator down when all one has to go off of is the name?

Thank you all in advance for your time and help.

Doug Frank

Froggy · 17 July 2012, 05:17 AM

Bonjour

May be you should try this ?
Elza Crain - Ancestry.com

Keyword: Elza Crain - Fold3 Search

Cordialement
Bruno

ONEALM · 17 July 2012, 08:56 AM

Doug -

FWIW - The claim of having scored 3 confirmed victories cannot be substantiated - at least with the USAS.

I'm still looking for other info based on the inquiry of Joe Furtak.

Assuming this is not just a coincidence that you two are looking for the same man.

I've checked Arkansas and Colorado records - no Elza Crain commissioned and rated pilot prior to 12 November 1918 from either state so unless he enlisted elsewhere, I may quickly run into a dead end in the search.

-Mike

georgerutherford1861 · 17 July 2012, 11:36 AM

Mike,

Rats, yes Joe asked me where to look for any info on Elza and I said I'd ask here...I even did a search for Elza Crain on this forum before I posted my question, lest there already be something out there.

Sorry for the double query, then. If you're in direct contact with Joe then that's better than me trying to play middle-man.

Bruno, thanks for the links, my friend Joe had checked on Ancestry, and my Fold3 search did not appear to come up with anything that would help him.

Thanks for the quick replies, I will sink back below the surface now....

Doug

ONEALM · 17 July 2012, 12:31 PM

Doug -

Not a problem.... The many minds that will see the question here are far better than just my small contribution.

I'll keep fishing, but someone else here may beat me to it.

FWIW - The Gorrell entries at FOLD3 were not productive. They were either Elza or Crain, but not both (Rats!)

Keep at it,
Mike

Marian · 18 July 2012, 06:11 PM

Poking around on ancestry.com, I found Elza Willis Crain, born December 1, 1893, in Ottawa, KS, died April 2, 1980, Yuma, AZ. WWI draft registration shows him as a student, and at Fort Riley, KS.

A google search for "Elza W. Crain" resulted in one hit, a useful one: The Indiana Weekly of August 28, 1919, p.1, announced:

"On August 23, 1919, First Lieut. Elza W. Crain of Denver, Colo., recently of the 270th Aero Squadron AEF in France and Miss Bernice Lytle..."

Cheers,
--Marian

georgerutherford1861 · 19 July 2012, 05:56 AM

Marian,

Thank you for that bit of info. I must admit I've never heard of the 270th Aero until this.

Doug

Marian · 19 July 2012, 06:40 AM

There are about 10 pages of narrative describing 270th aero in the section on squadron histories in Edgar S. Gorrell’s History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service 1917-1919, which is available at fold3.com. First Lieut. Elza W. Crain is mentioned as having been assigned to the squadron on Sept. 9, 1918. (This presumably doesn't come up in searches because of incomplete or inadequate OCR of the documents).

There is now a charge for looking at Gorrell at fold3.com, but there is also the option of a 7-day free trial. I, personally, found it was a while before I was able to use fold3/Gorrell efficiently, so it may take a bit of patience for someone new to it. But it's worth the effort.

best,
--Marian

Riffster · 21 July 2012, 09:36 PM

When did fold3 start charging for Gorrell? My understanding was that they were scanning stuff in the National Archives and could charge for access for a given period, but then had to make it available for free, and that Gorrell was one of those things that had passed into the "free" range.

Maybe the scanned Gorrell is now available on the NARA website directly?

-Larry

ONEALM · 29 July 2012, 06:31 PM

I love doing this....

It might cost at Fold3, but it's FREE here....

8 pages of info on the 270th coming in two posts.... all that was in Gorrells.

Checked the USAS listing and did not find him in Arizona, Kansas or Colorado. Obviously he was commissioned prior to 12 November and it appears he was not a ground officer so he's either missing from the roster (possible...) or he's listed in some as yet unknown state. The list is organized by state so it's tough to skim through all 12K names on the off-chance you'll hit his name.