Texas, Passenger and Crew List of Airplanes - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Texas Cameron

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains passenger and crew lists of airplanes arriving at Brownsville, Texas from 1943-1964 and corresponds with NARA publication A3423 part of Record Group 85 Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The collection is arranged by date of arrival.

Collection Content
The records usually include the following:


 * Name
 * Length of service
 * Position within the crew
 * Age
 * Nationality
 * When and where signed on to crew
 * Significant remarks
 * Name of vessel
 * Post of departure
 * Date of departure
 * Port of arrival
 * Date of arrival
 * Serial number and form of required foreign service or immigration form

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know:


 * The name of your ancestor
 * Other identifying information such the port and date or arrival or departure.

Search the Collection
To search the collection by name: Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names, or variations of their name, throughout their life.
 * If your ancestor used an alias or a nickname, be sure to check for those alternate names.
 * Even though these indexes are very accurate they may still contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings, misinterpretations, and optical character recognition errors if the information was scanned.

For tips about searching on-line collections see the on-line article FamilySearch Search Tips and Tricks.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details and lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family. For example, you can use these lists to:


 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests.
 * Find federal immigration records

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Download a copy of the record or transcribe the details.
 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the lists to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives who may have immigrated at the same time.
 * If your ancestor has an uncommon surname, you may want to obtain the passenger list of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.
 * If you do not find the name you are looking for check for variant spellings of their names.
 * Please note that when you select an image to view, sometimes the manifest includes more than one page, and when you use the "click to enlarge manifest" link, the image that appears is not always the first page of the record. You may need to click on the "previous" or "next" links to view the remaining pages of the full manifest..

What If I Can't Find Who I'm Looking For?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names.
 * Look for another index. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records.
 * Search the indexes and records of other port cities.
 * Try alternative search methods such as only filling in the surname search box (or the given name search box) on the landing page leaving the other box empty and then click on search. This should return a list of everyone with that particular name. You could then browse the list for individuals that may be your ancestor.

Related Websites

 * National Archives Collection Description A3423 NAID 1956106
 * National Archives Immigration Records

Related Wiki Articles

 * Texas Emigration and Immigration
 * Cameron County, Texas Genealogy

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Collection Citation: Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

Image Citation: