Source Information

Ancestry.com. San Diego, California, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists of Airplanes, 1929-1954 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data:

Passenger Lists, 1929-1954, and Crew Lists, 1941-1954, of Airplanes Arriving at San Diego, California. Microfilm Publication A3472, 10 rolls. NAID: 3950379. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85. The National Archives in Washington, D.C.

About San Diego, California, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists of Airplanes, 1929-1954

This database is an index to passenger and crew lists of airplanes arriving at San Diego, California between 1929 and 1954. In addition, the names found in the index are linked to actual images of the passenger and crew lists, copied from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm (see Source Information for specific series and roll information).

A variety of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) forms were used to record information about the passengers and crew members. Different forms could be used depending on whether the individual was a passenger on a plane, crew member, citizen, alien, etc. Forms may have simply changed over time as well. Due to the variety of forms, the amount of information available for an individual in this database will vary according to the form used and the questions asked on it. The type of information that is generally contained in this database, though, includes:

  • Name
  • Age
  • Birth date
  • Birthplace
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity/nationality
  • Last residence
  • Vessel or airline name
  • Port of departure
  • Port of arrival
  • Date of arrival

Additional information about an individual may be recorded on the original document and may be obtained by viewing the corresponding image. Many of the bulleted items listed above may be used to search the index in the search template above.

The microcopies of these lists found at NARA are arranged chronologically by departure date. If you do not wish to search this database using the search template, the images may be browsed following the chronological arrangement.

To learn about researching in passenger records consult John P. Colletta’s book, They Came In Ships (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1993).