Motto | "Preserving the Past. Informing the Present and Future." |
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Mission | The Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) preserves Department of the Air Force (DAF) history and provides information and analyses to support official customers and the general public in a variety of venues and formats. The AFHRA administers the lineage, heritage, and emblems of DAF organizations; advises manpower and organization offices at Headquarters, United States Air Force ( HQ USAF), HQ, United States Space Force (USSF), Major Commands, Direct Reporting Units, and Field Operating Agencies on the selection of units and establishments to be activated and other organizational matters; supports contingency operations; prepares reference works; conducts an oral history program; operates an information system to index and retrieve historical data; and provides field support to Air Force History and Museums Program personnel. The AFHRA will provide the same level of support to both the USAF and the USSF. |
Address | 600 Chennault Circle Maxwell AFB, AL 36112 |
Website | www.dafhistory.af.mil |
The Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) the Department of the Air Force's central repository for physical and digital documentation. [1] The archivists and historians who work at AFHRA collect, manage, and preserve the archival collections of the United States Air Force (USAF) and United States Space Force (USSF). [2] The Agency's collection began during World War II in Washington, D.C., and moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional military education students, the faculty, visiting scholars, and the general public. [3]
The U.S Air Force History Office in Bolling Air Force Base Building 5681 in Washington, D.C., houses microfilm copies of archival materials in the United States Air Force Historical Research Center at Maxwell Air Force Base. [4]
Published guides of the collection include the Air Force Historical Archives Document Classification Guide (1971), Personal Papers in the USAF Historical Research Center compiled by Richard E. Morse and Thomas C. Lobenstein (1980), U.S. Air Force Oral History Catalog (1982), and the United States Air Force History: A Guide to Documentary Sources. [4]
Holdings include published and unpublished reports and oral histories on topics including:
The United States Army Air Service (USAAS) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1918 and 1926 and a forerunner of the United States Air Force. It was established as an independent but temporary branch of the U.S. War Department during World War I by two executive orders of President Woodrow Wilson: on May 24, 1918, replacing the Aviation Section, Signal Corps as the nation's air force; and March 19, 1919, establishing a military Director of Air Service to control all aviation activities. Its life was extended for another year in July 1919, during which time Congress passed the legislation necessary to make it a permanent establishment. The National Defense Act of 1920 assigned the Air Service the status of "combatant arm of the line" of the United States Army with a major general in command.
Brooks Air Force Base was a United States Air Force facility located in San Antonio, Texas, 7 miles (11 km) southeast of Downtown San Antonio.
Air University is a professional military education university system of the United States Air Force. It is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award master's degrees.
The 554th Electronic Systems Wing is an inactive wing of the United States Air Force. It was last stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, where it was inactivated in 2010.
The 540th Combat Crew Replacement Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active in 1946 at Colorado Springs, assigned to Continental Air Forces.
The 837th Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force organization. Its last assignment was with Tactical Air Command's Ninth Air Force at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina where it was inactivated on 1 February 1963.
The 35th Flying Training Squadron was a United States Air Force unit, last assigned to the 64th Operations Group at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. The squadron was inactivated in 1996 as the 64th Flying Training Wing began drawing down in preparation for the closing of Reese the following year. The squadron had performed Undergraduate pilot training at Reese since 1972.
McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base is a joint military facility located at McGhee Tyson Airport. It is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of the central business district of Knoxville, near Alcoa, Tennessee. It was the site of McGhee Tyson Air Force Base from 1952 until 1960.
Donald Norton Yates was the US Army Air Force officer who helped select June 6, 1944 as the date for D-Day, the Allied invasion of Europe, in his capacity as chief meteorologist on General Dwight D. Eisenhower's staff. Yates and his British counterpart, James Martin Stagg, chose well – it turned out to be the only day that month the English Channel could have been successfully crossed. Yates was subsequently decorated by three governments. He went on to become the chief meteorologist of the newly formed U.S. Air Force, and commander of the Air Force Missile Test Center at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.
The 4706th Air Defense Wing is a discontinued United States Air Force (USAF) organization. Its last assignment was with the 37th Air Division of Air Defense Command (ADC) at O'Hare International Airport (IAP), Illinois where it was discontinued in 1956. It was established in 1952 at O'Hare as the 4706th Defense Wing in a general reorganization of Air Defense Command (ADC), which replaced wings responsible for a base with wings responsible for a geographical area. It assumed control of several Fighter Interceptor squadrons that had been assigned to the 142d Fighter-Interceptor Wing, an Air National Guard wing mobilized for the Korean War and the 56th Fighter-Interceptor Group. In early 1953 it also was assigned six radar squadrons in the Midwest and its dispersed fighter squadrons combined with colocated air base squadrons into air defense groups. The wing was redesignated as an air defense wing in 1954. It was discontinued in 1956 and most of its units transferred to the 58th Air Division.
The 52d Operations Group is the flying component of the 52d Fighter Wing, assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). The group is stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany.
The 50th Operations Group was a subordinate unit of the 50th Space Wing, and assigned to Air Force Space Command from 1991-2019. The group, redesignated as Space Delta 8 on 24 Jul 2020 is stationed at Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.
The Second Bombardment Wing, abbreviated as 2nd Bombardment Wing of the United States Army Air Forces is a disbanded unit whose last assignment was with the Continental Air Forces, based at McChord Field, Washington. It was last active in November 1945.
The 30th Operations Group was a group of the United States Space Force. It was assigned to the 30th Space Wing, stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. It was responsible for all space launch operations from the West Coast of the United States, including all polar launches. It operated the Western Range, which conducts launches for the Space Force, other parts of the Department of Defense, NASA, and private space corporations. In 2021 the 30th Operations Group and the 30th Mission Support Group were inactivated and squadrons assigned to Space Launch Delta 30.
The 712th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. In February 2001, the squadron was converted to provisional status and assigned to United States Air Forces Europe to activate or inactivate as needed. It was activated in 2008 for exercises with the Hungarian Air Force.
Aiken Air Force Station is a closed United States Air Force General Surveillance Radar station. It is located 6.4 miles (10.3 km) north-northeast of Aiken, South Carolina. It was closed in 1975.
Major General Grandison Gardner, USAF, Air Corp service number O-10193 / Air Force service number: 12A, was an American military officer involved with weapons systems development and evaluation.
The 323d Expeditionary Operations Group is a provisional United States Air Force unit assigned to the United States Air Forces in Europe. As a provisional unit, it may be activated or inactivated at any time.