Air Force Historical Research Agency

Air Force Historical Research Agency

Department of the Air Force Historical Research Agency
AFHRA emblem
Entrance to the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Agency overview
Formed	1949 (1949)
Preceding agencies	USAF Historical Division Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center (1972–1983) USAF Historical Research Center (1983–1991)
Jurisdiction	United States
Headquarters	600 Chennault Circle, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, U.S. 32°22′55″N 86°21′36″W / 32.38194°N 86.36000°W / 32.38194; -86.36000
Motto	"Preserving the Past. Informing the Present and Future."
Agency executives	Timothy M. Brown, Director Maranda M. Gilmore, Deputy Director
Parent department	United States Department of the Air Force
Website	www.dafhistory.af.mil
Footnotes
1

The Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA) is the Department of the Air Force's central repository for physical and digital documentation.² 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).³ 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.⁴

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.⁵

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.⁵

The agency's roots trace to U.S. air-power historiography lessons learned after World War I, when many records had been destroyed or scattered.⁴ In response, on 4 March 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the Bureau of the Budget to establish a Committee on Records of War Administration, and on 15 July 1942 The Adjutant General instructed each major Army command to appoint historical officers; on 19 July 1942, Brigadier General Laurence S. Kuter directed the AAF Director of Organizational Planning to create an Air Staff Historical Section.⁴

AAF Regulation 20-8 of 19 July 1943 formally established the Historical Division under the Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Intelligence (AC/AS, A-2). Brigadier General Kuter charged the new division with recording the AAF's history "while it is hot." Colonel Clarence B. Lober served as the first Chief of the Historical Division (October 1942 – January 1944), with Captain (later Colonel) Clanton W. Williams handling day-to-day operations and ultimately succeeding Lober.⁴

The division established the Archives Section in 1943 to "collect, assimilate, organize, document, and interpret contemporary and historical information concerning the growth, the administration, and outstanding personnel, and the operations of the Army Air Forces". Dr. Fulmer Mood (formerly of the University of California, Berkeley) became Chief of the Archives Section in September 1943 and devised an alphabetical classification system based on originating wings, groups, and squadrons. After Mood's departure in 1944, Dr. Martin P. Claussen (later of the National Archives) replaced the Mood system with a decimal scheme based on geographical and organizational factors; the Claussen system was further refined by Marguerite E. Kennedy and Marguerita McDonald and revised by Frank C. Myers from 1951.⁴

On 23 August 1945, AAF Regulation 20-8 redesignated the Historical Division as the AAF Historical Office under the Secretary of the Air Staff.⁴ On 1 September 1946, Albert F. Simpson succeeded Williams as Air Historian.⁴ AAF Regulation 20-22 of 13 August 1947 reassigned the Air Historical Office to Air University (AU) as a liaison office, primarily as a budget cut measure. After lobbying by AU commanding general Muir S. Fairchild, the Air Historical Office and its archives moved from Washington, D.C., to Maxwell AFB between 12 and 26 September 1949, occupying Building 910.⁴

The agency carried successive designations during this period:⁴

• On 1 May 1951, AU General Order 20 combined the USAF Historical Division, the Arctic, Desert, Tropic Information Center, and the Documentary Research Section of the AU Library into the 3870th Special Activities Group.
• On 25 May 1951, the 3870th was redesignated the Research Studies Institute.
• On 15 January 1969, direction of the USAF Historical Program was transferred from Air University to Headquarters, USAF; the Office of Air Force History was established at HQ USAF with Albert F. Simpson as Senior Historian.
• On 9 June 1969, the USAF Historical Division was redesignated the Historical Research Center, assigned to Air University's 3825th Support Group (Academic).
• On 15 May 1972, the Center was redesignated the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center (AFSHRC), following Simpson's death on 21 April 1971.
• In 1978, the Air Force inactivated Air University as a separate command and assigned AFSHRC to Air Training Command at Randolph AFB, Texas.
• On 1 December 1983, AFSHRC was redesignated Headquarters, United States Air Force Historical Research Center.
• On 5 February 1991, the Center's status was changed from Direct Reporting Unit to Field Operating Agency, and on 1 September 1991 it was redesignated Headquarters, Air Force Historical Research Agency (AFHRA).

Notable historians and editors associated with the agency include Maurer Maurer, whose Air Force Combat Units of World War II (1961, reprinted 1983) and Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (1969) remain standard unit-lineage references.⁶

Holdings include published and unpublished reports and oral histories on topics including:

• Col. Bernt Balchen correspondence, memos, and articles on polar regions

• BRIG. GEN. William N. Best Air Force oral history program interview No. 717.
• GEOPHYSICS IN CONNECTION WITH THE "INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN" 1964-65
• GERMAN METEOROLOGICAL SERVICE, WORLD WAR II report on its organization, duties, and responsibilities to the Luftwaffe. 1944.
• 400TH AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS GROUP. History, 1963–1973.
• AIR WEATHER SERVICE history, 1945–46.
• AIR WEATHER SERVICE history, 1966–67.
• ARMY AIR FORCES TRAINING COMMAND history of the weather training program, 1939–1945.
• CLIMATE AND WEATHER MODIFICATION Air Force History Narrative.
• EASTERN TECHNICAL TRAINING COMMAND contract meteorology schools report on the experiment ato train Air Force Weather Officers, 1944
• FIFTH AIR FORCE, history of participation in Project Grayback (Fulton surface-to-air recovery system) 1955
• METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE PROGRAM, STUDY OF METEOROLOGY AFFECTING ALMOST EVERY PHASE OF AIR FORCE OPERATIONS, 1961.
• THIRTEENTH AIR FORCE, history of participation in Project 119-L, which provided for a worldwide meteorological survey between 1 November 1955 and 1 April 1956
• GEN Curtis Lemay correspondence on meteorology.
• METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS DURING MILITARY OPERATIONS. Since 1942.
• METEOROLOGICAL EQUIPMENT FOR POLAR ICE PACK STATION.
• METEOROLOGICAL SOUNDING SYSTEM, AF Global Weather Central.
• METEOROLOGICAL SURVEY, an aerial photography of Western Europe, etc. 1945.
• METEOROLOGISTS TO THE BALLOON CORPS, National Association of American Balloon Corps Veterans.⁵