The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 1 (archived PDF)

T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1
ally qualified historians at those points in the chain of command at
which the record tended to find a natural consolidation and through
their services to raise the standard of already established procedures
of historical reporting.
In the establishment of its own procedures the Historical Office
came to rely chiefly on the preparation of a historical narrative or
monograph, depending upon the nature of the subject, and the attach-
ment thereto of copies of documents of outstanding importance. The
latter practice was usually dispensed with in the office itself, where
the documents used presumably would be available again in con-
veniently accessible files and exact citation in the study, with an occa-
sional appendix, would provide the assistance needed by a historian
having reason to go back over the ground. But, in developing a system
of historical reporting from other headquarters, the “supporting docu-
ments” received an emphasis equal, generally speaking, to that placed
on the narrative itself. T h e narrative was designed to serve as a
means for supplementing the record and at the same time as a device
for reducing it to some readily usable form. It was also regarded as
serving the purpose of a guide to the larger record from which it had
been drawn. And, until an opportuniry for fuller study was offered,
it would serve as an interim history. T h e term “first narrative,” bor-
rowed from the RAF, was frequently used to describe it.
It will be evident from the foregoing that the Historical Office
interpreted its wartime assignment to be that not so much of preparing
a history in the proper sense as rather of selecting, assembling, and
organizing for immediate and subsequent use a comprehensive but
physically manageable historical record. Vital to the fulfilment of its
mission, therefore, was the organization of its own historical files as a
central depository for the narratives, monographs, unit histories, and
other documentary materials forwarded through channels by the
several headquarters. Under the supervision of Lt. Col. Bayrd Still as
chief of the Sources and Editorial Branch, the files became with the
passing of time an increasingly rich collection for study of the air
war. Its organization presented a problem of peculiar difficulty, for
the materials in order to serve their purpose had to be put to immediate
use by researchers and writers. As the flow of historical reports from
the theaters and subordinate commands increased, studies prepared by
the Historical Office itself were marked by an increasing balance and
completeness of coverage. Of these AAF Historical Studies, for the
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