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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“United Press”36 pages
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 other headquarters, and this was especially true of the overseas organi- zations, where the chain of command normally ran from the command- ing general of the local air force through theater headquarters to the Chief of Staff, U. S. Army. The Historical Office could use its influ- ence to secure from the War Department authorization of vacancies for the job in tables of organization, it could offer its assistance in the procurement of qualified personnel for the vacancies so established, and it could make suggestions regarding desirable objectives and standards. But the final choice remained with the commanding general, who in some instances moved in advance of promptings from Wash- ington to provide his own historical officer, and who in other instances elected to fill the vacancies established by selection from his own staff. In most cases, however, the offer of professional assistance from AAF Headquarters was welcomed, though occasionally the official request for such aid came late. The first historians selected by the Historical Office for overseas service reached their stations only in late 1943, and with most of them the time of arrival fell in 1944. Within the Zone of the Interior, where the chain of command ran down from General Arnold, the establishment of historical sections had proved to be a less time-consuming effort. Even so, there were limits arising from the old and generally sound principle of command that a superior gives his subordinate a job to do but leaves it to him in large part to deter- mine how best it can be done. The finding of available personnel possessed of the desired qualifi- cations was still another matter. Though civilians were heavily relied upon in the Historical Office and at points elsewhere *inthe Zone of the Interior, most of the key assignments required use of military personnel. Opportunities for commissioning historians direct from civilian life being limited and a t an early date entirely eliminated, it was necessary to rely upon qualified personnel already in the Army; and, since other branches had use for their own historians, the choice actually came to be limited to the rosters of the AAF. Fortunately, a considerable number of men possessed of advanced training in history or closely related fields had volunteered at an early stage of the war effort for service with the Army Air Forces, and they had played an especially significant part in the development of the AAF training program. As that program passed its peak in 1943, an increasing num- ber of those men became available for reassignment to the historical program. Being of military age, they were for the most part young xiv
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