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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.
“Churchill”21 pages
F O R E W O R D men whose professional training or career had been interrupted by the war. What some of them may have lacked in the way of profes- sional experience or polish found compensation in their energy and the substantive knowledge acquired during their previous AAF assign- ments. It is hoped that the following history may prove to be of a quality in keeping with the contribution they have already made to it. It was not within the power of the Historical Office to assure for each and all of them the full access to records and the freedom of inter- pretation that are fundamental to the proper exercise of the historian’s function. But the degree of co-operation received by historical officers was on the whole encouraging, and authority was secured a t the close of hostilities to bring into AAF Headquarters certain of the field per- sonnel for the purpose of completing their assignments in as close an association with the personnel of the Historical Office as was possible. This authority included provision for the temporary transfer to Head- quarters of such documents and files as the historian considered neces- sary for the completion of his task. At this stage of the project it also proved possible to enlist the aid of several key operational and intelli- gence officers whose firsthand knowledge of major operations pro- vided a valuable supplement to the documentary record. Many adjustments to practical necessity had to be made in the original plan. For completeness of coverage it was necessary in the case of overseas operations to depend chiefly upon narratives prepared in the Historical Office itself for the first two years of the war and, conversely, to rely principally upon the work of the overseas historical officers for the story of later operations. But, when with the summer of 1946 the bulk of the historical personnel had returned to their nor- mal civilian activities, there existed in the files of the Historical Office some narrative account or organized documentary record covering all periods and areas of the AAF’s overseas operations and its major activi- ties within the Zone of the Interior. Inevitably there were subjects requiring more intensive study, narratives in need of revision in the light of new evidence, and a multitude of monographic topics for which there had been no time. But a balanced history of the AAF in World War 11, drawn from the more pertinent records, had been brought within reach. Unavoidably the chief concern of the AAF Historian in the early months had been to build his organization, select his men, and get them into the field that they might begin the steady flow of materials home- xv
Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 863 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.