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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.
“Independence Day”9 pages
F O R E W O R D as additional duty and without so much as the conventional reward of a “without-whose-aid” acknowledgment, had labored over a unit history. In a very real sense it would be the work of a busy adjutant of a fighter group in Italy or of a pfc sweating out the war in an AACS station in the sub-Himalayas as well as of the authors who provided the final interpretation. A t the suggestion of the Advisory Committee, the Historical Office invited the present editors to assume responsibility for securing such a history as had been envisaged. This offer, after some hesitation which was far from being mere formal demur, they accepted: reluctance to extend an already overlong absence from their respective scholarly interests was outweighed by the challenge of the opportunity and the desire to see the program carried through to fruition. T h e acceptance was under condition that the editors, after their return to civilian status, be allowed to produce the book in their own way, with such material assistance as the Historical Office could render. That condi- tion, accepted alike by the office and the Air Staff, has been lived up to in letter and in spirit. Further study of ways and means for the accomplishment of the task indicated that, of the AAF historical personnel who were willing to make an additional commitment of their time, all except a few planned a prompt return to their academic posts. It seemed an appro- priate and helpful step, therefore, to seek sponsorship for the project from some academic institution which would assume the heavy re- sponsibility for guaranteeing publication of the finished work. In December 1945 the editors, with the sanction of the Air Staff, opened negotiations with the Chancellor of the University of Chicago. T h e University, expressing interest in a military history “written without suppression or distortion of significant facts,” agreed to sponsor the project on the understanding that the authors would be given access to all pertinent documents and would enjoy peqfect freedom of inter- pretation. These conditions-without which indeed neither authors nor editors would have undertaken the assignment-had obtained in the Historical Office during the war in respect to studies done for the Air Staff itself and bearing a high security classification. T h e editors have felt a certain degree of organizational pride that the Air Staff accepted, and has scrupulously observed, the principle that this custom be ex- tended to a work designed for public circulation. Further, it has been agreed that no royalties will be paid to the xvii
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.