What is the Air Force History Program?
Since 1942 the U. S. Air Force has maintained a formal program to document its history. This effort has been carried out by official historians assigned to most Air Force units. These historians include military and civilian personnel. All of them are professionals trained in the research and writing of history. Their principal mission is to document and write the history of their units. This activity includes annual histories of their units, studies on specialized topics, and short articles and brochures of an historical nature. 1. Unit Organization Matters: Most Air Force historians are assigned to a specific unit (a Wing, Center, Numbered Air Force, Major Command Headquarters, etc.) and their efforts are devoted to documenting the history of that unit, which is included in regular, periodic (usually annual) unit histories. This means that… • Official histories are organized by unit, not by installation. For each year, there are official histories of the Aeronautical Systems Center
