The Air Force Historical Support Division is part of the Air Force History and Museums Program and is located in Washington, DC at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.
AFHSD is primarily the historical research and book writing element of the Air Force History program. Historians at AFHSD also provide historical information, analysis and perspective to Air Force leaders and their staffs to support planning, policy development and decision making.
See the TITLES listing above under "Books" for a full listing of our publications.
The US Air Force in Southeast Asia and the Vietnam War. A Narrative Chronology: Vol. I: The Early Years through 1959. By Kenneth H. Williams, 2019.
The USAAF inserts an OSS team into Vietnam in 1945 to work with the leadership of the Viet Minh, to prepare a guerrilla force to harass Japanese troops in the region. Picture includes Ho Chi Minh and Vo Nguyen Giap.
USAF C-119s taking off from a base in Vietnam in the Spring of 1954. The USAF planes were loaned to the French and had French markings, but were maintained by USAF mechanics.
A loaned USAF plane is being repainted with French markings for use of the French in 1954 Indochina war.
A USAF C-119 undergoes repairs in Vietnam during the Indochina War. The planes were loaned to the French, maintained by USAF personnel, and flown by the French and US civilians.
Principal USAF/VNAF airfields in Vietnam up to 1965.
The story of how the United States became entangled in Southeast Asia is a long and complicated one, and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) was a part of the equation at every step. The USAAF/USAF was flying in the region from 1942 through the collapse of the U.S.-supported government in Saigon in 1975. This chronology seeks to document, and to honor the service and sacrifice of, U.S. airmen for the full span of U.S. involvement. It ranges beyond strictly Air Force topics to provide a framework of context for why U.S. service members deployed to the region. Much of the context is not as far removed from the USAF as it might first appear, as any time senior leaders discussed potential U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia throughout the 1950's, nearly all scenarios prominently featured air assets of the USAF and/or carrier-based U.S. Navy (USN) aircraft.