Author Description

Medical Support of the Army Air Forces In World War II has been prepared to fill a gap in the medical history of that period. Its purpose is to present a unified narrative of the total performance of the AAF medical service in support of the Air Forces combat mission. Fundamentally a reference book, this volume is based almost exclusively upon unpublished documents in custody of the U. S. Air Force, with occasional citation of published sources.Since this volume, like other comparable military publications in World War II, is based upon masses of archival material, the project has been in a very true sense a group project. During World War II professionally trained historians carried out basic research and writing while professional specialists in aviation medicine prepared highly technical materials.The volume has thus attempted to portray in detail the problems faced by the AAF and the measures taken to solve them. To the lay reader it may appear that there is too much detail in treating certain events when a summary statement would have been sufficient. Since, however, it is hoped that this history will provide a basic reference for younger officers who may again be faced with similar problems we concluded that the processes by which certain policy decisions were reached should be described step by step.