Reading Room

The following is being brought to you via direct link from AFSOC's website.  The AFSOC Heritage Reading Room contains various reference materials pertaining to special operations and search and rescue missions.  Users should be advised that many of these documents are large in file size and download time will vary accordingly. 

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Special Operations: AAF Aid to European Resistance Movements - 14MB (1943-1945)

Burma Part 1of 3 (1944)

Burma Part 2 of 3 (1944)

Burma Part 3 of 3 (1944)

492nd Bomb Group Summary - 22MB (January, 1945)

The Air Commandos in Vietnam - 7.3MB (16 March 1967)

U.S. Air Force Oral History Interview - Col. Phillip G. Cochran (November 1975)

U.S. Air Force Oral History Interview - Maj.Gen. John R. Alison - 23.5MB (22-28 April 1979)

Why is the Colonel called "Kernel"? - 2MB (August 1983)

Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service-6MB (1983)

1st Air Commando Group - 19MB (Military History Series 86-1 1986)

Memories of the 801st/492nd Bombardment Group "Carpetbaggers" - 29MB (1990)

The Stand Up of Air Force Special Operations Command - 1MB (1990)

Ash Warriors: The Relocation of the 353rd Special Operations Wing - 4.6MB (June-December 1991)

AFSOC: The Air Force's Newest Comman - 13.6MB (1991)

The Theory of Special Operations - 31MB (June 1993) 

C.B.I. Bibliograghy - 1.3MB (July, 1993)

The Secret Air War Over France - USAAF Special Operations Units in the French Campaign of 1944 - 4.4MB (November, 1993) 

Background Paper on Pararescue - Dynamics and Events of Change - 2.4MB (June, 1994)

Operation THURSDAY - Birth of the Air Commandos -16MB (1994)

Interview with Lt.Gen. Samuel V. Wilson - 4MB (11 July 1998) 

Desert Shield/Desert Storm - AFSOC in the Gulf War - 24MB (May, 2001)

Phil Cochran and John Alison: Images of Apollo's Warrior - 1.5MB (June 2001)

Air Force Weather Oral History Program Interview with Col. Wayne L. Golding - 1.5MB (25-26 March 2003)

History of the United States Air Force Special Tactics and Rescue Specialists (USAF STARS) - 27MB (November 2004)

Heritage of the Special Operations Professionals (2007)

Air Force Rescue & AFSOF: Overcoming Past Rivalaries for Combat Rescue Partnership - 4MB

The Origins of the United State Special Operations Command - 2.4MB