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Visiting the Agency

Potential visitors to the AFHRA are encouraged to contact the Agency to let us know when you plan to arrive and how long you plan to stay. We will attempt to accommodate all visitors. To schedule a visit or request digitized copies of AFHRA holdings please utilize the "Contact Us" page or call (334) 953-5697. Please note, the Agency processes requests on a priority, first in, first out basis. Current wait times for general public requests may be 180 days to receive a response. 

Hours of Operation

Monday-Friday
8:30 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. (Central Time Zone)  

AFHRA
600 Chennault Circle
Maxwell AFB, AL
36112-6424

(334) 953-5697

*The AFHRA is closed on all Federal Holidays and the Reading Rooms are closed on all AETC Resiliency Days.

AFHRA Announcements

Oral History Interviews of Major General Laurence S. Kuter - Friday, January 23, 2026

From the Stacks is kicking off the new year with a look back at the voices that shaped the Department of the Air Force. ✈️📚

AFHRA’s latest blog post dives into one of its most powerful resources: oral history interviews. These firsthand accounts illuminate the decisions, challenges, and innovations that defined generations of Airmen and Guardians.

Major General Laurence S. Kuter’s interviews, from World War II through the 1970s, show how firsthand accounts reveal one Airmen's perspective behind the DAF missions, decisions, and leaders.

Together with operational documents, these interviews offer one of the clearest pictures of air and space operations—centered on the warfighter’s decisions and dilemmas.

 read more ...

Panama Series: Part Three—Training in the Tropics: USAF Operations in the Panama Canal Zone, 1945-1970s - Monday, June 9, 2025

🌎 Our regional partners make all the difference!

 ✈️In the final part of the Panama series in From the Stacks, we explore the post-World War II training environment and integration with USAF partners through the 1970s. Taking a look how the USAF tested its bombing and air-to-air tactics, this post demonstrates how critical the USAF partnership with Panama is to pathfinding defensive and offensive capabilities as well as deterring threats to the homeland.

 read more ...

New Blog Post: 8 May 1945 Operation CHOWHOUND Concludes - Monday, June 9, 2025

✈️As today's V-E celebration and remembrances continues, we also reflect on the remarkable humanitarian mission that concluded 80 years ago. Known as Operation CHOWHOUND, B-17 bombers soared through the skies not for combat but for the delivery of life-saving food to the starving Dutch population in a defining moment of compassion. 🤝

 read more ...

DAF History & Heritage News From the Field

✈️ DAFHMP Spotlight: Puff the Magic Dragon: Development of the AC-47 Gunship ✈️
AC-47D photo circa 1968
The Vietnam War presented those tasked with fighting it numerous challenges. The United States was fighting a “limited war,” restricting itself to military actions without formally declaring war in the country. It was unwilling to use nuclear weapons, which had been the benchmark of military innovation after World War II as a part of the Cold War against the USSR. Modern weaponry was built to fight in this new, nuclear age, leaving the U.S. unprepared to fight conventionally in Vietnam. The fast, modern, jet fighters of the time were not well suited for combat in the country’s thick, jungle canopies, nor were they made to participate in the counterinsurgency efforts needed to confront the guerilla fighting style of the Viet Cong.[1] So, the U.S. Air Force innovated a solution, the AC-47.
  The AC-47 goes by many names, originally the FC-47, more famously “Puff the Magic Dragon” or “Spooky” but, was the first in a line of aircraft to be called a Gunship. It was a modification of the C-47 “Skytrain” which gained a stellar reputation for its reliability and multifunctionality during World War II. After that conflict, many of these airframes were left in storage and flew in support of various humanitarian missions like the Berlin Airlift...
  Click this link to read the rest of this detailed article AC-47 gunship, as written by AFMC History Office Palace Acquire Intern Maya Aselstine...
Puff the Magic Dragon: Development of the AC-47 Gunship
 

 

 

 

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