For information about the AFHRA, access to the facility, rules and policies for the reading room and for handling historical documents, and the agency's holdings of unit histories and special collections, please visit the Welcome page.
The Air Force Historical Research Agency is the repository for Air Force historical documents. The Agency's collection, begun in Washington, DC, during World War II, moved in 1949 to Maxwell Air Force Base, the site of Air University, to provide research facilities for professional military education students, the faculty, visiting scholars, and the general public. It consists today of over 70,000,000 pages devoted to the history of the service, and represents the world's largest and most valuable organized collection of documents on US military aviation. The Archives at the Air Force Historical Research Agency (pamphlet)
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 (334) 953-5342
Because of COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus), the AFHRA is closed to researchers except by prearranged appointment​.
The reading rooms are only open for OFFICIAL business. Documents requested by the general public will be sent to them.
Potential visitors to the AFHRA are very strongly 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, but security is tight and "drop-in" visitors may be denied entry, at least until the Agency staff can make the appropriate arrangements. Contact the Agency through email at AFHRA.NEWS@us.af.mil or call (334) 953-5697. For additional information, see the Welcome page.
To request a document in digital format, please complete the attached Microfilm/Compact Disk Order, being sure to provide all the requested information. If you need help identifying the document, please submit an archival request. Your order will be provided through a system called DOD Safe. You will be notified by e-mail as your documents are being uploaded by our Media Coordinator with some helpful tips to resolve any download issues. We can send a CD/DVD by mail if necessary.
While there is currently no charge for this service, please limit your order to ten CDs at a time. While we make every effort to provide documents as quickly as possible, we do have a very high volume of electronic media requests so please allow 3 to 4 months for processing.
Archival Requests Freedom of Information Act Requests (FOIA) Mandatory Declassification Review (MDR)
The site was last reviewed for broken links on 22 February 2021.