Legislative History of the AAF and USAF 1941-1951

The purpose of this study is to give an over-all picture of the part played by congressional legislation in the development of the Air Force in the period 1941-1951. Several AAF historical studies dealing with special phases of Air Force legislation enacted between 1941 and 1945 have been written. In this study it is intended to integrate these into a general examination of all congressional legislation pertaining to the Air Force in that period and to continue the coverage to include the years 1946-1951. The broad scope of the subject, which deals with a wide range of legislation and related activities, has made it necessary to limit the study, in most cases, to legislation which was actually enacted into law and to confine the narrative to only the more important Air Force legislation. Legislation relating only indirectly to the AAF and the USAF is, of course, not given as much attention as that dealing specifically with the air arm. Because of the important roles played by the Army and Air Force staff organizations in evaluating and framing legislation for the Air Force and in maintaining liaison between Congress and the Air Force, accounts of these staffs are necessarily an integral part of a study of this nature and considerable attention is devoted to them.