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Re: USAAF AF Forms 5 where are they?
Santiago,
The paper forms are gone. There were microfilm copies prepared, and held at the Safety Center at Norton AFB, before that base was closed. When it was closed the microfilms went to the National Archives in St Louis. They basically cover from the beginning up to today, although I do not know where the films at St Louis end; sometime in the 90s I believe. There are probably 20-30 file cabinets of 16mm microfilm; 10 drawers to a cabinet, and I would guess 100 reels to a drawer. For what it is worth I checked all the WW1 aces and they have nothing. When I was researching at St Louis in the early 90s, for Stars and Bars, the films were kept in a secure vault, which I was lucky enough to be able to access, for a little while. Then I had to request the reels I wanted (and I had to pay for that). The WW2 years are broken up by blocks of years; up to 41, 42, and 43-45 I think; and further broken up by Regular Army, Reserves who stayed in after the war, and Reserves who got out at the end of the war. Reels from about 1970 on are closed to the public, since that is when they switched to Social Security Numbers from Service Numbers. I do not know how easy it is to get them to print out pages from the microfilm; it is rather time consuming to find the right reel, and then locate the individual you are interested in, although they are in alpha order. But you wouldn't believe the number of reels covering "Smith" in the 1943-45 file cabinets. And for all I know they may have decided that these are private records and the public can't see them. So fill out an SF180 and see what happens.
Enjoy!
Frank.
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6th July 2010, 16:01
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