The Strengthening of Air Force In-House Laboratories

In a Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, USAF, dated 16 July 1962, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Research and Development) requested that the USAF Historical Division Liaison Office (AFCHO) be directed to accomplish a "two pronged project" which would document and analyze the "Air Force in-house laboratory posture." The first AFCHO response to this request, the Memorandum stated, should be "a review of actions taken by the Air Force since the 14 October memorandum of the Secretary of Defense in strengthening the in-house laboratories." The study presented in the following pages endeavors to meet the first of the two requirements which were assigned to AFCHO by the Vice Chief of Staff, USAF. A second and considerably larger study will be issued by AFCHO during calendar year 1963. This forthcoming study will, within the terms of reference contained in the 16 July Memorandum, be "an historical analysis of policies, actions, attitudes and results relating to in-house laboratories since the Von Karman report was issued in 1946. It should be a much longer range project which will bring together for the first time all the information on this subject and will be most useful in analyzing and portraying the Air Force's use and support of the in-house laboratories over the past two decades." Mr. Carl Berger, the author of this first, briefer, and essentially current study on Air Force in-house laboratories, will also prepare the second, more comprehensive, and longer range AFCHO study covering this highly important and often controversial area of Air Force activity.