Completed Projects

The transcription of interviews with seven former USAFA Preparatory School commanders was completed.  These interviews span the first 40 years of the Prep School, 1961-2001, and provide an interesting insight into the changes that occurred under these commanders as the needs of the Air Force and the Air Force Academy changed.  They were bound in 2009 and reside in the Clark Special Collections Branch.

The Harmon Biography

Several years ago Lt. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon was officially named the “Father of the Air Force Academy.”  In 2006, The Friends, with support from the USAFA Class of 1959, commissioned a biography with author Dr. Phil Meilinger, Colonel, USAF (ret).  Dr. Meilinger is a graduate of the Academy Class of 1970, a command pilot, the author of the definitive biography of General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, and an internationally recognized authority on military history and strategy. Dr. Meilinger is also on The Friends' Board of Directors. 

This very significant book, Hubert R. Harmon, Airman, Officer, Father of the Air Force Academy, was published and released at The Friends' annual luncheon on April 16, 2009.   It is available through Fulcrum Publishing. 

On April 1, 2004, The Friends, in cooperation with the Association of Graduates, officially began the celebration of the Air Force Academy’s 50th Anniversary with a reception for over 200 people and the initial screening of the long awaited DVD, Expect Great Things. The evening was the culmination of over two years of hard work by The Friends, the Association of Graduates, and Word One, Inc.

The evening began with hors d’oeuvres in Doolittle Hall, followed by viewing Expect Great Things. Brig. Gen. Phil Caine, USAF (ret) was the master of ceremonies and Lt. General Brad Hosmer, USAF (ret), the first USAF Academy graduate to become superintendent, introduced the film eloquently.  The audience was enthralled with views of key events of the Academy’s first 50 years, video interviews with a number of the people instrumental in building the institution as well as graduates who shared their insights into the Academy, their experiences, and what being a graduate of this great institution meant.

The film and those responsible for its production received a standing ovation at the completion of the evening. Certainly it was a night to remember and a fitting beginning to the celebration of the Academy's 50th anniversary.  The video is available on DVD and VHS through the USAFA Association of Graduates.

In producing this DVD, Word One conducted 40 video interviews with individuals who The Friends, the AOG, and Word One thought were critical to the production. In addition to having portions of each of the interviews included in the DVD, The Friends had all the interviews transcribed and bound in a handsome, bound volume placed in the Academy Library.  (Bound copies of the most in-depth interviews are also in the Library.) These interviews are of great historic significance because they will ensure the events of the first 50 years will live on as told by some of the men and women who made the Academy what it is today.

In 2004, The Board of Directors of The Friends recognized the need to produce a single volume of the forty transcripts of the historically significant oral history interviews completed by Word One, Inc. The interviews were accomplished as a major contribution of The Friends and the Association of Graduates in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Air Force Academy.

The purpose of the book is to provide, in the form of a single volume, a lasting compilation of the transcriptions of the oral history interviews of individuals who have made historically significant contributions to the Academy. The volume was privately printed of the highest quality and is housed in the Clark Special Collections Branch of the McDermott Library and in the library of the Association of Graduates at Doolittle Hall.

The Friends produced and distributed a DVD conveying escape-and-evasion (E&E) experiences of American airman during World War II. Much of the content came from materials donated by Ralph K. Patton to the Clark Special Collections Branch.  Featuring events, documents, and artifacts from WWII, it emphasizes human elements of the E&E experience, elements that have remained similar since WWI.

The DVD programming electronically archives key items of our E & E collection, extending their availability to scholars and the general public, and presenting them in a manner that deepens appreciation of the essential human challenges of E & E. By permitting cadets and others to test themselves vicariously against these challenges, the program promotes serious, informed discussion of character traits needed to deal with such challenges. Thus, the program benefits classroom teaching, field training, and scholarship at the Academy and beyond.

The project began in 2003 with a review of Air Force and Army training materials and reports, and firsthand narratives by evaders and underground helpers. This resulted in identifying characteristic experiences of evaders, preparing questions for interviews, and drafting a script outline.

Collection of materials was finished in March 2004 after scanning still images, reviewing videos, and interviewing WWII evaders. Evasion- related still images were scanned - 374 from the Ralph Patton Collection and 181 from related holdings. Twenty-three videos from the Patton Collection were reviewed, with appropriate sections being dubbed for cover footage. The collection phase included interviews with six evaders and two underground helpers. Ralph Patton, a B-17 pilot, impersonated a mute traveling salesman during his evasion through France. He founded the Air Force's Escape and Evasion Society. Paul Kenney, a B-17 bombardier, evaded for 81 days before being turned over to the Gestapo by a collaborator. Alfred Lea, a B-17 navigator, bailed out over Poland, joined Polish resistance fighters, and fought alongside them. Robert Sweatt, a B-24 gunner, suffered a severed jugular vein during the explosion of his plane. Edward Miller, a B-24 pilot, bailed out over occupied France, landed near a radio station, and spent five weeks by himself before being taken in by the underground. Marguerite Brouard-Fraser, an underground helper, was a teenager when her father was taken to a concentration camp. She and her mother remained in Paris, and helped seventeen allied airmen evade. Clayton David, a B-17 pilot, was interrogated thoroughly by the underground and spent time in several safe houses in Holland, Belgium, and France. Yvonne Daley-Brusselmans and her mother were underground workers in Belgium, helping 132 allied airmen evade.

An exciting book on the history of the Academy’s Falconry Program was made available for purchase by the public at The Friends’ 2003 annual luncheon. A record number of supporters of The Friends attended the event. The guest speaker, Colonel Lawrence E. Schaad, USAF, Ret., who served as the Director of the Academy’s Falconry Program from 1981-1995, provided important insights into the organization and operation of the Academy’s Falconry Program. The publisher of the book, Mr. Robert Baron of Fulcrum Publishing, and his editor, Ms. Patty Maher, attended the luncheon. Falconers Hal Webster and Tony Huston were also among the invited guests.

In 1955, when the United States Air Force Academy cadets chose the falcon to be their mascot, they broke new ground in the history of college and university mascots. The falcon was the first collegiate mascot to perform at sports events, free and untethered. These beautiful, alert, and fierce-looking birds of prey, flying free in demonstrations or perched calmly on the fists of their cadet handlers, seem to epitomize the mission and sprit of the Air Force and its Academy.

Since its inception, the Falconry Program has generated many inquiries and has intrigued countless visitors to the Academy. Falconry at the United States Air Force Academy tells how the Academy’s unique Falconry Program came to exist and describes the imaginative and innovative work that produced this exciting application of the ancient sport of falconry. At the Academy, falcons are trained to fly free over stadiums filled with thousands of people and to perform thrilling aerial maneuvers — stoops and dives in recognizable simulation of the more spectacular aspects of the mission of the United States Air Force.

Authored by Lieutenant General A. P. Clark, USAF, (Ret.) and sponsored by The Friends of the Air Force Academy Library and the Association of Graduates, Falconry at the United States Air Force Academy has been co-published with Fulcrum Publishing of Golden Colorado. The book is available for purchase from Fulcrum Publishing. 

Published in October 2000, The Genesis of Flight with accompanying Compact Disc (CD) meets a long-standing need to provide scholars worldwide and the general public with a published catalogue to selected holdings of one of the most prestigious aeronautical history collections in existence. This collection is the result of a dedicated effort on the part of Colonel Richard Gimbel to build a collection, unrivaled in the world, on the history of man's dream of flight from the earliest times to the advent of powered flight.

The collection comprises an amazing array of items pertaining to the history of flight. Five-thousand-year old seals carved from semi-precious stones document man’s earliest dreams of flight. The collection contains prints, rare commemorative medals, manuscripts, periodical literature, and books, which chronicle the history of flight. The variety and richness of the collection make it unique and priceless.

The Genesis of Flight provides the reader with a scholarly description of selected materials within the Gimbel Collection. It highlights its contents and offers a comprehensive record of aeronautical history. The book significantly contributes to the mission of The Friends by enhancing the prestige of the Academy as an educational and scholarly institution.

In October 2000, in celebration of the publication of The Genesis of Flight: The Aeronautical History Collection of Colonel Richard Gimbel, the Friends hosted a gala reception attended by authors, editors, and sponsors in addition to 200 invited guests including three ladies of the Gimbel family . Dr. Tom Crouch, Senior Curator of Aeronautics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution and one of the book's principal authors gave the keynote address. Dr. Crouch’s introduction was followed by an introduction to the CD found within each volume. The CD was produced by Word One, Inc. of Colorado Springs and provides a beautifully illustrated interactive presentation of the book. The volume is currently out of print. 

In April l999, The Friends acquired a major new archive on the history of the American prisoner of war experience in Southeast Asia. The collection includes nearly all the documents gathered by the Historical Office of the Secretary of Defense during a 25 year effort to create the definitive history of the prisoner of war experience in SEA. The product of that research is a book called Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War In Southeast Asia, l961-1973 that was co-authored by Colonel Fred Kiley, USAF, Ret. and Dr. Stuart I. Rochester. 

In coordination with The Friends, Colonel Kiley arranged for the transfer of the archival materials to the Academy Library. Following the acquisition of the material, The Friends sponsored an extensive exhibit of the documents, photographs and artifacts which depict the POW experience. The exhibit, on display at the Academy Library from September through November 2001, was augmented by a collection of artifacts donated through The Friends to the Library by Mr. Lee Humiston. The collection is the largest and most definitive of its kind in the United States. On l6 November, the exhibit was placed on display in conjunction with a ceremony for the unveiling of a statue honoring Brig. General Robinson Risner, USAF, Ret. Over 100 former prisoners of war in North Vietnam attended the ceremony. Mr. H. Ross Perot donated the statue to the Academy and reviewed the exhibit following the dedication ceremony.

In April l998, The Friends sponsored a major exhibit on the history of the Air Force Academy. Developed from official Academy archives within the Special Collections Branch, the exhibit was on display at the Library from April through July 1998. Lt. Gen. Bradley C. Hosmer, the first Academy graduate to become Superintendent opened the exhibit with a presentation on the history of the Academy and the significance of the Academy archives. Acting Secretary of the Air Force, F. Whitten Peters, members of the original staff of the Academy and members of the Academy’s class of l959 were among the over 200 invited guests who attended the opening.