Hello!
I am new to History Hub and historical research in general. I am an avid student of World War 2 history. I want to create an online learning tool that will allow users to explore the story of the air war from the highest strategic level down to personal anecdotes. I am starting with the 8th Air Force as the scope of this project but it could easily be expanded to cover other commands. I believe the first step is to obtain mission reports and comb them for data like date, target, aircraft loadout, the route taken to the target, etc. I have looked at other online resources but none of them have the level of detail I am looking for.
I know NARA has the mission reports, but it does not look like they are available online. Does this mean I will have to go to College Park to physically scan the documents I need, or is there another way to obtain them? Are there other resources apart from NARA that would have copies of the mission reports or other official histories that contain the information I need?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.