Seeking records of FAB-100

Dear Ms. Osterman,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We located 3 files consisting of several hundred pages relating to the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) training received by Chinese Air Force pilots, during World War II and shortly thereafter, in the following series within the Records of the Army Air Forces (Record Group 18) :

• “Confidential and Secret Decimal Correspondence Files, 1945-10/1948,” Box 161
• “Security Classified General Correspondence, 1941-1944,” Box 465
• “Unclassified Decimal Correspondence Files, 6/1944-10/1948,” Box 1598

Further, we searched the National Archives Catalog for “FAB-100” also known as the “Chinese Detachment” and located one series and four files units. Please note that some of these records have been digitized and may be viewed using the Catalog.

Also, you may want to review records in the “Security Classified General Correspondence, 1942-1947” in the Records of the War Department General and Special Staffs (Record Group 165) as they may contain information relating to your research as well as several series of records created and/or maintained by the Military Intelligence Division.

For access to these records, please contact the unit listed in the description.

Please note that due to the COVID-19 pandemic and pursuant to guidance received from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), NARA has adjusted its normal operations to balance the need of completing its mission-critical work while also adhering to the recommended social distancing for the safety of NARA staff. As a result of this re-prioritization of activities, you may experience a delay in receiving an initial acknowledgement as well as a substantive response to your reference request from various NARA units. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and patience.

In addition, you may want to contact the Air Force Historical Research Agency https://www.afhra.af.mil/Contact-Us/ that has custody of many World War II-era USAAF records, not held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Finally, we located some online finding aids at the Austin History Center that can be viewed here and here.

We hope this information is helpful.  Best of luck with your research!