The Air Force Command and Control System, 1950-1966 summarizes the efforts at major headquarters-level to automate and integrate operational data processing and transmission. The Headquarters USAF command post established communications with its counterparts in the field during the early l950's. This so-called "manual command and control system" quickly evolved into a vitally important national emergency warning center. However, it never achieved what battle staffs considered their equally important mission -- to provide commanders the data that they required to decide the most effective employment of air forces during fast-breaking crises. This study seeks to trace the causes for delays in acting on the problem and developments that promised to solve it.