THOR Goes Public

A database storing information on US military and coalition aerial bombing campaigns in the past century is now publicly available, according to a release. Spearheaded by Lt. Col. Jenns Robertson, the Theater History of Operations Reports database, or THOR, is searchable by date, conflict, or aircraft-specific criteria, and is organized to present a live-action sequence of events, states the Air Force’s Aug. 9 release. “This is a data trove that allows us to look over the last 70 to 100 years of bombing data, how we’ve conducted wars for the last century using airpower,” said Robertson, who began developing THOR in 2006. The database currently contains information on World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam War. Adding Korean War data is planned. In addition to military uses, THOR is expected to benefit academic researchers, historians, and government agencies involved in unexploded ordnance cleanup, states the release. Already, the Vietnamese government has utilized THOR to assess post-war bomb and mine contamination in Vietnam, states the release. (See also Each Bomb a Time Capsule.)