Staff

Dik Daso serves as the Executive Director of the Air Force Historical Foundation. As the senior administrator for the Foundation, he is responsible for day-to-day operations and support for the Executive staff, members, and corporate partners. The Executive Director is the hub for communications for the Executive Board, the Board of Directors and Committee Chairs and is the lead planner for AFHF events and activities. He ensures that the Foundation meets or exceeds goals established in the long-range planning documents developed by the Executive Staff and the Board of Directors. 

Daso is former adjunct faculty in the department of history at the University of South Carolina where he taught a variety of courses that focus on the history of technology and science. He retired from the USAF in 2001 and then served at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum as the curator of modern military aircraft until retiring from that post in 2012. He earned his B.S. from the USAF Academy in 1981 and his doctorate in history from the University of South Carolina in 1996.

Daso flew T-38, RF-4C, and F-15 aircraft during his service. He was assigned to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board during the visionary New World Vistas S&T study in 1995 and also held the position of Chief, Air Force Doctrine, as a member of the Air Staff in the Pentagon. Lt. Col. Daso retired after 20 years of active service in 2001.

Daso has authored several books and contributed chapters to several more. The books include, U.S. Air Force: A Complete History (Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 2006), Doolittle: Aerospace Visionary (Brassey’s US, 2003), Hap Arnold and the Evolution of American Airpower (Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001; Special AFHF Edition, 2012; USAF 75^th Anniversary Edition, 2022), Architects of American Air Supremacy: General Hap Arnold and Dr. Theodore von Kármán (Air University Press, 1997).