Night fighter
Night fighter combat over the skies of England made the Army Air Forces aware of the need for night air defense training and tactics development. The Air Defense Operational Training Unit was established on 26 March. A few days later this was renamed the Interceptor Command School, then the Fighter Command School. As part of its mission, the group furnished cadres to new night fighter squadrons and its 81st Fighter Squadron conducted night fighter training in Douglas P-70 Havocs. The 81st was assigned the "daunting task" of training sufficient crews to man seventeen night fighter squadrons within twelve months, initially " [w]ith no trained instructor pilots or radar operators, no aircraft, no radar, and no communications equipment". The original night fighter crews were recruited from 27 pilots from the group who were qualified to fly twin-engine aircraft. They attended transition training school at Williams Field, Arizona before returning to Florida.