page_title: 365th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group
section_title: Tactics
hierarchical_section_title: 365th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group / History / World War II / Testing / Tactics
caption_attribution_description: English: Boeing B-17E in flight. (U.S. Air Force photo)
context_page_description: The 1st Search Attack Group was a United States Army Air Forces unit that served during World War II. Its last assignment was with First Air Force. It was based at Langley Field, Virginia throughout its existence, and equipped with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Douglas B-18 Bolo, and Consolidated B-24 Liberator aircraft. It was disbanded on 20 April 1944.
  The original mission of the group was the development of equipment and tactics best suited for aerial anti-submarine warfare. Among the devices that the group helped develop or test were the radar altimeter, the magnetic anomaly detector, the sonobuoy, improved airborne depth charges, long-range navigation systems, and airborne microwave radar.
  The group also conducted training on equipment and antisubmarine tactics for Army Air Forces units and personnel. During the summer and fall of 1942, most of the unit's aircrews deployed to the Caribbean, where they conducted missions against German U-boats. After the Navy assumed responsibility for land based aerial antisubmarine operations in 1943, the unit continued to conduct radar training for bomber crews until it was disbanded.
context_section_description: Another task of the 1st Sea Search Attack Group was to develop techniques for using ASV radar to find surfaced submarines. By February 1943, a skilled radar operator could identify surfaced submarines at more than 40 miles (64 km) and even the conning tower of a boat running decks awash at 15 to 30 miles (24 to 48 km).  In May 1943, the group conducted an exercise from Key West to demonstrate and evaluate the tactics it had developed.
  Using its B-18s and B-24s, the 1st Group trained combat crews in the tactics to employ the equipment it had tested.  Tactic included routine aerial patrol of waters in which an enemy threat might exist, air escort of convoys and intensive patrol of an area in which submarines had been spotted.  The Army Air Forces termed this third operation a "killer hunt."  At various times, each of these tactics had a place in the antisubmarine war.  As 1943 progressed, the training mission began to predominate over the testing mission, and included training with H2X radars, which were used primarily for high altitude bombing rather than antisubmarine warfare.
  On 9 July 1943, the Army Air Forces agreed to the transfer of its antisubmarine mission to the Navy's Tenth Fleet.  The 1st Group became concerned primarily with radar training for combat crews until disbanding in April 1944.  As a training unit, assignment directly to Headquarters, Army Air Forces was no longer a requirement and the group became part of First Air Force.  The three squadrons conducted specialized training, the 2d in low altitude bombing, the 3d in H2X radar operations with the B-24, and the 4th in H2X installed in B-17s.
caption: B-17E as flown by the group
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