page_title: 365th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group
section_title: Testing
hierarchical_section_title: 365th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group / History / World War II / Testing
caption_attribution_description: Royal Air Force Coastal Command Liberator GR.IIIs (FK228 "‘M"’ and FL933 ‘"O") of No. 120 Squadron RAF, lined up with other aircraft at Aldergrove, County Antrim. The third aircraft in line is a GR.V (FL952) of No. 86 Squadron RAF. The Mark IIIs are equipped with ASV Mark II anti-submarine radar, while FL952 carries centrimetric ASV radar in a radome under the nose.
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: The group antisubmarine warfare testing mission relied on cooperation with and assistance from the Navy.  The group's location at Langley also gave it access to the research and test facilities of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics.  In addition, early on the group received two Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft already equipped with ASV radar, Consolidated LB-30 Liberators, the export version of the B-24, along with one RAF crew with experience in antisubmarine warfare.  In August 1942, the group air echelon was temporarily diverted from testing when it deployed, first to Key West Naval Air Station, then to Waller Field on Trinidad to fly antisubmarine missions in the Caribbean.  The first crews returned to Langley in September and operations were continued from Trinidad until 16 October.
caption: RAF Liberators equipped with ASV radar
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