1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group The 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the Air Proving Ground Command and stationed at Eglin Field , Florida . It was inactivated on 22 July 1949 . The 1st EGMG was the initial United States Army Air Forces ( later United States Air Force ) dedicated missile unit . All subsequent USAF missile activities to the present day can be traced historically to this unit . History . Formed a result of the Air Materiel Command ' s Engineering Division at Wright - Patterson AFB looking for a location to allow its contractors to launch missiles . Missile technologies . Initial mission of unit was to determine Air Force missile requirements and review missile propulsion , guidance , and launching technologies . Also matrixed contractors to technologies : The contractor would be responsible for the requirements , and ultimately responsible for seeing that the project planning and development came together . It should also be noted that in the late 1940s , the available funding that was provided to the Air Force was directed towards jet aircraft development . Missiles , at the time , were a piecemeal effort which reflected much competition among the three military branches and development often took a backseat to Strategic Air Command bomber and tanker force improvements . Program plan development . In March 1947 , when the Group received its first series of test projects . Though most of the Group ' s efforts were devoted to " on - the - job " training and providing assistance to contractors who launched those weapons , the 1st began implementing its mission , which included Operations . B - 17 Drone development . During the war , experiments were made with approximately twenty - five war - weary B - 17s ( mostly F models ) that were packed with high explosives to be used against heavily fortified Nazi weapons sites in France . These aircraft , designated " BQ - 7 " experiments ( Project Aphrodite and Project Castor ) were not successful due to the inability of the aircraft to be launched and controlled remotely , and the need for the aircraft to have a flight crew that would bail out and control of the plane be transferred to a director aircraft which would direct it to the target . Control difficulties in the wartime conditions led to the cancellation of the program . Development in the United States of the wartime technology was accelerated by the 1946 Operation Crossroads atomic tests . The testing program called for drone aircraft to be flown through the atomic clouds after the explosion with monitoring and air sampling equipment . The requirement was for the drone aircraft to be taken off , flown and landed by radio control . The Air Materiel Command at Wright - Patterson Field , Ohio , developed a refined remote control system in about six weeks , advancing the World War II technology to meet the requirements . Initial testing was performed at Clovis Army Airfield , New Mexico . On 16 February 1946 , the technology was successfully demonstrated using a war - weary B - 17 that was flown in all phases of the flight remotely by radio control from a " mother " aircraft . In May 1946 , sixteen new B - 17s were drawn from storage at South Plains Army Airfield , Lubbock , Texas . and were flown to the San Antonio Air Depot , Kelly Field , Texas . All defensive armament and turrets were stripped ; the bomb bay doors being sealed along with the waist gunner openings . Then , the aircraft equipped with radio , radar , television and other equipment . Six of the aircraft were fitted with drone director equipment to control one drone aircraft and the capability to back up one other director aircraft . The aircraft were tested at Clovis , then attached to the 509th Composite Group at Roswell Army Airfield , New Mexico . and were set to deploy to the Marshall Islands for use in Operation Crossroads . Their mission was atmospheric sampling collection and atmospheric research , to fly though the mushroom cloud and take measurements . In June 1946 , both the Director and Drone B - 17s were flown to Eniwetok Airfield , Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands , some 200 miles west of Bikini Atoll where the Crossroads tests were to take place . On 1 July 1946 " Test Able " took place and the aircraft were flown and though the mushroom cloud for sample collections successfully . An extensive post - test inspection was conducted on the aircraft and all was found to be well . " Test Baker " took place two weeks later and again inspections were conducted . The aircraft returned to Roswell in August . The success of the drone B - 17s led to the development of other types of sampling methods and establishment of other squadrons for a wide variety of programs . In September 1947 , the B - 17Gs were re - designated as QB - 17 for drones and the DB - 17 for the controller aircraft . With the completion of the Operation Crossroads tests , management of the B - 17 drone program was transferred to the Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command from Material Command . The 1st EGMG was given the mission to oversee development of drone aircraft to support the Atomic Energy Commission nuclear tests . On 13 January 1947 , the Guided Missiles Group received nationwide publicity by conducting a successful drone flight from Eglin AFB to Washington , D . C . , in a simulated bombing mission . In April 1948 , the Group deployed the QB / DB Fortresses to Eniwetok Atoll for the Operation Sandstone nuclear tests in the spring of 1948 . At Holloman Air Force Base , the Group established a detachment to support the 2754th Experimental Wing , and testing for the ASM - A - 2 RASCAL missile . QB - 17 Fortress drones were used as aerial weapons targets for the missile . The drone Fortresses were also used as weapons targets for the testing and development of the AIM - 4 Falcon air - to - air missile . JB - 2 Loon missile testing . The 1st regrouped its activities after Operation Sandstone , and it spent several months preparing a detachment to depart for cold weather testing of the JB - 2 Loon flying bomb in Alaska in November 1948 . The Republic - Ford JB - 2 Loon was a United States copy of the World War II German V - 1 flying bomb . Developed in 1944 , it was extensively tested at Eglin Field . It was planned to be used in the United States invasion of Japan ( Operation Downfall ) , however with the sudden end of the war , the JB - 2 was never used in combat . It was the forerunner of the family of United States Guided Missiles . Testing by the 1st EGMG of the JB - 2 was performed with two versions — the wartime version with preset internal guidance and another version fitted with radar control Testing began at Alamagardo Army Airfield , New Mexico in March 1947 and it spent several months preparing a detachment to depart for cold weather testing of the JB - 2 in Alaska in November 1948 . Additional testing was also done at the Santa Rosa Island Range Complex , Florida , and at Wagner Field ( Eglin Auxiliary Field # 1 ) from with MB - 17Gs were fitted with the JB - 2 for airborne launches . The JB - 2 was used for development of missile guidance control and seeker systems , testing of telemetering and optical tracking facilities , and as a target for new surface - to - air and air - to - air missiles ( ironically fulfilling the former V1 ' s covername , " Flakzielgerät " — anti - aircraft target device ) . The JB - 2 project used the North American Aviation NATIV ( North American Test Instrument Vehicle ) Blockhouse and two launch ramps at Holloman : a , two - rail ramp on a 3° earth - filled slope , and a trailer ramp . The 40 - foot trailer ramp was the first step toward a system which would eventually be adapted for the forthcoming Martin MGM - 1 Matador , first operational surface - to - surface cruise missile built by the United States . The program at Holloman was terminated on 10 January 1949 after successful development of a radio guidance and control system that could control and even skid - land a JB - 2 under the control of an airborne or ground transmitter . The Group also began providing observers for guided missile tests at laboratories and factories , including those programs sponsored by the Army and Navy . The JB - 2 was never used operationally , however it led to the development of the first operational USAF cruise missile , the Martin B - 61A Matador . Gliding bomb testing . The wartime Henschel Hs 293 was a German radio - controlled glide bomb with a rocket engine slung underneath it . It was used as an anti - ship weapon . After the war , the German technology was used to develop the VB - 3 Razon , VB - 6 Felix and VB - 13 Tarzon gliding bombs . Testing of these weapons began in 1947 by the 1st EGMG at Eglin , using MB - 17 Flying Fortresses as launch platforms . During the Korean War , the VB - 3 and VB - 13 were used operationally against enemy targets in North Korea . Inactivation . On 20 July 1949 , the 1st Experimental Guided Missiles Group was inactivated and the unit structure was expanded to a Wing . It was replaced by the 550th Guided Missiles Wing on the same date , which assumed the personnel and equipment of the 1st EGMG .