Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics The Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics ( known as AAFSAT ) was a major command of the United States Army Air Forces . It was merged with Army Air Forces Proving Ground Command on 8 March 1946 at Orlando Army Airbase , Florida . Overview . The Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics was a major command and military training organization of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II . Its function was to train cadres from newly formed units in combat operations under simulated field conditions as the cores around which new combat groups would be formed . The lack of a true tactical training center and the closure of the Air Corps Tactical School in 1940 , coupled with the impracticality of further splitting of existing combat groups into cadre for new groups , made AAFSAT a necessity . The Commandant of AAFSAT was Brigadier General Hume Peabody , formerly assistant commandant of the ACTS . In addition to its training function , the school also developed as a tactical doctrine development center , assuming the functions formerly assigned the ACTS . In this function it also became known as the Army Air Forces Tactical Center ( AAFTAC ) . History . At the entry of the United States into World War II on 7 December 1941 , the USAAF had expanded to 67 groups from a pre - 1939 total of 15 , but approximately half were paper units just forming . The entry into the war meant an immediate significant increase in the numbers of new combat groups , expanding to 269 groups by the end of 1943 . The training establishment then in place was inadequate to train units wholesale , and the concept of training cadres who in turn would direct the training of their assigned units was adopted . AAFSAT was established 9 October 1942 , to provide this training . The first group receiving AAFSAT training to deploy overseas was the 390th Bomb Group ( Heavy ) in July 1943 , based in England with the Eighth Air Force . Headquarters USAAF originally intended that four tactical schools be developed across the United States , one for each of the four major military aviation functions . However " to save administrative costs and physical outlay " ( Army Air Forces Historical Study 13 ) and to facilitate coordination between the schools , all four would be consolidated at a single location . Orlando was chosen 1 November 1942 , primarily because it was already the location of Fighter Command School , which would be subordinated to AAFSAT , and because of its large geographical area . The school officially opened 12 November 1942 . Between November 1942 and September 1945 , AAFSAT trained 54 , 000 personnel and the cadres of 44 bombardment groups . In addition to training cadre , AAFSAT also became a tactics development center , testing new tactics and disseminating their conclusions and procedures to combat theaters around the world . That role had been formerly held by the Air Corps Tactical School , but it had been a professional development school for future air commanders and had never developed into a true tactical center . Its suspension of classes in June 1940 and dissolution in the summer of 1941 had left a void in the promulgation , testing , articulation , and dissemination of doctrine and tactics , which AAFSAT was tasked to fill . Directorates . AAFSAT was organized into three directorates : Tactical Development , School Activities , and Demonstration Air Force , with three combat groups acting as both school units and demonstration air force units . The Directorate of School Activities was divided into four departments , each headed by a colonel or brigadier general as Assistant Commandant and containing a " command school " : Air Defense Department ( Fighter Command School ) , Air Service Department , Air Support Department , and Bombardment Department ( Bomber Command School ) . School units . The AAFSAT school bombardment unit was the 9th Bomb Group , from 31 October 1942 to 9 March 1944 , when it was re - designated a B - 29 group and moved to Nebraska to train for combat operations . ( Ironically , its new cadre were themselves trained at AAFSAT in June 1944 . ) The Fighter Command School unit was the 50th Fighter Group from 23 March 1943 to 13 March 1944 , when it transferred to Ninth Air Force as a P - 47 fighter - bomber group . The close air support school unit of AAFSAT from February 1943 to April 1944 , when it was disbanded , was the 415th Bomb Group ( Dive ) . With a ground school at Orlando Army Air Base in Orlando , Florida , presenting a two - week academic course , AAFSAT also taught a two - week field course utilizing eleven training airfields in Florida representing all conditions likely to be found in combat , from bare fields to prepared bomber airbases having runways . Component squadrons . During 1943 - 1945 the AAFSAT operated a combat simulation facility in Florida . Units and airfields were established throughout an area of north central Florida designated a mock " war theater " stretching roughly from Tampa to Titusville to Starke to Apalachicola in which war games were conducted . AAFSAT also had a bombing range at Ocala AAF , a service center at Leesburg AAF , and an air depot at Pinecastle AAF .