Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics

The Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics (known as AAFSAT) was a military training organization of the United States Army Air Forces

United States Army Air Forces

The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

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

Air Corps Tactical School

The Air Corps Tactical School, also known as ACTS and "the Tactical School", was a military professional development school for officers of the United States Army Air Service and United States Army Air Corps, the first such school in the world. Created in 1920 at Langley Field, Virginia, it...

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).

Lineage

Established as: Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics, 9 October 1942

History and insignia of Air Corps Tactical School bestowed upon activation.

Redesignated as: Army Air Forces School on June 1, 1945

Operations

At the entry of the United States into World War II on December 7, 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 October 9, 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

Eighth Air Force

The Eighth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command . It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana....

.

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 November 1, 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 November 12, 1942. Between November 1942 and September 1945, AAFSAT trained 54,000 personnel and the cadres of 44 bombardment groups

USAAF bombardment group

A bombardment group or bomb group was a group of bomber aircraft the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was the equivalent of an infantry regiment in the Army Ground Forces, or a bomber wing in the British Commonwealth air forces...

.

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

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 October 31, 1942 to March 9, 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 March 23, 1943 to March 13, 1944, when it transferred to Ninth Air Force

Ninth Air Force

The Ninth Air Force is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force's Air Combat Command . It is headquartered at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina....

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

Orlando Executive Airport

Orlando Executive Airport is a public-use airport located three nautical miles east of the central business district of Orlando, a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is owned by the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority...

in Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

, 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 10000 feet (3,048 m) runways.

Component squadrons

During 1943-1945 the AAFSAT operated a combat simulation facility in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Units and airfields were established throughout an 8000 square miles (20,719.9 km²) area of north central Florida designated a mock "war theater" stretching roughly from Tampa

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

to Titusville

Titusville, Florida

Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...

to Starke

Starke, Florida

Starke is a city in Bradford County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,593 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 5,769 ....

to Apalachicola

Apalachicola, Florida

Apalachicola is a city in Franklin County, Florida, on US 98 about southwest of Tallahassee. The population was 2,334 at the 2000 census. The 2005 census estimated the city's population at 2,340...

in which war games were conducted. AAFSAT also had a bombing range at Ocala AAF

Ocala International Airport

Ocala International Airport is a city-owned public-use airport located four nautical miles west of the central business district of Ocala, a city in Marion County, Florida, United States...

, a service center at Leesburg AAF

Leesburg International Airport

Leesburg International Airport , formerly known as Leesburg Regional Airport, is a public airport located three miles northeast of the central business district of Leesburg, a city in Lake County, Florida, United States...

, and an air depot at Pinecastle AAF.

School demonstration units, assignments and stations were:

1st Bombardment Squadron
1st Reconnaissance Squadron
The 1st Reconnaissance Squadron is a United States Air Force reconnaissance training unit based at Beale Air Force Base, near Marysville, California. It is the oldest squadron in the Air Force, and the first organization to be established as a U.S. military flying unit...

(B-17 Flying Fortress)

Assigned to: 9th Bombardment Group

9th Reconnaissance Wing

The 9th Reconnaissance Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Eighth Air Force. It is stationed at Beale Air Force Base, California...

Lineage

Operations

Directorates

School units

Component squadrons

External links