1.
Boeing
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The Boeing Company is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, and satellites worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support services, Boeing stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Boeing Companys corporate headquarters are located in Chicago and the company is led by President, Boeing is organized into five primary divisions, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Engineering, Operations & Technology, Boeing Capital, and Boeing Shared Services Group. Boeing bought Heaths shipyard in Seattle on the Duwamish River, which became his first airplane factory. Boeing was incorporated in Seattle by William Boeing, on July 15,1916, Boeing was later incorporated in Delaware, the original Certificate of Incorporation was filed with the Secretary of State of Delaware on July 19,1934. Boeing, who studied at Yale University, worked initially in the timber industry and this knowledge proved invaluable in his subsequent design and assembly of airplanes. The company stayed in Seattle to take advantage of the supply of spruce wood. William Boeing founded his company a few months after the June 15 maiden flight of one of the two B&W seaplanes built with the assistance of George Conrad Westervelt, a U. S. Navy engineer. Boeing and Westervelt decided to build the B&W seaplane after having flown in a Curtiss aircraft, Boeing bought a Glenn Martin Flying Birdcage seaplane and was taught to fly by Glenn Martin himself. Boeing soon crashed the Birdcage and when Martin informed Boeing that replacement parts would not become available for months, Westervelt agreed to build a better airplane and soon produced the B&W Seaplane. This first Boeing airplane was assembled in a hangar located on the northeast shore of Seattles Lake Union. Many of Boeings early planes were seaplanes, on April 6,1917, the U. S. declared War on Germany and later in the year entered World War I. On May 9,1917, the became the Boeing Airplane Company. With the U. S. entering the war, Boeing knew that the U. S. Navy needed seaplanes for training, so Boeing shipped two new Model Cs to Pensacola, Florida, where the planes were flown for the Navy. The Navy liked the Model C and ordered 50 more, the company moved its operations to a larger former shipbuilding facility known as Boeing Plant 1, located on the lower Duwamish River, Washington state. Others, including Boeing, started selling other products, Boeing built dressers, counters, and furniture, along with flat-bottom boats called Sea Sleds. In 1919 the Boeing B-1, flying boat made its first flight and it accommodated one pilot and two passengers and some mail. Over the course of eight years, it made international airmail flights from Seattle to Victoria, on May 24,1920, the Boeing Model 8 made its first flight
2.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
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Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wright Field and Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, Patterson Field is approximately 10 miles northeast of Dayton, Wright Field is approximately 5 miles northeast of Dayton. The host unit at Wright-Patterson AFB is the 88th Air Base Wing, assigned to the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Air Force Materiel Command. The bases origins begin with the establishment of Wilbur Wright Field on 22 May and McCook Field in November 1917, McCook was used as a testing field and for aviation experiments. Wright was used as a field, Fairfield Aviation General Supply Depot, armorers’ school. McCooks functions were transferred to Wright Field when it was closed in October 1927, Wright-Patterson AFB was established in 1948 as a merger of Patterson and Wright Fields. In 1995, negotiations to end the Bosnian War were held at the resulting in the Dayton Agreement that ended the war. The 88th Air Base Wing is commanded by Col. John M. Devillier Its Command Chief Master Sergeant is Chief Master Sergeant John M. Mazza, the base had a total of 27,406 military, civilian and contract employees in 2010. The Greene County portion of the base is a census-designated place, Wright-Patterson AFB is one of the largest, most diverse, and organizationally complex bases in the Air Force with a long history of flight tests spanning from the Wright Brothers into the Space Age. It is the headquarters of the Air Force Materiel Command, one of the commands of the Air Force. It is also the base of the 445th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve Command. Wright-Patterson is also the headquarters of the Aeronautical Systems Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson is the host of the annual United States Air Force Marathon which occurs the weekend closest to the Air Forces anniversary. The Wing reports to the Aeronautical Systems Center, a major development and their flight exhibition company and the Wright Company School of Aviation returned 1910–1916 to use the flying field. In 1918, Wilbur Wright Field agreed to let McCook Field use hangar and shop space as well as its enlisted mechanics to assemble, after World War I,347 German aircraft were brought to the United States—some were incorporated into the Army Aeronautical Museum. The training school at Wilbur Wright Field was discontinued, Wilbur Wright Field and the depot merged after World War I to form the Fairfield Air Depot. In 1924, the Committee presented the deeds to president Calvin Coolidge for the construction of a new engineering center. The entire acreage was designated Wright Field, which had such as the Headquarters, 5th Division Air Service. New facilities were built 1925–27 on the portion of Wright Field west of Huffman Dam to house all of the McCook Field functions being relocated, on 1 July 1931, the portion of Wright Field east of Huffman Dam was redesignated Patterson Field in honor of Lieutenant Frank Stuart Patterson
3.
Ohio
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Ohio /oʊˈhaɪ. oʊ/ is a Midwestern state in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Ohio is the 34th largest by area, the 7th most populous, the states capital and largest city is Columbus. The state takes its name from the Ohio River, the name originated from the Iroquois word ohi-yo’, meaning great river or large creek. Partitioned from the Northwest Territory, the state was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1,1803, Ohio is historically known as the Buckeye State after its Ohio buckeye trees, and Ohioans are also known as Buckeyes. Ohio occupies 16 seats in the United States House of Representatives, Ohio is known for its status as both a swing state and a bellwether in national elections. Six Presidents of the United States have been elected who had Ohio as their home state, Ohios geographic location has proven to be an asset for economic growth and expansion. Because Ohio links the Northeast to the Midwest, much cargo, Ohio has the nations 10th largest highway network, and is within a one-day drive of 50% of North Americas population and 70% of North Americas manufacturing capacity. To the north, Lake Erie gives Ohio 312 miles of coastline, Ohios southern border is defined by the Ohio River, and much of the northern border is defined by Lake Erie. Ohios neighbors are Pennsylvania to the east, Michigan to the northwest, Ontario Canada, to the north, Indiana to the west, Kentucky on the south, Ohio is bounded by the Ohio River, but nearly all of the river itself belongs to Kentucky and West Virginia. Ohio has only that portion of the river between the rivers 1792 low-water mark and the present high-water mark, the border with Michigan has also changed, as a result of the Toledo War, to angle slightly northeast to the north shore of the mouth of the Maumee River. Much of Ohio features glaciated plains, with a flat area in the northwest being known as the Great Black Swamp. Most of Ohio is of low relief, but the unglaciated Allegheny Plateau features rugged hills, in 1965 the United States Congress passed the Appalachian Regional Development Act, at attempt to address the persistent poverty and growing economic despair of the Appalachian Region. This act defines 29 Ohio counties as part of Appalachia, the worst weather disaster in Ohio history occurred along the Great Miami River in 1913. Known as the Great Dayton Flood, the entire Miami River watershed flooded, as a result, the Miami Conservancy District was created as the first major flood plain engineering project in Ohio and the United States. Grand Lake St. Marys in the west central part of the state was constructed as a supply of water for canals in the era of 1820–1850. For many years this body of water, over 20 square miles, was the largest artificial lake in the world and it should be noted that Ohios canal-building projects were not the economic fiasco that similar efforts were in other states. Some cities, such as Dayton, owe their emergence to location on canals. Summers are typically hot and humid throughout the state, while winters generally range from cool to cold, precipitation in Ohio is moderate year-round
4.
Offutt Air Force Base
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Offutt Air Force Base is a U. S. Air Force installation near Omaha, and lies adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U. S. Strategic Command, the Air Force Weather Agency, and the 55th Wing of the Air Combat Command, aviation use at Offutt began in September 1918 during World War I as an Army Air Service balloon field. It was renamed in honor of World War I pilot and Omaha native 1st Lt. Jarvis Offutt in 1924. S. in case of war during the Cold War. The population was 8,901 at the 2000 census, Offutt Air Force Base is the host station for the 55th Wing, the largest wing of the United States Air Forces Air Combat Command. One of the units, the 55th Operations Group, operates 46 aircraft. The group consists of approximately 3,200 personnel and it employs 46 aircraft, including 13 models of seven different types. It consists of 5 squadrons,3 flying squadrons,1 support squadron and 1 maintenance squadron, all 3 flying squadrons utilize various models of the EC-130 aircraft. It also provides technology and support to the 55th Wing and 44 tenant units. 55th Medical Group The 55th Medical Group serves 28K enrolled patients with extensive outpatient clinic capabilities, Offutt AFB is the headquarters of United States Strategic Command which is one of the nine Unified Combatant Commands of the United States Department of Defense. USSTRATCOM was established in 1992 as a successor to Strategic Air Command, the 557th Weather Wing, formerly the Air Force Weather Agency, is headquartered at Offutt AFB. It is the weather center of the United States Air Force. For over a century, Offutt AFB has played a key role in American military history, from its beginnings as Fort Crook in the late 19th century, Offutt has adapted to the defense needs of the United States. The historical significance of Offutt is a source of pride for military, Offutt AFB is named in honor of First Lieutenant Jarvis Jennes Offutt. The first native of Omaha to become a casualty in World War I, Lieutenant Offutt died of injuries sustained when his SE-5 fighter crashed during a flight near Valheureux. The airfield portion of Fort Crook was designated Offutt Field on 10 May 1924, offutts great heritage began with the commissioning by the War Department in 1890 of Fort Crook. Located some 10 miles south of Omaha and two miles west of the Missouri River, the fort was constructed between 1894 and 1896, the forts namesake was Major General George Crook, a Civil War veteran and Indian fighter. It was first used as a point for Indian conflicts on the Great Plains. Troops from Fort Crook fought during the Spanish–American War when the 22nd Regiment under Charles A. Wikoff was dispatched to Cuba, the regiment suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of El Caney
5.
309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group
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AMARG takes care of more than 4,400 aircraft, which makes it the largest aircraft storage and preservation facility in the world. An Air Force Materiel Command unit, the group is under the command of the 309th Maintenance Wing at Hill Air Force Base, AMARG was established in 1946 as the 4105th Army Air Force Base Unit to house B-29 and C-47 aircraft. Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was chosen because of Tucsons low humidity, infrequent rainfall, alkaline soil and high altitude of 2,550 feet, reducing rust, the hard soil makes it possible to move aircraft around without having to pave the storage areas. In 1948, after the Air Forces creation as a separate service, in 1965, the depot was renamed the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center, and tasked with processing aircraft for all the US armed forces. The U. S. Navy had operated its own boneyard at Naval Air Station Litchfield Park at Goodyear, Arizona, for Navy, Marine, in February 1965, some 500 aircraft were moved from Litchfield Park to Davis-Monthan AFB. NAS Litchfield Park was finally closed in 1968, in the 1990s, in accordance with the START I treaty, the center was tasked with eliminating 365 B-52 bombers. The progress of this task was to be verified by Russia via satellite, initially, the B-52s were chopped into pieces with a 13, 000-pound guillotine winched by a steel cable, supported by a crane. Later on, the tool of choice became K-12 rescue saws and this more precise technique afforded AMARG with salvageable spare parts. In May 2007, command of AMARG was transferred to the 309th Maintenance Wing, constituted on 7 October 1964 as The Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center Activated on 1 February 1965 Redesignated Aerospace Maintenance & Regeneration Center c. The 2,600 acres facility is adjacent to the base, for every $1 the federal government spends operating the facility, it saves or produces $11 from harvesting spare parts and selling off inventory. Congressional oversight determines what equipment may be sold to which customer, an aircraft going into storage undergoes the following treatments, All guns, ejection seat charges, and classified hardware are removed. All Navy aircraft are washed with fresh water, to remove salty water environment residue. The fuel system is protected by draining it, refilling it with lightweight oil and this leaves a protective oil film. The aircraft is sealed from dust, sunlight, and high temperatures and this is done using a variety of materials, including a high tech vinyl plastic compound that is sprayed on the aircraft. The plane is then towed by a tug to its storage position. There is much scrutiny over who can buy what kinds of parts, at times, these sales are canceled. AMARG is a site, and is off-limits to anyone not employed there without the proper clearance. The only access for non-cleared individuals is via a bus tour which is conducted by the nearby Pima Air & Space Museum, bus tours are on Monday to Friday
6.
Arizona
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Arizona is a state in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the Western United States and the Mountain West states and it is the sixth largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona is one of the Four Corners states. It has borders with New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California, and Mexico, Arizonas border with Mexico is 389 miles long, on the northern border of the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the states to be admitted to the Union. Historically part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, after being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase, Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Alpine, in addition to the Grand Canyon National Park, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments. To the European settlers, their pronunciation sounded like Arissona, the area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the Oodham language. Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona, as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area, There is a misconception that the states name originated from the Spanish term Árida Zona. See also lists of counties, islands, rivers, lakes, state parks, national parks, Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico, of the states 113,998 square miles, approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land, Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the states southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus. This regions topography was shaped by volcanism, followed by the cooling-off. Its climate has hot summers and mild winters. The state is well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the Colorado Plateau. Like other states of the Southwest United States, Arizona has an abundance of mountains, despite the states aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest, a percentage comparable to modern-day France or Germany. The worlds largest stand of pine trees is in Arizona
7.
Synthetic-aperture radar
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Synthetic aperture radar is a form of radar that is used to create two- or 3-dimensional images of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a region to provide finer spatial resolution than conventional beam-scanning radars. SAR is typically mounted on a platform such as an aircraft or spacecraft. The distance the SAR device travels over a target in the time taken for the pulses to return to the antenna creates the large synthetic antenna aperture. To create a SAR image, successive pulses of waves are transmitted to illuminate a target scene. The pulses are transmitted and the echoes received using a single beam-forming antenna, as the SAR device on board the aircraft or spacecraft moves, the antenna location relative to the target changes with time. The properties of SAR can be described as having high resolution capability which is independent of flight altitude, SAR also have a great day and night imaging capability considering their own illumination. SAR images have wide applications in sensing and mapping of the surfaces of both the Earth and other planets. Volcano and earthquake monitoring is a part of differential interferometry and it is also useful in environment monitoring like oil spills, flooding, urban growth, global change and military surveillance which includes strategic policy and tactical assessment. SAR can also be implemented as inverse SAR by observing a moving target over a time with a stationary antenna. A Synthetic Aperture Radar is a radar mounted on a moving platform. Electromagnetic waves are transmitted and reflected echoes are collected, digitized and stored by the radar antenna for later processing. As transmission and reception occur at different time, they map to different positions, the well ordered combination of the received signals builds a virtual aperture that is much longer than the physical antenna length. This is why it is named synthetic aperture, giving it the property of being an imaging radar, the 3D processing is done in two steps, the azimuth and range direction are focussed for the generation of 2D high resolution images. After which a digital model is used to measure the phase differences between complex images which is determined from different look angles to recover the height information. This height information, along with the coordinates provided by 2-D SAR focusing. The first step requires only standard processing algorithms, for the step a additional pre-processing stage such as image co-registration. In addition to this, multiple baselines can be used to extend 3D imaging to the time dimension, the SAR algorithm, as given here, applies to phased arrays generally
8.
Trackball
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A trackball is a pointing device consisting of a ball held by a socket containing sensors to detect a rotation of the ball about two axis—like an upside-down mouse with an exposed protruding ball. The user rolls the ball with the thumb, fingers, or the palm of the hand and their nails to move a pointer. Compared with a mouse, a trackball has no limits on travel, at times. With a trackball, the operator just continues rolling, whereas a mouse would have to be lifted and re-positioned, some trackballs have notably low friction, as well as being made of dense material such as glass, so they can be spun to make them coast. The trackballs buttons may be situated to that of a mouse or to a style that suits the user. Large trackballs are common on CAD workstations for easy precision, before the advent of the touchpad, small trackballs were common on portable computers, where there may be no desk space on which to run a mouse. Some small thumbballs clip onto the side of the keyboard and have buttons with the same function as mouse buttons. The trackball was invented as part of a post-World War II-era radar plotting system named Comprehensive Display System by Ralph Benjamin when working for the British Royal Navy Scientific Service. Benjamins project used analog computers to calculate the position of target aircraft based on several initial input points provided by a user with a joystick. Benjamin felt that a more elegant input device was needed and invented a ball tracker system called the ball for this purpose in 1946. The device was patented in 1947, but only a prototype using a ball rolling on two rubber-coated wheels was ever built and the device was kept as a military secret. This trackball used a Canadian five-pin bowling ball, dATARs trackball used four disks to pick up motion, two each for the X and Y directions. When the ball was rolled, the pickup discs spun and contacts on their outer rim made periodic contact with wires, by counting the pulses, the physical movement of the ball could be determined. Since 1966, the American company Orbit Instrument Corporation produced a device named X-Y Ball Tracker, a trackball, in later trackball models the electrical contacts were replaced by a chopper wheel which had small slots cut into it in the same locations as the contacts. An LED shone light through the slots to a sensor, As the disk rotated the slots alternately lined up and then blocked the light from the LED. Mice used the basic system for determining motion, but had the problem that the ball was in contact with the desk or mousepad. In order to provide smooth motion the balls were covered with an anti-slip surface treatment. Rolling the mouse tended to pick up any dirt and drag it into the system where it would clog the chopper wheels, in contrast the trackball is in contact only with the users hand, which tends to be cleaner
9.
Global Positioning System
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The Global Positioning System is a space-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Air Force. The GPS system operates independently of any telephonic or internet reception, the GPS system provides critical positioning capabilities to military, civil, and commercial users around the world. The United States government created the system, maintains it, however, the US government can selectively deny access to the system, as happened to the Indian military in 1999 during the Kargil War. The U. S. Department of Defense developed the system and it became fully operational in 1995. Roger L. Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory, Ivan A, getting of The Aerospace Corporation, and Bradford Parkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory are credited with inventing it. Announcements from Vice President Al Gore and the White House in 1998 initiated these changes, in 2000, the U. S. Congress authorized the modernization effort, GPS III. In addition to GPS, other systems are in use or under development, mainly because of a denial of access. The Russian Global Navigation Satellite System was developed contemporaneously with GPS, GLONASS can be added to GPS devices, making more satellites available and enabling positions to be fixed more quickly and accurately, to within two meters. There are also the European Union Galileo positioning system and Chinas BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, special and general relativity predict that the clocks on the GPS satellites would be seen by the Earths observers to run 38 microseconds faster per day than the clocks on the Earth. The GPS calculated positions would quickly drift into error, accumulating to 10 kilometers per day, the relativistic time effect of the GPS clocks running faster than the clocks on earth was corrected for in the design of GPS. The Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkinss Applied Physics Laboratory, decided to monitor Sputniks radio transmissions. Within hours they realized that, because of the Doppler effect, the Director of the APL gave them access to their UNIVAC to do the heavy calculations required. The next spring, Frank McClure, the deputy director of the APL, asked Guier and Weiffenbach to investigate the inverse problem — pinpointing the users location and this led them and APL to develop the TRANSIT system. In 1959, ARPA also played a role in TRANSIT, the first satellite navigation system, TRANSIT, used by the United States Navy, was first successfully tested in 1960. It used a constellation of five satellites and could provide a navigational fix approximately once per hour, in 1967, the U. S. Navy developed the Timation satellite, which proved the feasibility of placing accurate clocks in space, a technology required by GPS. In the 1970s, the ground-based OMEGA navigation system, based on comparison of signal transmission from pairs of stations. Limitations of these systems drove the need for a more universal navigation solution with greater accuracy, during the Cold War arms race, the nuclear threat to the existence of the United States was the one need that did justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress. This deterrent effect is why GPS was funded and it is also the reason for the ultra secrecy at that time
10.
Camera
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Thumb|A2016 Nikon D810 A camera is an optical instrument for recording or capturing images, which may be stored locally, transmitted to another location, or both. The images may be individual still photographs or sequences of images constituting videos or movies, the camera is a remote sensing device as it senses subjects without physical contact. The word camera comes from camera obscura, which means dark chamber and is the Latin name of the device for projecting an image of external reality onto a flat surface. The modern photographic camera evolved from the camera obscura, the functioning of the camera is very similar to the functioning of the human eye. A camera may work with the light of the spectrum or with other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. A still camera is a device which creates a single image of an object or scene. All cameras use the basic design, light enters an enclosed box through a converging lens/convex lens. A shutter mechanism controls the length of time that light can enter the camera, a display, often a liquid crystal display, permits the user to view scene to be recorded and settings such as ISO speed, exposure, and shutter speed. A movie camera or a video camera operates similarly to a camera, except it records a series of static images in rapid succession. When the images are combined and displayed in order, the illusion of motion is achieved, the forerunner to the photographic camera was the camera obscura. The oldest known record of this principle is a description by Han Chinese philosopher Mozi, Mozi correctly asserted that the camera obscura image is inverted because light travels in straight lines from its source. In the 11th century Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham s wrote very influential essays about experiments with light through an opening in a darkened room. The use of a lens in the opening of a wall or closed window shutter of a room to project images used as a drawing aid has been traced back to circa 1550. Since the late 17th century portable camera obscura devices in tents, before the development of the photographic camera, it had been known for hundreds of years that some substances, such as silver salts, darkened when exposed to sunlight. The first person to use this chemistry to create images was Thomas Wedgwood, to create images, Wedgwood placed items, such as leaves and insect wings, on ceramic pots coated with silver nitrate, and exposed the set-up to light. These images werent permanent, however, as Wedgwood didnt employ a fixing mechanism and he ultimately failed at his goal of using the process to create fixed images created by a camera obscura. The first permanent photograph of an image was made in 1826 by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce using a sliding wooden box camera made by Charles. Niépce had been experimenting with ways to fix the images of a camera obscura since 1816, the photograph Niépce succeeded in creating shows the view from his window
11.
45th Reconnaissance Squadron
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The 45th Reconnaissance Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 55th Operations Group and stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, the unit was formed during World War II initially as a night interceptor squadron and deployed to England as part of Ninth Air Force. It later saw service as a reconnaissance squadron during the Korean War. It was inactivated in 1994 as part of the cutbacks in the Air Force after the end of the Cold War, reactivated shortly afterwards, it assumed the mission of the former 24th Reconnaissance Squadron, which it replaced. Squadron personnel fly worldwide reconnaissance and treaty missions on demand, often on short notice. The 45th Reconnaissance Squadron provides data for the National Command Authorities, theater CINCs, Squadron personnel fly worldwide reconnaissance and treaty missions on demand, often on extremely short notice. The 45th Reconnaissance Squadron provides data for the National Command Authorities, theater CINCs, the squadron was constituted on 17 August 1943 as the 423d Night Fighter Squadron at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida, however it wasnt organized as a unit until 1 October. The 423d was the squadron of the third group of dedicated night fighter squadrons trained by the Army Air Forces. It initially trained with the Douglas P-70 Havoc night fighter at Orlando, in January, training was interrupted when the night fighter school was moved from Florida to Hammer Army Airfield, California. After the relocation, the squadron completed its training in March 1944, the 423d was deployed to England and assigned to Ninth Air Force, stationed at RAF Charmy Down. Charmy Down eventually would become the home of three fighter squadrons, however the squadron arrived un-equipped as the P-61 Black Widows were late in arriving. Subsequently, the squadron had its aircrews posted to various RAF night fighter, meanwhile, as there was no sign of the P-61s. The pilots kept up their time on Cessna UC-78s and de Havilland Mosquitoes. Finally, when the P-61s began to arrive in mid-May from California, the 423d was re-designated as the 155th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron and was transferred to RAF Chalgrove. There, the squadron was equipped with some Douglas F-3 Havoc twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft, the night flying skills of the pilots trained for interceptor work was put to good use, being transitioned into night reconnaissance pilots. Finally, in early August, the moved to France. The squadron carried photo-flash bombs, illuminating various roads, bridges, railroads, the photos would then be analyzed at the base and based on the intelligence gathered by the squadron, interdiction strikes would be carried out. The squadron moved across France and then into the Low Countries as the Allies advanced, in December 1944, the 155th was involved in the Battle of the Bulge
