Piercing the Fog - Air Force Historical Studies Office

Piercing the Fog
Reconnaissance Group flew 232 missions along the Channel coast to record the
German defenses. Some of these missions were flown as low as 15 feet above
the sea.l”‘Nor was this support limited to the European Theater. When AAF
aerial photos revealed the size and shape of the proposed landing zones on
Bougainville to be considerably different from those on existing charts, the
amphibious assault at Empress Augusta Bay was redirected in November
1943.”’ Just as photo and tactical (visual) reconnaissance groups supported
Allied ground advances in Europe, the 7 1 st Reconnaissance Group operated
over the Philippine Islands in 1945, providing intelligence on enemy troop
deployments and dispositions, movements and bivouac areas, road and bridge
construction, and even the weather that was developing behind enemy lines.’”
A basic characteristic of photographic reconnaissance was its repetitive nature.
On certain occasions one-time coverage was adequate. For the most part,
however, a fundamental element of the interpretation process was the
comparison of activity over time: repairs to plants, the buildup of flak* units,
new road construction, or changes in the numbers or types of aircraft at an
airfield.
Analysis of the results of aerial reconnaissance flights-photointerpreta-
tion-occurred at three levels. First-phase interpretation was carried out at the
recovery base of flying units to provide operational commanders and their staffs
a quick initial evaluation, especially in assessing the results of air strikes. In the
first months of Eighth Air Force operations, the development and analysis of
aerial photographs took two days, with both steps occurring at Medmenham. In
March 1943, Eaker directed that a photographic processing facility be
established at the American reconnaissance base at Mount Farm near RAF
Benson and that photointerpretation officers be assigned to his headquarters to
provide immediate prints so he could more quickly judge the results of a given
strike.‘”
With the growing requirements for tactical air forces to support land
operations in all theaters and the subsequent emphasis on targets more fleeting
than those subjected to strategic air bombardment, the demands made on rapid
first-phase interpretation increased. By the middle of 1943, first-phase
interpretation was accomplished within two to three hours after a reconnais-
sance plane landed. To increase still further the availability of first-phase
interpretation during the effort against the German V-1 flying bomb sites in
1944, the HQ USSTAF Directorate of Intelligence established special
procedures under the so-called Dilly Project, whereby a courier hand carried
photos from the AAF’s photointerpretation center at Mount Farm to General
spaatz.123
*Flak, short for the German Fliegerubwehrkunone, became the commonly used
term for AA gunfire.
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