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373d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group
373d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group emblem
The 373 ISRG is the Department of Defense host service organization and primary force provider for theNational Security Agency'sAlaska Mission Operations Center, providing warfighters and strategic/national level policy makers with actionable, time-critical intelligence.[2]
Thegroup traces its history to the 7th Photographic Group, activated on 1 May 1943. It transferred, without personnel and equipment, to England on 7 July 1943 and assigned to Eighth AF. The group usedSupermarine Spitfires andStinson L-5s to obtain information about bombardment targets and damage inflicted bybombardment operations; provide mapping service for air and ground units; observe and report on enemy transportation, installations, and positions; and obtain data on weather conditions.
Prior to June 1944, the group photographedairfields, cities, industrial establishments, and ports in France, the Low Countries, and Germany. Received aDistinguished Unit Citation for operations during the period 31 May – 30 June 1944, when its coverage of bridges, marshalling yards, canals, highways, rivers, and other targets contributed much to the success of the Normandy campaign.
The unit coveredmissile sites in France during July, and in August carried out photographic mapping missions for ground forces advancing across France. It providedreconnaissance support for theairborne attack on the Netherlands in September and for theBattle of the Bulge, December 1944– January 1945. UsedNorth American P-51 Mustangs to escort its own reconnaissance planes during the last months of the war as the group supported the Allied drive across the Rhine and into Germany. Took part in the final bomb damage assessment following V–E Day
^"About Us: Fact Sheet 70th ISR Wing". 70th Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs. 15 July 2015. Archived fromthe original on 20 September 2017. Retrieved19 September 2017.
^Department of the Air Force/MPM Letter 648q, 31 July 1985, Subject: Reconstitution, Redesignation, and Consolidation of Selected Air Force Organizations
^abWhite, SSG Dillon (19 June 2015)."Intelligence Support Squadron furls flag". 70th Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Wing Public Affairs. Archived fromthe original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved22 September 2017.
Freeman, Roger A.; Keen. Patricia (1996).Eyes of the Eighth: a story of the 7th Photographic Reconnaissance Group, 1942–1945. Sun City, Ariz: CAVU Publishers.ISBN0-9649119-0-6.