325th Air Division

The origins of the 325th Photographic Wing can be traced to early 1944 when Colonel Elliott Roosevelt arrived in the United Kingdom to study and report on weather reconnaissance and photographic reconnaissance there. On the basis of his report, Eighth Air Force formed a provisional unit, the 8th Reconnaissance Wing (Provisional) at RAF Cheddington on 18 February 1944 with Col. Roosevelt as its commander.[1] The wing moved to RAF High Wycombe a few months later. During the preparation for Operation Overlord, the Normandy invasion, the wing flew the first advanced aerial weather scouting missions for strategic bombardment missions. The wing also flew Eighth Air Force's first night photographic missions and flew shuttle reconnaissance missions to both the Mediterranean Theater and to the Soviet Union.[2]

Unit yearbook cover, published in 1945

On 8 August 1944 the organization was made permanent and the 325th replaced the 8th as the headquarters for Eighth Air Force's photographic and weather reconnaissance units.[3]

From August 1944 until October 1945 subordinate units of the 325th and, using various aircraft, flew reconnaissance over the waters adjacent to the British Islands and the European continent to obtain photographic and meteorological data for use in the air offensive against Europe and the Allied invasion of the continent.[4] Its aircraft also provided electronic countermeasures support to confuse enemy air defenses during allied attacks.[5] To insure the success of an operation as large as the invasion, allied forces required millions of aerial photographs. The 325th wing base laboratory provided photographs of enemy fortifications and troop dispositions vital to employment of ground forces, while Eighth Air Force daylight precision bombing of industrial and military targets required vast quantities of aerial photographs for target material.[6]

Wing aircraft collected weather information needed in planning operations, flew night photographic missions to detect enemy activity and operated daylight photographic and mapping missions. The wing also flew photographic missions in support of Operation Market Garden, the airborne attacks in the Netherlands, in September 1944. It also operated closely with tactical units in the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to February 1945.[4]

To fill demands for photographic reproduction, the best available equipment (American and British) was obtained and supply requirements and channels were established. Personnel were furnished from the 1st (later replaced by the 8th) and 2nd Photographic Technical Squadrons. The unified effort by personnel of both squadrons enabled the laboratory to produce two million prints in a single month.[6]

The wing participated in Project Dick Tracy, a survey of captured German photographic intelligence material.[7] The purpose of Dick Tracy was to make German intelligence materials readily available to British and American headquarters.[8] Following the surrender of Germany, its units participated in the final bomb damage assessment of European targets.[9]

The wing was reactivated as a reserve unit under Air Defense Command (ADC) on 9 April 1947 at Hamilton Air Force Base. It was assigned reserve reconnaissance units stationed at Hamilton[10][11] and at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.[12] In 1948, when the regular Air Force implemented the wing base organization system, the wing, along with other multi-base reserve wings was redesignated as an air division.[4][13] The same year Continental Air Command assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.[14]

The 325th participated in routine reserve training with its assigned trainer aircraft and supervised the training of its three assigned groups until it was inactivated in June 1949 when the reserves adopted the wing base organization system. Most of its equipment and personnel were used to form the 349th Troop Carrier Wing, which was simultaneously activated at Hamilton.[4][15]

• Eighth Air Force, 9 August 1944
• VIII Fighter Command, 16 July 1945 – 20 October 1945
• Fourth Air Force, 9 April 1947 – 27 June 1949[4]

Groups

• 7th Reconnaissance Group : 9 August 1944 – 18 October 1945
• 25th Bombardment Group : 6 October 1944-c. 23 July 1945
• 68th Reconnaissance Group : 9 April 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 70th Reconnaissance Group : 26 April 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 72nd Reconnaissance Group : 12 July 1947 – 27 June 1949[4]

Squadrons

• 1st Photographic Technical Squadron: 8 August 1944 – c. 5 November 1944[6]
• 2d Photographic Technical Squadron: 8 August 1944 – c. 17 August 1945[6][16]
• 8th Photographic Technical Squadron: c. 5 November 1944 – c. 8 October 1945[6]
• 26th Station Complement Squadron: 1944 – 1945[16][17]
• 652d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy, Weather Reconnaissance): 6 January 1945 – 12 October 1945[18]
• 653d Bombardment Squadron (Light, Weather Reconnaissance): 5 September 1945 – 11 October 1945[4]

Units

• 3d AAF Combat Camera Unit, 8 August 1944 – 6 February 1945[19]
• 8th AAF Combat Camera Unit, 8 August 1944 – c. 20 October 1945

Arms and Services with the Army Air Forces

• Company B, 942d Engineer Aviation Topographic Battalion: 1945[17]

• RAF High Wycombe (Station 101), England, 9 August 1944 – 20 October 1945
• Hamilton Field (later Hamilton AFB), California, 9 April 1947 – 27 June 1949[4]

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.