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Summit SCR1505 Instruction Manual 14 Pages
1942SEPTEMBER 1942Sep 28 The 563rd Signal A. W. Battalion was formed at Drew Field, a little north of Tampa, Florida. It was activated on Paragraph 1 of General Order 44 of the Headquarters Army Air Base on 28 September 1942 and was stationed at Drew Field as a training unit and as such processed many inductees and placed them in units under the orders of the Fourth Signal Air Warning Training Battalion. The original TO&E was 11-440 which authorized 45 Commissioned Officers, 17 Warrant Officers and 592 Enlisted men.OCTOBER 1942Oct 1 The 563rd was quartered at Drew Field, Tampa Florida.Oct 10 Capt. Merl Crowley of the 501st Signal Air Warning Regiment and five Lieutenants were recent graduates of the Eastern Signal Corps Officer Candidate School were assigned and joined.Oct 13 Capt. Merl Crowley assumed command of the 563rd. Eight-one enlisted men from the 551st Signal Air Warning Battalion were assigned to the battalion.Oct 21 The battalion was moved from Drew Field, Tampa, Florida to Plant Park, Tampa, Florida.Oct 30 On 30 October 1943 the battalion issued a Historical Report. It covered the period from 25 September 1942 thru 25 December 1942 as follows;Oct 31 The strength of the battalion was Commissioned Officers 10, Warrant Officers 0 and enlisted men 96.NOVEMBER 1942Nov 19 The 563rd lived in the hutment area at 10th and F Streets on Drew Field.Nov 20 A detachment, later to become Company C, departed for the Sarasota Air Base, Sarasota, Florida for Field Training." Two hundred and twelve men were assigned from the 501st Signal Air Warning Regiment. The unit was moved to Drew Field and were quarter in the hutment area at 10th and F Streets on Drew Field.DECEMBER 1942Dec 1 Lt. Col. Robert W. Maloney assumed command on.Dec 3 Lt. Col. Maloney was transferred out and Lt. Col. Ron T. Richards assumed command of the 563rd.Dec 27 The Battalion was reorganized on General Orders 72 Par 1 Headquarter Army Air Base, Drew Field, Florida to consist of a Headquarters and Plotting Company, Company A, Company B, Company C, and Company D.31 Dec The strength of the Battalion was increased to Commissioned Officers 75, Warrant Officers 0, enlisted men 585.MAY 1943MAY 31 Capt. Roger F. Detman assumed command of the 563rd.AUGUST 1943Aug 3 Capt. Alfred A. Foard assumed command of the 563rd.Aug 31 Maj. Charles F. Smithson assumed command of the 563rd.OCTOBER 1943Oct 1 Maj. Thomas F. Fitzgerald assumed command of the 563rd.Oct 6 Lt. Col. William McBride was the Commanding Officer of the 4th Training Battalion when he was transferred into the 563rd Signal Air Warning Battalion on 6 October 1943. He issued 563rd Signal Air Warning Battalion General Order 11 assuming command and relieving Maj. Thomas F. Fitzgerald. Maj. Maurice E. Byrne was also transferred into the battalion on this day but the new commanding officer of the 4th Training Battalion who replaced Lt. Col. McBride, on the recommendation of his Executive Officer, would not release Maj. Byrne at that time. The Executive Officer of the 4th Training Battalion had also been Lt. Col. McBride's Executive Officer in the 4th Training Battalion. The reason given for the delay in transferring Maj. Byrne to make him responsible for breaking in the new S-4 of the 4th Training Battalion. This delay went on for several weeks. Oct 7 Lt. Col. McBride issued General Order 11 transferring himself into the Battalion from units in the Fourth Signal Air Warning Training Battalion where he was the Commanding Officer. The 4th Taining Battalion supervised the unit organization and training of Air Warning Signal Units designated for overseas shipment. At that time the unit was designated for shipment to England for assignment to the invasion of the continent. Lt. Col. McBride was a American Telephone and Telegraph executive in civilian life and was an officer in the Massachusetts National Guard. He had served in combat in the famous "Yankee" Division in World War I as a First Sergeant. Although he was commissioned as an Infantryman his expertise in communications dictated his assignment to the Signal Corps. He selected his headquarters staff and company commanders from personnel in the Training Battalion. The Signal Corps orga- nizations were team oriented. A battalion with company commanders would be assigned teams which became platoons in the companies. Within several weeks all the teams were assigned and the Battalion was full strength. They were then moved out into a maneuver area for unit training. Maj. Byrne was appointed Executive Officer and S3 of the Battalion, just previous to this he had been S-3 of the Fourth Training Battalion. In civil life he was an Electrical Engineer for the Idaho Power Company and was a Reserve Officer inducted into the Air Corps as an Aircraft Engineering officer at Hamilton Field near San Francisco, California. Later the Air Corps transferred all that were Electrical Engineers to the Signal Corps for duty in Radar units and subsequently sent to Harvard University for advanced electronics and then to the RAF radar School in Clinton, Ontario, Canada. Lt. Robert O. Schurke was assigned to the 563rd as Adjutant. He also had served as adjutant for the Fourth Training Battalion as Battalion Adjutant to Lt. Col. McBride. Oct 18 On 18 October Lt. Col. McBride issued the first Training Schedule himself, with the aid of Lt. Schurke and the following Schedule was issued to be effective during the period 18 October to 23 Oct. At the time the Battalion was still short Company B. Note that the training week ended with inspection by him. This was always an inspection of troops and a retreat parade. Other training schedules during this period just prior to the starting of final operations training in the field were not preserved. Note the adherence to basics in the training. Lt. Col. McBride's idea was to start out with finished soldiers then let them apply what they had learned in technical schools. The Operational Field training was put into motion in November and several of the Training Situations were preserved. The operational training was a simulation of combat operations which were set in motion by the issuance of a Field Order. These field orders were written in the same form as an actual combat field order and contained the plans the units were to follow in the simulated training. These field orders were issued along with appendices, some of which were detailed maps of where the units were to bivouac and the placement of the radars. Most of the history of the 563rd Signal Air Warning Battalion that has been related in the history and in these transactions occurred after the Battalion was designated to serve in the Task Force for the invasion of the Germany. On 18 November the following Training Order No 1 was issued and this started the final operational training of the Battalion in the field. Training was under the supervision of the Battalion Plans and Training Staff and Lt. Paul E. Rapp was the S-3. The Battalion was operating for training from the 563rd Standing Operating Procedures (SOP) manual written by Maj. Byrne while still assigned to the 4th Training Battalion. During the operational training period this document was updated and finished up by Lt. Rapp. This document was well received by the Overseas Shipment Inspection Team and the 4th Training Battalion adopted it for future units receiving operational training for overseas's assignments. The Operational Training Schedule follows for the period of 18-23 Octonber follows on the following pages and on the same day the Training Directive was issued by Lt. Rapp under Lt. Col. McBride's direction. The Battalion was located in the Bivoac area north of Drew Field where the temporaryheadquarters Unit Training ScheduleUnit Training Schedulewere located. Following it the Training Order:
Summit SCR1505 Instruction Manual 14 Pages
IV Duties1 SENIOR CONTROLLER: The Senior Controller is a direct representative of the Commanding General, XIX Tactical Air Command, and is charged with responsibility for the control of aircraft and Air-Ground coordination in such areas as may be assigned. He is responsible for the operational efficiency of the TCC and subordi- nate stations. he will prescribe hours and rules for operations, supervise training of control personnel, issue standing orders, etc.2 DUTY SENIOR CONTROLLER: The Duty Senior Controller is the direct representative of the Senior Controller. He is in charge of all operations. He will assign control of aircraft on missions to deputy controllers in the TCC and to controllers at the Forward Direction Posts. He will supervise the operation of Night Fighter Aircraft. In cooperations with the AAA liaison Officer he will control the IAZ when friendly aircraft formations are in the area. He is responsible for the receipt of operational orders from Combat Operations, XIX TAC, and for the passing of pertinent information to Combat Opns. He will see that organizations are alerted in the area when enemy Aircraft approach. He will direct the sweep of Radar Units with the occasion demands. He will determine the best possible fields for the emerging homing of aircraft in distress.3 OPERATIONS "B": Opn "B" will assist the controller in the performance of Air duties. He will designate the VHF channels to be guarded by the monitors,. He will make sure that Ninth Air Force Common, the XIX TAC Common Channels and the Tactical Reconnaissance Reporting Channel are guarded from dawn to dusk and at other times if Aircraft are operating. He also must see that all Status Boards are kept up to date; maintain liaison with FDP Controllers; maintain an operations log, controllers manual and carry-over orders book, and advise Combat Opns of all aircraft accidents.4 DEPUTY CONTROLLERS: Deputy Controllers will perform functions as directed by the Duty Senior Controller. Their usual duties will be to monitor operational missions, warn controlled flights when enemy aircraft are in their vicinity, guide flights to their target or rendezvous when required, provide pilots with such information as they may seek, aid pilots returning from missions, etc. Deputy controllers must at all times keep posted on theweather, condition of airfields, capabilities of aircraft, Group and Squadron Call Signs, danger zones, etc.5 DEPUTY CONTROLLER TAC/R: Will monitor the special TAC/R reporting frequency. Will make written notations of all messages reported by TAC/R aircraft and will pass such information over direct3ect wire when available to XIX TAC Reconnaissance Operations Officer and to Duty Chief Controller. Will pass on any information or instructions to TAC/R aircraft in the air. Will receive flight plans of TAC/R Aircraft, airborne times, and call signs and pass these on to Movement Liaison Officer.6 "Y" SERVICE OFFICER: The "Y" Service officer will provide the Duty Senior Controller with all available information of the operations of the enemy, particularly of hostile aircraft.7 FILTER OFFICER: The Filter Officer is responsible for the operations of the equipment and personnel of the Filter and Operations Board except for identification. All aircraft warning personnel, Filter Plotters, Filterer, Broadcast Teller and Raid Clerk, during the period of operation, are under the direct supervision of the Filter Officer. he is in operational control at all times of all radar stations. He will pass Ground Observer Reports of hostile aircraft to Wing Combat Operations for immediate alerting of airfields in the area.8 MOVEMENT LIAISON OFFICER: The Movement Liaison Officer will make prompt and accurate identification of all tracks displayed on the operations table. He will receive and pass all operational and non-operational movements to those concerned. He will assist with the clearance of non-operational flights when necessary. He will maintain Liaison with adjacent TAC's. He will assist the Duty Senior Controller in Liaison with AAA. He will keep a daily log, and make proper disposal of all classified materials which are received for the section making all necessary amendments to same. He will report and record all information observed which might be useful intelligence information.9 AAA LIAISON OFFICER; The AAA Liaison Officer will maintain two way communications with Battalion Gun Operations rooms 24 hours a day. He will pass operational orders from the Controller to the Gun Ops rooms and will receive information for the Controller from the gun operations rooms. He will broadcast hostile and unidenti- fied track on the Army Air Warning Net. He will keep complete logs of all operational orders received from the Controller. He is in charge of the AAA enlisted personnel on duty in the TCC, including the broadcast teller and the two FM net Controllers. He will see that a C/W net, for standby purpose, is operational four hours before sunset until one half hour before sunrise, and that meteorological messages are broadcast four times daily.10 ROUND LIAISON OFFICER: The Ground Liaison Officer, on duty at the TCC from Headquarters, Third U. S. Army, will be responsible for keeping the Controllers at the TCC and those at the FDP's consistently informed of the ground situation.11 COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: The Communications Officer will supervise all communications at the TCC, and investigate immedi- ately all communications failures. Failure in communications occurring outside the TCC proper will be reported at once to the Filter Officer. The communications Officer will have all changes in status indicated on the Communications Status Board.12 FLOOR SUPERVISOR: The Floor supervisor will be in direct supervision of all enlisted personnel other than AW personnel. He will synchronize clocks, be responsible for policing, arrange for sanitation of telephones, provide drinking water, etc.13 MONITORS; Monitors will make a record of all speech channels designated by the Controller, and report immediately to the Controller all emergency calls heard. Conversation containing information pertaining to enemy aircraft, Ground Installations, Troop Movements, etc., will be relayed to the Controller immedi- ately.14 D/F TEAM: The D/F fixing team will obtain fixed using bearings provided by the fixer stations. This information will be made immediately available to the Deputy Controller on duty at the Intercept Board, placed on the D/F status Board and recorded by the recorder.15 BROADCAST TELLER: a. Will tell only incoming unknown and hostile aircraft and tracks showing SOS. b. Combined Air Warning Code will be used at all times. c. Time check will be made every 15 minutes. d. Other tracks will be told upon instructions of the Filter Officer. e. A record will be maintained of all tracks told.16 STATUS CLERK; Status Clerks will keep Status Boards up to date.17 RAID ORDERLY: Raid Orderly will prepare target stands for Plotters.18 RAID CLERK: Raid Clerk will make a record of all targets appearing on the operations table, listing time and position of the original plot, identification, strength, altitude and time of track's removed.19 ADJACENT TAC PLOTTERS: Adjacent TAC Plotters will plot targets received from adjacent TAC TCC's.20 MOVEMENT LIAISON CLERKS: ML clerks will assist the MLO.21 FILTER PLOTTERS: Filter Plotters will display information received from the reporting station on the operations table.22 FILTERER: a. Filterer is responsible to the Filter Officer for the correct analysis and display of all filtered information that appear on the Filter Operations Board. b. He will aid the Filter Officer in enforcing all standing orders. c. He will analysis the number of aircraft as reported by the various stations keeping in mind the performances of these stations as it affects their analysis. d. He has complete supervision of Filter and Operations Board Personnel at all times during operations.. e. He will report to area filtering when directed to do so by his Filter Officer. The Center and direction of area will be displayed only by arrow. f. He will observe the prescribed priority in filtering.V DETAILED INSTRUCT section will prepare detailed instructionf for its personnel to supplement this SOP.APPENDIX A to 19 TCG SOPINSTRUCTIONS TO THE AAA LIAISON SECTION The AAA Liaison Section with the XIX TAC is the 147th Air Operations Detachment, 38th AAA Brigade, U.S. Third Army. Its operational activities are as follows. a. One AAA officer is on duty at the TCC 24 hours a day. There are three officers working in 8 hour shifts. b. The broadcast teller broadcasts all hostile and unidenti- fied flights on the Army air warning net which is monitored by all Third Army AAA and AAA defense at airfields in the Third Army area. Quartermaster and Engineer units using lights to work with at night are required to monitor this net. The net is at the disposal of the Third Army Provost Marshall for any emergency that may arise. Meteorological messages, computed jointly by Air Corps and AAA are combined and broadcast over the net to AAA units. Three tellers work in 8 hour shifts operating 24 hours a day. c. FM Net controllers operate two nets from the TCC 24 hours a day. The nets are the means of two way operational control between the Senior Controller and all IAZ's. In addition commu- nication is established between each Corps AAA Group and Army AAA Group which sends in AAA information Service data from units ranging down to the Division AAA on the front lines six controllers work on this net in eight hour shifts. d. An alternate in the FM is a CW net which goes into operation three hours before sunset and ends one half hour before sunrise. Three CW operators operate this shift. e. The SCR-399 radio is used for the Army Air Warning Net. Six radio operators work in eight hour shifts 24 hours a day and log all messages going out over the air. The SCR-399 transmitters are remote by telephone lines to the TCC for the broadcast teller;'s use. f. A complete log is kept by the AAA Officer on all opera- tionalcontrol orders and a summary report on the following subjects is submitted to the Commanding General, 38th AAA Brigade daily: 1. Communication status 2. Hostile aircraft activity 3. Friendly aircraft activity 4. Unidentified flights 5. Operation control orders 6. AAA information service from AAA units 7. Comments g. All coded messages are forwarded to Army Headquarters monthly for security checks. The 209 converter is used for routing messages and slidex for fast AAA Information Service communication. h. The Detachment is self-sustaining, operates it's own mess,quarters and transportation and maintaining all equipment. APPENDIX B to 19 TCG SOPORGANIZATION AND FUNCTION OF THE MOVEMENT LIAISON SECTIONA. GENERAL 1. The prime mission of this section is the prompt and accurate identification of all tacks which are displayed on the Operations Room Table. Tracks are identified as "Friendly", "Hostile" or "Unidentified". The most effective method of identifying hostile aircraft is to know at all time, the position, altitude, strength and turning of all friendly aircraft. If these facts are known, any other tracks observed must be hostile. The number of "Unidentified" tracks is a direct indication of the efficiency of any participating movement section. There should be no unidentified tracks. It can readily be seen that this system is only as good as its communications, plus the movement information received.B. ORGANIZATION 1. Personnel: a. Movement liaison officers 4 b. Recorders EM 4 c. Cryptographers 4 d. Radio Operators 4 (exact numbers may change according to situation and men available, radio operators furnished by 4th Tactical Air Communications Squadron) 2. Equipment a. one SCR-399 3. Communications a. Available land lines to IX and XII TAC's b. Available land lines to Continental Flying Command c. Radio channel to Continental Flying Control d. Proposed teletype to Continental Flying Control e. Teletype to flying control, XIX TAC f. Available land line to Detachment "C", 3rd Radio Squadron