Photo By Erin Thompson | U.S. Army Air Force Intelligence School, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania... read more read more
by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian
COURSE BEGIN AT ARMY AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE SCHOOL
On Apr. 13, 1942, the first courses of instruction began at the U.S. Army Air Force Intelligence School (USAAFIS) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The school’s primary objective was to provide training in photo interpretation and other aerial intelligence subjects.
Prior to American entry into World War II, the AAF did not provide any formal aerial intelligence courses. Personnel were instead detailed to attend training at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, or the photo interpretation course at the Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. However, instruction at Fort Leavenworth primarily focused on infantry staff intelligence functions, while Fort Belvoir’s curriculum targeted ground operations; neither school offered detailed aerial intelligence instruction.
Thus, in late 1941, the AAF petitioned to open its own air intelligence school. Despite the objections of the Military Intelligence Division, responsible for intelligence training across the Army, the AAF’s proposal was approved, and photo interpretation courses began first at Bolling Army Air Field in Washington, D.C., and then at the University of Maryland while the AAF secured property in Pennsylvania for a formal intelligence school.
On Apr. 13. 1942, the first courses began at the newly established USAAFIS with nine instructors, all graduates of the Fort Belvoir photo interpretation course. Under the command of Col. Egmont F. Koenig, the school initially preferred candidates with college degrees or experience in fields of law, banking, or business. According to author John Kreis, the first class of students “were commissioned directly from civilian life and required some military indoctrination during their six-week course.” Only later in 1942 were students required to be graduates of the AAF Officer Candidate School. Despite the lack of formal military training in the USAAFIS’s first few classes, graduates from the school were remarked to be “surprisingly well trained by a faculty that recognizably had no opportunity for work or experience in the field.”
Approximately seventy students attended the first class, which consisted of three weeks of general intelligence studies and three weeks of combat intelligence and photographic interpretation specialties. General intelligence covered the same instruction offered at other Army intelligence schools, such as counterintelligence, safeguarding military information, intelligence officer administrative functions, investigative procedures, and report writing. Combat intelligence training included instruction on intelligence briefings, interrogations, mission reports, and common aerial intelligence problems.
At its inception, the school’s primary objective was to develop photo interpretation units for deployment during World War II. The USAAFIS was commonly referred to as simply “the Photo Interpretation School” for its emphasis on providing “two-thirds photo interpretation and one-third intelligence training.” The photo interpretation course was directly influenced by the training and advancements of the Royal Air Force and included instruction on basic photo intelligence procedures and technology employed in theater operations and identifying naval, air, and ground targets. In October 1942, the course was extended to eight weeks to emphasize this specialty training. However, as aviators gained more experience during the war, the school gradually began placing equal emphasis on combat intelligence training, as well as prisoner interrogation and air base intelligence officer instruction.
The AAF developed several air intelligence courses at different locations across the country between 1942–1944, but none were as large or long-lasting as the Harrisburg school, and these courses were ultimately absorbed into the training provided at the USAAFIS. On Mar. 31, 1944, the USAAFIS was closed and air intelligence training transferred to the AAF Tactical Center at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida.
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| Date Taken: | 04.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2025 15:26 |
| Story ID: | 495150 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 91 |
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