Chapter 2Organizational Framework As the RC-47 fleet was being readied in CONUS, an USAF ARDF organiation was emerging in RVN. The USAF concept of the ARDF mission required seperate agencies to operate the aircraft and its special equipment, as compared to the Army's concentration of its entire operation under one organization, the 509th Radio Research Group (RRG). Hq PACAF, through 7AF, progressively established three Reconnaissance Squadrons for the "front end" crews and placed them under the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing (TRW), Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon. The 360th Reconnaissance Squadron began operations at Tan Son Nhut on 8 April 1966, some five weeks before the first PHYLLIS ANN aircraft arrived on 14 May, 1966. As additional aircraft arrived, other organizations were established, first as detachments and then as squadrons, at Nha Trang and Pleiku Air Bases. The 361st Reconnaissance Squadron came into being at Nha Trang on 1 October 1966; the 362nd Reconnaissance Squadron, at Pleiku, followed on 1 February 1967. Two months later, on 15 March 1967, all three squadrons were more precisely retitled Tactical Electronics Warfare Squadrons (TEWS). Their RC-47 aircraft became EC-47 aircraft in May of that year. The nickname of the entire project was changed from PHYLLIS ANN to COMPASS DART in 1967, and then became COMBAT COUGAR in 1968. (For the sake of clarity, the squadrons, their aircraft, and the project nickname will be referred to as TEWS, the EC-47 and COMBAT COUGAR, respectively, for the remainder of this report.) In the meantime, Hq USAF Security Service organized three units for ARDF equipment and special intelligence personell, to be collocated with the TEWS: the 6994th Security Squadron (SS) at Tan Son Nhut, Detachment 1 of that squadron at Nha Trang, and Detachment 2 at Pleiku. The Security Service retained command and administration control of its units, while the Commander, 7AF, had operational control of the SS units.
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