the 69th in December 1941, moving in from Third Air Force at Birmingham Airport, Alabama. The 71st was equipped with a similar mixture of observation aircraft and engaged in anti-submarine patrols over the Central California coast until August. The group was temporarily assigned to the Army Desert Training Center at Rice AAF in the Mojave Desert in August, training with General George Patton's forces prior to the Operation Torch invasion of North Africa in November. It moved back to Salinas in October 1942, and trained with Fort Ord units. It was reassigned back to Third Air Force, moving to Esler Field, Louisiana in January 1943 where it served as the observation unit for Army forces training at Fort Polk. The last observation group at Salinas was the 70th Observation Group, being moved from Second Air Force in Washington. It continued the anti-submarine and support observation mission at Fort Ord until August, when it was reassigned back to Second Air Force at Redmond AAF, Oregon. P-38 Lightning training In September, the field was transferred to IV Fighter Command, which assigned the 360th Fighter Group as a P-38 Lightning Replacement Training Unit (RTU). The 360th trained replacement pilots on the Lightning with the 371st, 372d, 373d and 446th Fighter Squadrons as its operational squadrons. P-61 Black Widow training The move of the Army Air Forces Night Fighter School to Hammer Field, California dictated the move of the 360th Fighter Group to Santa Maria AAF in January 1944. Its designation was also changed from an Army Airfield to Salinas Army Air Base. Salinas was used as an auxiliary airfield by the 481st Night Fighter Operational Training Group (NFOTG) at Hammer Field, and moved a combination of modified Douglas A-20 Havocs for night fighter operations, designated P-70, and brand-new prototype YP-61 Black Widow purpose-built night fighters. The 548th Night Fighter Squadron was formed at Salinas in April 1944. Like all of the Night Fighter squadrons being trained by IV Fighter Command, it moved among several bases in the San Joaquin Valley. Flights of P-61s from the 426th, 427th, 547th, 549th and 550th Night Fighter Squadrons moved in and out of Salinas AAF during 1944 as part of their training prior to being deployed to combat units, primarily in the Pacific and CBI theaters. In December 1944 the 481st NFOTG was inactivated as part of an AAF reorganization. It was essentially re-designated as the 451st