The National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was established 27 June 1940 as a part of the Council of National Defense to organize and support scientific research required to support the war effort, excluding research related to flight. One year later, on 28 June 1941, the Office of Scientific Research and Development was formed, and the NDRC was placed under its authority. In the reorganization of the NDRC in December 1942, Section D-2, which had been assigned the problem of fire control, became Division 7, with Professor Harold L. Hazen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as its chief. The work of Section 7.2, of which MIT Professor Samuel H. Caldwell was chief, focused on airborne fire control.