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6th Air Intelligence Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1943–1947, 1981–1993 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Intelligence |
| Part of | Pacific Air Forces |
| Motto | Truly Ready (1982–1993) |
| Insignia | |
| 6th Tactical Intelligence Group emblem(approved 30 June 1982) |  |
The6th Air Intelligence Squadron is an inactive unit of theUnited States Air Force. Its last assignment was withSeventh Air Force, stationed atOsan Air Base, Korea. It was inactivated in 1993. The unit was originally established atArmy Air Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado (later Peterson Air Force Base) as the6th Photographic Group on 5 February 1943, under the command of Lt Waymond Davis. Later that year, the unit was redesignated the 6th Reconnaissance Group and deployed to the southwest Pacific as a component of theFifth Air Force.
Thesquadron was first activated in February 1943 atArmy Air Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, with the25th,26th and27th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadrons assigned as its original components.[1][2][3][4] The group trained at Colorado Springs until September 1943, when it began moving to theSouthwest Pacific Theater[1]
DuringWorld War II, thegroup operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater and usedLockheed F-5 Lightnings andConsolidated F-7 Liberators to photograph Japaneseairfields, harbors, beach defenses, and personnel areas in New Guinea, the Bismarcks, Borneo, and the southern Philippines. It reconnoitered target areas and enemy troop positions to provide intelligence for air force and army units. T\In 1944, the group was awarded theDistinguished Unit Citation and thePhilippine Presidential Unit Citation for carrying out one of the most important and difficult assignments ever given to a photographic unit: to obtain 80,000 prints of Japanese defenses in the Philippines in eight days. The group's F-5s and F-7s risked enemy interception and braved severetropical weather to complete their mission all without fighter escort. The action proved critical to the successful amphibious assault of the Philippines.
After moving to the Philippines in November 1944, flew missions to Formosa and China, engaged in mapping parts of Luzon and Mindanao], and provided intelligence for US ground forces concerning Japanese movements. The unit then moved toOkinawa until the war ended, and finally to mainland Japan, where it was inactivated on 27 April 1946. It was disbanded on 6 March 1947.[1]
On 1 October 1981, the unit was reconstituted and reactivated as the6th Tactical Intelligence Group at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea. It was tasked to provide substantive Intelligence support to U.S. and Combined Forces Combat. The 6th Group thus brought together intelligence collection, analysis, targeting, production, and dissemination assets assigned to the314th Air Division of Fifth Air Force and the Korean Tactical Air Control System. In February 1992, the group became part of the51st Fighter Wing. In 1992 The group became a squadron and was transferred to the5th Air Control Group. Later that same year the6th Air Intelligence Squadron fell under operational control ofSeventh Air Force when it replaced the 314th Air Division as theUnited States Air Force headquarters for Korea.
Headquarters and Ground Echelon:
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(Air Echelon deployed at stations throughout Southwest Pacific)
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Previously: Philippine Department Air Force (1941); Far East Air Force (1941-1942) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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