10th Intelligence Support Squadron

The squadron was first activated as the 678th Bombardment Squadron on 1 March 1943 at Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona as one of the original squadrons of the 444th Bombardment Group.[2] The 444th was assigned to the first B-29 Superfortress wing, the 58th Bombardment Wing. After a period of organization at Davis-Monthan the squadron moved to Great Bend Army Air Field, Kansas. for training, initially flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Consolidated B-24 Liberators and Martin B-26 Marauders.[4] The group engaged in training on the new aircraft and its mission of long range precision bombing. At Great Bend, the squadron received early model B-29s and prototype YB-29s, however aircraft were still undergoing development and were frequently modified by Boeing technicians in the field while the squadron was undergoing training in Kansas. In November 1943 The 444th reorganized as a "Very Heavy" group and added the 7th Bombardment Maintenance Squadron, which was paired with the 678th to maintain its B-29s.[5]

678th Bombardment Squadron Boeing B-29 with diamond tail markings used in the CBI[lower-alpha 3]

In early April 1944, the squadron left the United States and deployed to a former B-24 Liberator airfield at Charra Airfield, India. The first airplane of the 444th group landed at Charra on 11 April 1944. Due to the lack of revetments at Charra the squadron's airplanes were parked wingtip to wingtip on the field's shorter runway. Charra served only as a maintenance and staging base. Its runways were too short for a B-29 to take off fully loaded. While the squadron was stationed there, all missions were flown from the bases of the other bombardment groups of the 58th Bombardment Wing.[6]

From India, the 678th planned to fly missions against Japan from advanced airfields in China. However, all the supplies of fuel, bombs and spare parts needed to support operations from the forward bases in China had to be flown from India over The Hump. For this role, one aircraft from the squadron was stripped of combat equipment and used as a flying tanker. Each aircraft carried seven tons of fuel, but the amount that was delivered to China depended on weather, including headwinds and aircraft icing which increased the fuel consumption of the "tankers."[7]

The squadron flew its first combat mission on 5 June 1944 against the Makasan railroad yards at Bangkok, Thailand. Ten days later the 678th participated in the first American air attack on the Japanese home islands since the 1942 Doolittle raid, staging through Chinese bases on a nighttime raid against the iron and steel works at Yawata, Japan.[8] It returned to Yawata on 20 August on a daytime raid for which the unit was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation.[2] Operating from bases in India and at times staging through fields in China, the group struck transportation centers, naval installations, aircraft plants and other targets in Burma, China, Thailand, Japan and Formosa.[4]

On 12 October 1944 the group reorganized. The 679th Bombardment Squadron and the four bombardment maintenance squadrons were disbanded and their personnel and equipment were transferred to 677th and the other squadrons of the group.[2][5] As the new year started, Japanese advances forced withdrawal from the Chinese forward operating bases. Unable to continue attacks on Japan, the unit continued attacking targets in Southeast Asia.[4]

In the spring of 1945 the 444th and the other groups of the 58th wing moved to West Field (Tinian) in the Marianas in order to continue operations against Japan. The group and squadron participated in the bombing of strategic objectives, strategic mining of the Inland Sea and in incendiary attacks on urban areas for the duration of the war. The 678th received a second Distinguished Unit Citation for attacking oil storage facilities at Oshima, bombing an aircraft plant near Kobe, and dropping incendiaries on Nagoya in May 1945. The squadron struck light metal industries at Osaka in July 1945, receiving a third Distinguished Unit Citation for this action.[4] The squadron's final mission was flown against Hikari, Japan on 14 August 1945, the day before the Japanese surrender.[9]

The 678th returned to the United States and Merced Army Air Field, California in November 1945 where it became part of Fourth Air Force of Continental Air Forces . Shortly after arriving at Merced, the squadron converted to the reconnaissance mission and became the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron, Very Long Range (Photographic).[2] March 1946 saw more changes as the 10th squadron was reassigned to the 311th Reconnaissance Wing, which inactivated it at the end of the month.[2] Some of its assets were used to form a provisional unit, the Air Weather Reconnaissance Unit 1.57 (Provisional), which was formed for monitoring nuclear tests.[10]

The squadron was activated again in the reserve as the 10th Reconnaissance Squadron (Photographic) in 1947 at Rochester Airport, New York as part of the 26th Reconnaissance Group, which was located at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport.[2][11]It does not appear that the squadron was fully manned or equipped with operational aircraft while at Rochester.

The May 1949 Air Force Reserve program called for a new type of unit, the Corollary unit, which was a reserve unit integrated with an active duty unit. The plan called for corollary units at 107 locations. It was viewed as the best method to train reservists by mixing them with an existing regular unit to perform duties alongside the regular unit.[12] The squadron moved on paper to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia in June 1949. At Langley it became a corollary of the active duty 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Group.[13] It was assigned advanced trainers and trained for supporting Army ground units providing aerial photography with these second-line aircraft for battlefield intelligence. It received a few jet North American RF-86A Sabres in late 1949. President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force,[14] and the 10th was inactivated and not replaced.[2]

Boeing RB-4E Stratojet

The squadron was reactivated at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio as the 10th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, part of the active duty 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing in 1952.[2] Due to Korean War the squadron had minimum personnel strength until mid-1953. The squadron gathered intelligence on a global scale using Boeing RB-47E Stratojets, participating in a variety of SAC directed exercises and operations between 1953 and 1958. These included numerous simulated combat missions and deployments, ranging from a few days to a few months. The squadron became non-operational in January 1958 as phased down for inactivation due to budget constraints, inactivating in July.

The squadron reactivated at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, on 1 January 1966[1] as a Tactical Air Command McDonnell RF-4C Phantom II reconnaissance squadron. It conducted replacement training for combat crew members being deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. It was inactivated in June 1971[1] as part of the drawdown of forces assigned to Indochina.

The second predecessor of the squadron is the 600th Electronic Security Squadron, which was activated in August 1992 and assigned to the 693d Intelligence Wing[1] to provide intelligence support to Air Combat Command (ACC) at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. In October 1993 the United States Air Force consolidated the 600th with the 10th and designated the consolidated unit the 10th Intelligence Squadron and reassigned it to the 67th Intelligence Group.[1] However, operational control of the unit was exercised by Ninth Air Force[15]

The squadron teamed with the 30th Intelligence Squadron to operate the multisource intelligence collection and dissemination contingency airborne reconnaissance system deployable ground station-one (DGS-1). Either deployed or in garrison, it used DGS-to conduct information operations and integrate into theater command, control, communications, computer and intelligence (C4I) architecture. It provided multisensor, correlated, near real-time information warfare products to warfighting command elements in peace, crisis and war. It provided warning, target and order of battle analysis; battle damage assessment; mission planning, targeting, sensitive reconnaissance, and exercise support for warfighting command elements.[15]

It also provided administrative support to cryptologic support group elements of ACC and operated the Senior Year Electro-Optical Reconnaissance System ground maintenance training center, training Senior Year units worldwide. It provided logistical and communications support to DGS-1 operations. The squadron had two Operating Locations, OL-CP in Chesapeake, Virginia, supporting multiservice project Crosshair, and OL-FK in Norfolk, Virginia, provides cryptologic support group support to the United States Atlantic Command.[15]

The consolidated squadron was redesignated the 10th Intelligence Support Squadron in July 2022.[1]

• 444th Bombardment Group, 1 March 1943
• 311th Reconnaissance Wing, 7 March 1946 – 31 March 1946
• 26th Reconnaissance Group, 6 November 1947
• Ninth Air Force, 27 June 1949 – 28 January 1950
• 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, 28 May 1952 – 1 July 1958[17]
• Tactical Air Command, 3 November 1965 (not organized)
• 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 1 January 1966 – 30 June 1971
• 693d Intelligence Wing, 27 August 1992
• 67th Intelligence Group, 1 October 1993
• 480th Intelligence Group, 31 January 2000
• 497th Intelligence Group (later 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group), 1 December 2003 – present[1]

Explanatory notes

Citations

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Cantwell, Gerald T. (1997). Citizen Airmen: a History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946-1994 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 0-16049-269-6. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• Anonymous (1945). The Pictorial History of the 444th Bombardment Group, Very Heavy, Special. Bangor Public Library World War Regimental Histories No. 128. San Angelo, TX: Newsfoto Publishing Co. Retrieved 27 August 2013.