| 91st Network Warfare Squadron | |
|---|---|
Emblem of 91st Network Warfare Squadron (Subdued) |
|
| Active | 1917–2008 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Role | Network Warfare |
| Motto | "Demon Chasers" |
| Engagements | World War I World War II Korean War |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Captain George C. Kenney |
The 91st Network Warfare Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, currently assigned to the 67th Network Warfare Wing at Kelly Annex, part of Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
Contents |
The 91st NWS is the home to some uniquely-trained Airmen that delivered a myriad of cyber capabilities to Combatant Commanders. The squadron provide the Air Force with enhanced capabilities and expert crews on the leading edge of network warfare operations.
Established in the summer of 1917 at Kelly Field, near San Antonio, Texas. Was sent to France during World War I as one of the initial American Expeditionary Force Aero Squadrons, and served on the Western Front in France as an observation squadron with the with French Eighth Army and United States First Army, 3 June – 10 November 1918. The primary mission of the 91st Squadron was to gather information and immediately return to base to report it. After the November 1918 Armistice with Germany, the 91st Aero Squadron remained in Europe, being part of the occupation forces in Germany with the United States Third Army until April 1919.
Was reorganized after returning to the United States and sent to California, being assigned to Rockwell Field, near San Diego in September 1919. Was assigned duties consisting of patrolling the southwestern U.S./Mexican border between California and Arizona, performed forest fire patrols and flew training flights over forested areas along the coast of California being assigned to Crissy Field, near San Francisco.
Moved to Gray Field, near Fort Lewis, Washington in 1936 as a result of the closure of flying at Crissy Field due to construction of the Golden Gate Bridge. Again, flew forest fire patrols over the forests of the Pacific Northwest until the late 1930s.
Was reassigned to Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield in upstate New York in September 1941 and became an observation squadron for the 4th Armored Division. Engaged in overvaluation duties during various maneuvers in New York, Tennessee during buildup of American forces prior to their engagement in World War II.
U.S. civilian and military leaders were concerned with Nazi Germany’s preoccupation with South and Central America. In order to prepare for possible hostilities in our own backyard, the military planners needed accurate charts and maps of all of these regions. Millions of square miles were virtually unexplored and uncharted. The 91st was given the tremendous task of getting this job done through aerial photography.
Elements of the 91st Photographic Mapping Squadron was deployed to the Antilles Air Command in April 1943 until June 1945. Flight "B" of the 91st flew throughout South and Central America and the Caribbean. Staging from Ramey Field, Puerto Rico, aircraft and crews were deployed throughout the area.
To name just a few, aircraft of Flight "B" saw Intensive flight activities over and around such places as Talara, Peru (between 1943 and 1944), Atkinson Field, British Guiana (1944–1945), Recife, Brazil (1944–1945), Howard Field and Albrook Field, Canal Zone (1944–1945) and Natal, Brazil (1945). These operations, mainly aerial mapping, also included no small amount of intelligence work, and provided the United States with a storehouse of cartographic data on these regions that is still in use today.
The 91st was formally attached to 311th Photographic (later Reconnaissance) Wing, and Flight "B" was available to the Sixth Air Force Commander for such duties as he might direct from time to time. The unit flew a variety of North American F-10 "Mitchells" (the photo recon variant of the B-25D) as well as several Boeing F-9s (photo version of the B-17).
It is no understatement to say that Flight "B" was seemingly "everywhere" in the Carribean region during the war, after the war ended, the squadron was based at MacDill Field, Florida, and later to the 24th Composite Wing at Howard Field, Panama, carrying out photo-mapping and charting missions in Central and South America. Was assigned to the new Strategic Air Command in 1949 and moved to McGuire AFB, New Jersey and engaged in long-distance photo mapping as part of SAC's global strategic reconnaissance mission.
With the invasion of South Korea by communist forces from the north in June 1950, the United Nations responded by sending military forces, primarily from the United States, to the aid of the South Koreans. A major deficiency in MacArthur's forces was a lack of accurate battlefield maps of the peninsula. As one of the best equipped photo reconnaissance units in the USAF, General MacArthur quickly called on the 91st to join the Far East Air Forces (FEAF) fighting on the Korean peninsula. The 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron was moved from McGuire AFB, NJ to Johnson AB and Yokota AB, Japan to begin supporting United Nations (UN) troops in Korea, being assigned directly to SAC's Fifteenth Air Force; attached to the FEAF Fifth Air Force.
The 91st eventually flew the largest number of different airframes in the Korean War and had more assigned personnel than any other flying unit in the Korean War. With over 800 assigned personnel, they had six different types of aircraft assigned, to include: the RB-29 and RB-50 Superfortresses, RB-45 Tornado, WB-26 Invader, KB-29 tankers and RB-36 Peacemmaker. Throughout the conflict though, the RB-29 and RB-50s were the workhorses of the unit.
The RB-29 flew throughout the Korean peninsula in the early part of the war but was soon in trouble with the addition of Soviet MiG-15 aircraft into the air war by the communist forces. The propeller-driven aircraft of the 91st were attacked and suffered extreme damage and battle losses. In response, jet-enhanced RB-50J and jet-powered RB-45C reconnaissance aircraft were used which were deployed from RAF Sculthorpe, England. Other aircraft working from England were another detachments of RB-45s temporarily stationed at RAF Manston, Kent; an RB-29 unit at RAF Lakenheath and an RB-36 detachment stationed at RAF Brize Norton.
While RB-45 reconnaissance aircraft managed to outrun and outmaneuver MiG’s on numerous occasions, they too eventually became targets. Many of these early missions were escorted by F-80 Shooting Star and F-84 Thunderjet jet fighter escort aircraft, however, an eventual shift was made to night operations using flash-bombs to illuminate photographic targets. The unit was also called upon to conducted psychological leaflet drops with its assigned RB-29 aircraft. Not only did the 91st drop Korean “Psyops” leaflets throughout the Korean peninsula and into Manchuria and China but Russian language leaflets were also dropped as it was suspected that advisers from the Soviet Union were assisting the communist forces.
In addition to bomb damage assessment, targeting and aerial photography for the Bomber Command and FEAF, the 91st conducted Electronic Intelligence (ELINT) and “ferret” missions in theater mapping RADAR emissions of air defense sites. It conducted the first ferret missions ever conducted by the USAF. Overflights of Soviet-controlled Far East islands began in 1951. An example of this type of work was reconnaissance missions which were conducted over Karafuto following reports that the Soviets had built extensive underground installations and missile-launching facilities on the island. In Project 51, 91st SRW RB-45s took off from Yokota AB, Japan to conduct reconnaissance over the southern portions of Sakhalin Island. Photographic and radar reconnaissance overflight missions were also flown over the Murmansk-Kola Peninsula and Siberia. In late 1952, six RB-36’s were sent to Yakota AB, Japan to fly with the 91st and fly high altitude reconnaissance over Manchurian targets.
With the Korean Armistice Agreement in 1953, the 91st was withdrawn from the Pacific and returned to the United States, being reassigned to Great Falls AFB, Montana on 20 December 1954. It was decided, however, to leave elements of the unit assigned to Fifth Air Force in Japan to provide FEAF with a strategic reconnaissance and intelligence gathering capability. Elements of the 91st were reassigned to the 6091st Reconnaissnce Squadron, being assigned to the newly-formed FEAF 6007th Reconnaissance Group that was organized to consolidate many Korean War combat units in Japan after the armistice. The 6007th was a composite group with RB-29, RB-50B, RB-50G, C-47 and C-119 aircraft assigned.
Returning to the United States in late 1954, the 91st was tasked with experimenting with parasite fighters to provide long-range escort for B-36 Peacemaker strategic bombers on intercontinental missions. A lesson learned from the Korean War was that our aircraft were often times not able to outrun enemy fighters sent up to shoot or force them down. The U.S. needed a faster platform which also had the range of the larger, slower reconnaissance aircraft being used for reconnaissance work.
The 91st conducted an operational procedure called the Fighter-Conveyence (FICON) system. FICON used two aircraft: a B-36 to function as the “mother” ship and provided the needed range and a modified F-84 Thunderstreak jet aircraft to function as the high-speed reconnaissance aircraft. The specially-designed RF-84K’s would be ferried close to the projected target location, be launched in flight, make a high speed pass over the target, and then be retrieved and ferried back to its home base of operations. The jet reconnaissance pilots would enter and exit their RF-84 through the B-36’s bomb bay to fly away to conduct their reconnaissance missions.
Beginning in 1955, as the 91st SRS tested two F-84 FICON prototypes, the USAF ordered 25 RF-84Ks and began modifying 10 B-36s into GRB-36 FICON carriers. The RF-84K design was a modification of the RF-84F, the USAF's most numerous and advanced tactical reconnaissance aircraft at the time. The only major differences were the RF-84K's retractable hook in the upper part of the nose, rods on either side behind the cockpit, and downward angled horizontal stabilizers (to fit inside the GRB-36's bomb bay).
The RF-84K entered service with the 91st SRS in 1955. For the next year, pilots of the 91st SRS successfully flew their RF-84Ks, but they experienced many near disasters while separating or hooking back up to the GRB-36 carrier aircraft.
However, technology soon made this mission opsolete, as the development of the Lockheed U-2 made the need for more vulnerable propeller-driven reconnaissance aircraft to conduct strategic reconnaissance obsolete. No longer needed for a long-range, strategic reconnaissance mission, the 91st was inactivated on 1 July 1957.
Reactivated as an RF-4C Phantom II Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron performing replacement pilot training in February 1967 and flying tactical reconnaissance missions beginning in July 1971. It conducted reconnaissance training of USAF, US Marine Corps, and allied RF-4 reconnaissance aircrews between 1982–1989; acted as adviser to Air National Guard reconnaissance units until 1992; performed reconnaissance missions supporting the US Customs Service beginning in 1983. Was inactivated as part of the closure of Bergstrom AFB and retirement of the RF-4C on 30 August 1991
|
|
|
|
|
|
The DUI is a white Knight on horseback chasing a red Devil within a Blue circle, formerly a diamond.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||