20th Intelligence Squadron

20th Intelligence Squadron
Active	1942-1946; 1947-1951; 1954-1965; 1992-Present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Intelligence
Role	Combat Support
Size	Squadron
Part of	Air Combat Command
Garrison/HQ	Offutt Air Force Base
Mascot(s)	Yosemite Sam
Engagements	World War II
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Philippine Republic Presidential Unit Citation

20th TRS McDonnell RF-101C 56-0183 at Shaw AFB, about 1960

The 20th Intelligence Squadron is a United States Air Force unit, assigned to the National Air Intelligence Center, stationed at Offut AFB, Nebraska.

Overview

The mission of the 20th is to provide prompt, precise intelligence enabling warfighters to safely engage and achieve global objectives. The 20th processes and analyzes raw electronic intelligence data, and prepares both operational and technical ELINT reports and studies. The 20th is organized into three flights:

Ÿ* Target Materials

The Target Material Flight produces precise coordinated measurements and mission-support materials for Air Force bomber, fighter and other airborne platforms engaged in exercise, training or actual combat operations.

Ÿ* Combat Applications

The Combat Applications Flight activities entail providing direct application support for specified combat customers. This includes an AIA node for operational dissemination of near-real time imagery to Air Force and Department of Defense users worldwide. The Combat Applications Flight is also Air Combat Command’s point of contact for premission survivability and threat assessments, target analysis, weaponeering support and post-mission combat assessments for the Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile program.

Ÿ* Operations

The Operations Flight provides the day-to-day operating support to the other flights within the 20th. These activities are dispersed though branches who perform the activities of planning, requirements management, systems maintenance, logistics support and resource management.

History

The squadron was originally formed as the 20th Photographic Mapping Squadron in mid-1942. In these early years, the unit worked under several different names and was stationed in the Pacific Theater as an element of Fifth Air Force. The units operated a variety of photographic reconnaissance aircraft in the South Pacific, engaging in combat reconnaissance. It moved to Japan in 1945, carrying out postwar reconnaissance and mapping of the Japanese Home Islands and Korean Peninsula as part of the War Department's Post Hostilities Mapping Project. It was inactivated June 1946

The squadron was allotted to the Air Force Reserve in 1947 as the 20th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, a long range reconnaissance squadron. It was called to active duty during the Korean War at the start of May, 1951. Its personnel were used as fillers for regular United States Air Force units and it was inactivated as administrative unit two weeks later.

The squadron was reactivated in the regular Air Force as the 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron in 1954 under the 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Group as an RF-80A Shooting Star reconnaissance training squadron at Shaw AFB, SC. It upgraded to RF-84F Thunderstreaks in 1955. The squadron transferred to operational missions in 1959 with reassignment to the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing and re-equipped with RF-101 Voodoos. The unit deployed to Florida in 1962 during Cuban Missile Crisis and flew tactical reconnaissance flights over Cuba during the Crisis. It returned to Shaw in late 1962. The squadron deployed to Tan Son Nhut AB, South Vietnam, 1963-1965 flying tactical reconnaissance in Southeast Asia. It was nactivated in 1965.

The squadron was reactivated and designated the 20th Air Intelligence Squadron under the newly formed Air Combat Command in 1992, operating out of Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. A year later, it was redesignated as the 20th Intelligence Squadron and transferred to the Air Intelligence Agency.

Lineage

• Constituted as 20th Photographic Mapping Squadron on 14 Jul 1942

Activated on 23 Jul 1942

Redesignated 20th Photographic Squadron (Heavy) on 6 Feb 1943

Redesignated 20th Combat Mapping Squadron on 11 Aug 1943;

Redesignated 20th Reconnaissance Squadron, Long Range (Photographic-RCM) on 10 May 1945

Inactivated on 20 Jun 1946

• Redesignated 20th Reconnaissance Squadron (Night Photographic) on 11 Mar 1947 and allotted to the reserves

Activated on 25 Jul 1947.

Redesignated 20th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron (Photographic Mapping) on 27 Jun 1949

Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951

Inactivated on 16 May 1951

• Redesignated 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron (Photographic) on 14 Jan 1954

Activated on 18 Mar 1954

Inactivated 12 November 1965

• Redesignated 20th Air Intelligence Squadron and activated 1 October 1992

Redesignated 20th Intelligence Squadron on 1 October 1993

Assignments

• 4th Photographic Group (later Photographic Reconnaissance and Mapping Group, Photographic Group), 23 July 1942 (attached to 6th Photographic Reconnaissance and Mapping Group (later Photographic Reconnaissance Group, Photographic Group), from 17 June 1943)
• 6th Photographic Group (later Reconnaissance Group), 5 December 1943
• 91st Reconnaissance Wing, 10 November 1945
• V Bomber Command, 1 December 1945
• 314th Composite Wing, 31 May 1946 - 20 June 1946
• 66th Reconnaissance Group, 25 July 1947
• Tenth Air Force, 27 June 1949
• 311th Air Division, 21 July 1949
• Second Air Force, 1 November 1949 - 16 May 1951
• 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Group, 18 March 1954
• 432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 8 February 1958 (attached to 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 8 April 1959 - 17 May 1959)
• 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, 18 May 1959 - 12 November 1965
• National Air Intelligence Center, 1 October 1992
• 480th Intelligence Group, 1 Oct 1995
• Air Combat Command Targeting and Intelligence Group, 1 June 2008

Stations

• Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado, 23 July 1942 – 7 September 1943
• Sydney, Australia, 10 October 1943 (air echelon remained at Colorado Springs Army Air Base to c. 12 October 1943. then at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma from 14 October 1943 to 26 January 1944)
• Archerfield Airport, Brisbane, Australia, 23 November 1943 - 1 December 1943
• Port Moresby Airfield Complex, New Guinea, 10 December 1943
• Nadzab Airfield Complex, New Guinea, 14 February 1944 (operated primarily from Mokmer Airfield, Biak after 7 August 1944)
• Mokmer Airfield, Biak, 3 September 1944
• Dulag Airfield, Leyte, 15 November 1944 (operated from Mokmer Airfield, Biak to 22 January 1945,Tacloban Airfield, Leyte, Philippines, from 25 January 1945 - 23 February 1945, McGuire Field, San Jose, Mindoro, Philiippines, from 24 February 1945 - 16 May 1945

• Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines, 17 May 1945
• Okinawa, Ryuku Islands, 4 August 1946
• Yokota Airfield, Japan, 27 October 1945 - 20 June 1946 (operated from: Tachikawa Airfield, Japan, December 1945 - April 1946, Johnson AB, Japan, after April)
• Newark Army Airfield, New Jersey, 25 July 1947
• Forbes AFB, Kansas, 21 July 1949;
• Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 10 October 1949 - 16 May 1951
• Shaw AFB, Soouth Carolina, 18 March 1959 - 12 November 1965 (operated from: MacDill AFB, Florida, 21 October 1962 - 30 November 1962)
• Offutt AFB, Nebraska, 1 Oct 1992–Present

Aircraft

• B-25 Mitchell, 1942
• B-17 Flying Fortress, 1942-1943
• B-24/F-7 Liberator, 1943-1946.
• RF-80 Shooting Star, 1954-1955
• RF-84 Thunderstreak, 1955-1958
• RF-101 Voodoo, 1957-1965

References

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

• Maurer, Maurer, ed (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556. http://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/Publications/fulltext/combat_sq_of_the_af_wwii.pdf. 
• National Air Intelligence Center
• 20th Intelligence Squadron history