6th Photographic Squadron

The Sixth Photographic Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 311th Photographic Wing. It was inactivated at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri on 1 January 1945.

History

The Sixth Photographic Squadron was formed and activated in early 1942 under the Second Air Force of the United States Army Air Forces. It was quartered on land adjacent to the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, which became Colorado Springs Army Air Base which became Peterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Space Command headquarters, and United States Northern Command.
Some of the squadron trained with F-4 aircraft in the northwest United States, however the squadron never reached operational readiness. It was reassigned to HQ Army Air Forces and assigned to administrative duties supporting 1st AAF Motion Picture unit in Culver City, California.
It was then reassigned to the Third Air Force under control of HQ USAAF, and based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 'Sixth photo' received film from aerial reconnaissance units deployed around the world in combat areas, then using photogrammetric equipment developed detailed maps and charts of foreign areas. The squadron was a very elite, specialized unit in which most personnel had a minimum of 2 years of university education in aerial photography analysis; also many personnel had backgrounds in cartography and commercial photography and art. The squadron produced many maps of formerly uncharted areas and provided much intelligence information to commanders in deployed combat areas with highly accurate and detailed maps of landing beaches and rear areas held by enemy forces around the world. One project was the maps for Gen. Doolittle's raid on Tokyo on 18 April 1942.
In late 1944 the Group was assigned to 311th Photographic Wing and alerted for reassignment to China-Burma-India Theater, however unit never deployed due to difficulties and reluctance in moving large qualities of sensitive and classified equipment to primitive facilities, plus foreseen inherent difficulties of supporting the unit deployed overseas.
The unit was inactivated on 1 January 1945.

Lineage

Constituted as the 6th Photographic Squadron on 19 January 1942

Assignments

Second Air Force, 28 January 1942
II Air Support Command, 29 March 1942
2d Photographic Group, 7 May 1942
Army Air Forces, 28 November 1942
Third Air Force, 8 March 1943
1st Photographic Charting Group, 13 November 1943
311th Photographic Wing, 5 October 1944 – 1 January 1945

Stations

Geiger Field, Washington, 28 January 1942
Felts Field, Washington, 2 February 1942
Colorado Springs Army Air Base, Colorado, 14 May 1942
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, 14 December 1944 – 1 January 1945

Aircraft

Undetermined, possibly the photo-recon versions of the P-38/F4 Lighting and later the P-51 Mustang/F-6. In 1948 the designation P-51 was changed to F-51, and the photo-recon Mustangs were redesignated as RF-51s.

In addition to the F4 Lightning, the F7 was a mainstay of the squadron. The Squadron History found at Maxwell, AFB shows many photos of the squadron, actual images taken, and intel analysis of the photos as well as monthly squadron activities. In April 1945, the B-29 Superfortress arrived and was specially assigned to the squadron. This gave a much longer range to the Unit and flights roundtrip, nonstop began to China and other islands that were out of range for the F7.