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Commander proud of unit’s heritage, people & capabilities

By Lt. Col. Jim Poss
Commander, 488th IS
RAF Mildenhall, U.K.

The 488th is the premier intelligence unit in the Air Intelligence Agency, and, quite possibly, the best intelligence unit in the U.S. Air Force. These are bold words, but the 488th backs them up with bold deeds.

“By day or by night,” 365-days a year, from five locations, the squadron provides tactical intelligence to United States, NATO and allied forces. Six out of the past seven years we have been the Air Force nominee as the top intelligence unit in the Department of Defense. In 1997, we had the top logistics operation in the Air Intelligence Agency and for the past six years we’ve had the best communications-computers outfit in AIA.

The 488th traces its direct roots back to the 6954th Security Squadron, RAF Upper Heyford, England, which was activated in 1967. In 1970, the unit moved from Upper Heyford to RAF Mildenhall, and has been stationed and active here since then.

In 1980, Electronic Security Command redesignated the 6954th as the 6988th Electronic Security Squadron, in honor of a reconnaissance unit that operated out of Yokota AB, Japan, from 1955 to 1972. The 6988th became the 488th IS in 1993 as part of an ongoing restructuring of AIA as a field operating agency.

The 488th successfully meets the mission through three flights: operations, logistics and communication and information management.

An essential part of our heritage is the bat symbol, which we inherited from the 6988th’s time in Yokota. Originally, that squadron flew RB-50s; the front-end flyers of these planes referred to unit members as bats, due to the cave-like conditions of their working environment in the back of the plane. The name stuck, and the symbol followed.

On our squadron patch, the bat in flight symbolizes the flying duties of the 488th. Since the bat hunts and lives by homing in on signals, it also represents the squadron’s primary mission of collecting electronic emissions.

Our squadron motto symbolizes the unit’s 24-hour-a-day mission, its ability to respond quickly to taskings, and to fulfill its mission, at any time, “By day or by Night.” The seven rays in the backround of our patch are also significant - they symbolize the seven 6988th airmen killed in the unit’s very first misison, a sensitive reconnaissance operation.