91st Network Warfare Squadron 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 . The 91st NWS is the home of some uniquely trained airmen , who deliver a myriad of cyber warfare capabilities to combatant commanders . It provides the Air Force with expert crews on the leading edge of network warfare operations . History . Established as 91st Aero Squadron in the summer of 1917 at Kelly Field , near San Antonio , Texas , the unit was sent to France during World War I as one of the initial American Expeditionary Force aero squadrons . The 91st 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 , as part of the occupation forces in Germany with the Third Army ( United States ) until April 1919 . Intra - War period . After returning to the United States , the squadron was reorganized and assigned to Rockwell Field , near San Diego in September 1919 . In California , its duties consisted of patrolling the southwestern U . S . / Mexican border between California and Arizona , performing forest fire patrols and flying training flights over forested areas along the coast of California while assigned to Crissy Field , near San Francisco . Between 1919 and 1922 the squadron frequently moved between bases in California and Oregon with detachments deployed locally to meet operational needs . When Crissy Field closed in 1936 for the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge , the 91st moved to Gray Field , near Fort Lewis , Washington . At Fort Lewis , the squadron continued flying forest fire patrols over the forests of the Pacific Northwest until the late 1930s . The 91st was reassigned to Wheeler - Sack Army Airfield in upstate New York in September 1941 , where it became an observation squadron for the 4th Armored Division . It engaged in overvaluation duties during various maneuvers in New York and Tennessee during buildup of American forces prior to their engagement in World War II . 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 were 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 . Aircraft of Flight " B " saw extensive flight activity 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 intelligence work , providing the United States with a storehouse of cartographic data on these regions that is still in use today . The 91st was formally attached to the 311th Photographic Wing ( later known as the 311th Reconnaissance Wing ) , and Flight " B " was available to the Sixth Air Force ' s commander for other duties . 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 ) . Flight " B " was seemingly " everywhere " in the Caribbean region during the war . After the war ended , the squadron was based at MacDill Field , Florida , and later with the 24th Composite Wing at Howard Field , Panama , carrying out photo - mapping and charting missions in Central and South America . The squadron was assigned to the new Strategic Air Command in 1949 and moved to McGuire AFB , New Jersey where it engaged in long - distance photo mapping as part of SAC ' s global strategic reconnaissance mission . Korean War . 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 Force s ( FEAF ) fighting on the Korean peninsula . The 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron moved from McGuire AFB , NJ to Johnson AB and Yokota AB , Japan to begin supporting United Nations ( UN ) troops in Korea . It was 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 , the squadron had six different types of aircraft assigned , to include : the RB - 29 and RB - 50 Superfortress es , RB - 45 Tornado , WB - 26 Invader , KB - 29 tankers and RB - 36 Peacemmaker . Throughout the conflict , 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 Soviet MiG - 15 aircraft added to 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 deployed from RAF Sculthorpe , England . Other aircraft working from England were 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 MiGs 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 squadron was also called upon to conduct 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 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 - 36s 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 . Elements of the squadron remained with the 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 Reconnaissance Squadron , as part of 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 to it . FICON project . 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 American aircraft were often 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 - Conveyance ( FICON ) system . FICON used two aircraft : a B - 36 to function as the “ mother ” ship , providing the range needed , and a modified F - 84 Thunderstreak jet aircraft to function as the high - speed reconnaissance aircraft . The specially designed RF - 84K would be ferried close to the projected target location , launched in flight , make a high speed pass over the target , 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 on 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 . Technology soon made this mission obsolete , as the development of the Lockheed U - 2 made the need for more vulnerable propeller - driven reconnaissance aircraft obsolete . No longer needed for a long - range , strategic reconnaissance mission , the 91st was inactivated on 1 July 1957 . Tactical Air Command . The squadron was 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 and 1989 ; acted as adviser to Air National Guard reconnaissance units until 1992 ; performed reconnaissance missions supporting the US Customs Service beginning in 1983 . As part of the closure of Bergstrom AFB and retirement of the RF - 4C on 30 August 1991 , the 91st was inactivated . Heraldry . The DUI is a white Knight on horseback chasing a red Devil within a Blue circle , formerly a diamond .