[2] The second incarnation of the unit began in 1935, when the Air Corps activated the 97th Observation Squadron at Mitchell Field, New York.

[2] The unit was assigned directly to Second Corps Area, although mobilization plans called for it to be combined with National Guard and Organized Reserve squadrons in an Observation Group in the event of war.

[2] One week after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the bulk of the squadron moved to Miami's 36th Street Airport, where, along with other units of I Air Support Command, it began to engage in antisubmarine patrols beginning on 18 December 1941.

[6] It continued these operations until September 1942, when the focus of German submarine attacks shifted away from the coast of the United States toward the Caribbean.

[8] In September 1943, the squadron moved to Thermal Army Air Field and participated in exercises in the Desert Training Center.

[9] However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving less well adapted to the training mission.

Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit,[10] while existing groups and squadrons were disbanded or inactivated.

Members of the 6985th flew aboard Cobra Ball RC-135 aircraft, collecting information on Soviet missile launches.

On 15 March 1981, the Cobra Ball II aircraft crashed into a snowbank while attempting to land at Shemya Air Force Base, Alaska.

The only two planes are assigned to the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base "Combat Sent" crews include two airborne systems engineers, at least 10 electronic warfare officers and six or more technical and other specialists.