Boeing C-32B 24452 parked at Luxembourg Airport during May 2008.
Active
1995–present
Country
United States
Branch
United States Air Force
Type
Flying squadron
Role
Special operations
Size
Two aircraft
Home base
Eglin AFB, Florida
Motto(s)
Non semper ea sunt quae videntur (Latin: Not always what they seem)
Insignia
486th Test Flight Squadron emblem[citation needed]
Aircraft flown
Transport
Boeing C-32B Gatekeeper
Military unit
The 486th Flight Test Squadron is a secretive United States Air Force unit with a misleading designation, assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida,[1][2] which is associated with activities of the U.S. State Department Foreign Emergency Support Team and Central Intelligence Agency Special Activities Center. The squadron motto is "Non semper ea sunt quae videntur" which translates as "Not always what they seem".[3] It is currently assigned to the 96th Test Wing,[citation needed] and operates a pair of Boeing C-32B Gatekeeper aircraft,[4][failed verification] on stand-by alert for special operations and intelligence missions world-wide.[5][unreliable source?] Official documents make it clear that operations fall under the aegis of Air Force Special Operations Command.[6] Of the two C-32B craft in existence, the 486th appears to fly the more clandestine craft, or on more clandestine missions, as the other operator of the C-32B, the 150th Special Operations Squadron of the New Jersey Air National Guard, denies the existence of a second aircraft and makes no mention of the 486th in public or internal documentation.
^ Holliday, Marilyn (11 June 2007). "Pacific Air Commandos get new commander". Air Force Special Operations Command. Retrieved 12 May 2023. Colonel Mullins is a command pilot with more than 6,500 flying hours and he has commanded the 486th Flight Test Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and has held staff duty positions at AFSOC and the Pentagon
^"The North Spin - Aircraft Flight Test Units". www.thenorthspin.com.
^"486th Flight Test Squadron". USAFpatches.com. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
^"2002 USAF Serial Numbers". www.joebaugher.com.
^Ambinder, Marc. "Secret Armies: An Exclusive Look At 10 Secret U.S. Forces". BuzzFeed.
^"Air Force Instruction 11-2C-32B, Volume 3" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
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