8th Airlift Squadron

8th Airlift Squadron

8th Airlift Squadron C-17A Globemaster III 90-0535 drops paratroopers from the 82d Airborne Division into a drop zone during a Joint Forcible Entry Exercise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on April 28, 2010
Active 1 October 1933 - Present
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Type Airlift
Part of 62d Operations Group
Garrison/HQ McChord Air Force Base, Washington
Engagements


European-African-Middle East Campaign World War II

  • Tunisia
  • Sicily
  • Naples-Foggia
  • Rome-Arno
  • Southern France
  • North Apennines
  • Po Valley


Armed Forces Expeditionary

  • Operation Just Cause (Panama), 1989-90
Decorations
Meritorious Unit Award

Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (13x)

Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Insignia
8th Airlift Squadron Emblem

The 8th Airlift Squadron (8 AS) is part of the 62d Airlift Wing as McChord Air Force Base, Washington. It operates C-17 Globemaster III aircraft supporting the United States Air Force global reach mission world wide.

Mission

Train and equip C-17 aircrews for global air-land and airdrop operations.

Motto

"First in War. First in Peace."

History

World War II

The squadron's origins begin on 1 October 1933 when it was constituted in the Regular Army Reserve, assigned to the 2d Transport Group in the V Corps Area. However no reserve personnel were assigned until June 1938 at the Fairfield Air Depot, Patterson Field, Ohio. The squadron was activated in the Army Air Corps on 1 February 1940 at Brooks Field, Texas, less Reserve personnel as the 8th Transport Squadron, and assigned to the 10th Transport Group. Once organized it was moved to Duncan Field where it became a transport squadron for supplies and equipment managed by the San Antonio Air Depot. It was transferred on 29 June 1941 to Hill Field, Utah where it performed the same mission for the Ogden Air Depot.[1]

After the Pearl Harbor Attack, the squadron was transferred to the 62d Troop Carrier Group and re-equipped with C-47 Skytrain transports. Initially transferred to Selfridge Field, Michigan for training, the squadron trained for combat resupply and casualty evacuation mission at several airfields during the spring and summer of 1942. Was ordered deployed to England, assigned to Eighth Air Force in September 1942. Performed intro-theater transport flights of personnel, supply and equipment within England during summer and fall of 1942, reassigned to Twelfth Air Force after Operation Torch invasion of North Africa, initially stationed at Tafaraoui Airfield, Algeria.[2]

In combat, performed resupply and evacuation missions across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia during North African Campaign. During June 1943, the unit began training with gliders in preparation for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. It towed gliders to Syracuse, Sicily and dropped paratroopers at Catania during the operation. After moving to Sicily, the squadron airdropped supplies to escaped prisoners of war in Northern Italy in October. Operated from Sicily until December until moving to Italian mainland in December.[2]

Supported the Italian Campaign during balance of 1944 supporting partisans in the Balkans. Its unarmed aircraft flew at night over uncharted territory, landing at small unprepared airfields to provide guns, ammunition, clothing, medical supplies, gasoline, and mail to the partisans. It even carried jeeps and mules as cargo. On return trips it evacuated wounded partisans, evadees and escaped prisoners. It carried paratroopers during the Invasion of Southern France in August, 1944. The squadron then returned to operations over Italy and in the Balkans until end of combat in Europe, May, 1945.[2]

Cold War

The squadron returned to the United States in September 1946, being assigned to the troop carrier squadron training school at Bergstrom Field, Texas. When the school closed in July 1947, it was moved to McChord Field, Washington where its parent 62d Troop Carrier Group became the host unit at the airfield. It conducted routine peacetime transport operations, training with Army units at Fort Lewis with simulated combat parachute training drops flying C-46 Commandos and the new C-82 Packet combat cargo aircraft, designed to operate from forward, rugged airfields. It was deployed to Alaska in September 1947 where it flew airlift missions from Elmendorf Field during the winter of 1947-1948, returning to McChord in March 1948. In October 1949 it received the long-distance Douglas C-54 Skymaster[2]

On 1 June 1950, its parent 62d TCW was inactivated, while the 62d Troop Carrier Group, less the 4th TCS was moved for a short time to Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, returning in July. During the Korean War, the squadron flew long, over-water trans-Pacific missions to Japan from McChord AFB. In 1951, it was upgraded to the new C-124 Globemaster II strategic airlifter. It moved to nearby Larson AFB when McChord was taken over by Air Defense Command in 1952. From Larson AFB, the squadron airlifted troops, blood plasma, aircraft parts, ammunition, medical supplies, and much more, primarily to Japan, in support of the Korean War until the armistice in June 1953. During the balance of the 1950s, the squadron supported the French forces in French Indochina, transporting a replacement French garrison to Dien Bien Phu in 1954.[2]

By 1955 the Cold War was well under way, and the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) set out to build a chain of radar stations on the northernmost reaches of the continent. This chain of radars, known as the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, was to detect incoming Soviet missiles and bombers, and give our forces enough warning to launch a counterattack, and get the National Command Authorities to safety. Between 1955 and 1957, the squadron began to fly missions to the Alaskan arctic regions, carrying 13 million pounds of supplies and equipment to build the DEW Line. The resupply of the DEW Line stations kept the squadron occupied until 1969. Its Globemasters also flew airlift missions in South Vietnam as the growing American commitment required more troops, supplies and equipment.[2]

In a re-alignment of assets, on 1 June 1960, the squadron's parent 62d Troop Carrier Wing moved back to McChord in June 1960. During the early 1960s, the squadron found itself back in Indochina by April 1962. At a time when overt American participation in the war in Vietnam was minimized, the squadron began carrying Army supplies and equipment from Dover AFB, Delaware, to Saigon, South Vietnam. The next month, the squadron participated in Operation Spare Bed, airlifting an Army field hospital to a classified location in Thailand. During the 1960s the aircraft of the squadron found themselves almost continually supporting United States military missions in South Vietnam as the growing American commitment required more troops, supplies and equipment. The squadron was upgraded to the C-141 Starlifter intercontinental jet transport in 1966 flying troops and supplies regularly to Ton Son Nhut, Cam Rahn Bay, Da Nang Air Bases in South Vietnam, as well as Clark Air Base in the Philippines and Don Mung Airport in Thailand, among others.

With the ending of the United States involvement in the Vietnam War in the early 1970s, the squadron flew missions in support of Operation Homecoming in early 1973, the return of our prisoners of war from Vietnam. Missions were flown to Hanoi, North Vietnam to pick up the POWs and transport them to Clark Air Base, Philippines. Subsequently, they were flown back to the United States, to return these brave men to their waiting families. In March 1975, with the fall of South Vietnam imminent, the squadron returned to Saigon one last time during Operation Babylift, which carried hundreds of Vietnamese orphans to the United States, where adoptive parents awaited their arrival.[2]

During the 1970s, the squadron returned to a peacetime status, with routine flights around the world carrying personnel, equipment and supplies as needed. This was interrupted in 1978 following the mass murder-suicide of more than 900 people at the Jonestown religious compound in Guyana, South America. The squadron airlifted bodies to a morgue at Dover AFB, Delaware (most of the victims were U.S. Citizens). Crew members reported using their oxygen masks during the flight, in an effort to stifle the stench of decaying bodies in the cargo compartment.[2]

In 1980, the squadron began to exchange its C-141A Starlifters for newer, "stretched" C-141B models. This new version of the aircraft increased its cargo carrying capacity by inserting two fuselage plugs, one forward, one aft of the wings, totaling just over 23 feet in length. Also of note in the B series, an air refueling receptacle, lending yet longer range to the already proven C-141.[2]

Modern era

In August 1990, totalitarian Iraq invaded Kuwait, on the shores of the Persian Gulf. Within days the squadron began flying missions to the Middle Easr as part of Operation Desert Shield, the effort to deter further aggression from Iraq. The operations tempo was unprecedented. By January 1991, Desert Shield became Desert Storm, as allied air power was unleashed upon the invaders with irresistible force. The squadron joined the rest of the Military Airlift Command in providing round-the-clock airlift to the Middle East, keeping the air war supplied, and aiding the buildup of ground forces for the highly successful, though brief ground war in February. Before long, Kuwait was free, although the tremendous effort put forth by the squadron had accelerated the aging process of its C-141s. The increased payloads and almost incessant flying would have lasting negative effects on the fleet.[2]

In early 1992, squadron crews and aircraft began participating in Operation Provide Hope, helping to deliver hundreds of tons of food and medicine to the former Soviet Union. By August, Operation Provide Relief (later known as Restore Hope), rushing food supplies to the starving people of Somalia, the relief of victims of Hurricane Andrew in our own country, and relief efforts for the Guamanian victims of typhoon Omar kept our crews and aircraft on the move.[2]

In late 1995, President Bill Clinton ordered the deployment of 20,000 U.S. troops to the former Yugoslav Republic of Bosnia, as part of a multinational peacekeeping force. Squadron aircraft were deployed to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, by 18 December, ready to do their part. In spite of severe weather conditions, crews and aircraft were soon flying troops and equipment into Tazsar, Hungary, for Operation Joint Endeavor. In January 1996 the squadron, operating under a provisional wing located at Rhein-Main Air Base Germany, continued supporting airlift missions into Tuzla and Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzogovina. and Taszar, Hungary in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. In April 1996, the squadron provided equipment and personnel transportation in support of an Air Power Expeditionary Force in the Middle Eastern Kingdom of Jordan as part of Operation Southern Watch.[2]

On the night of 15 May 1996, aircrews took part in Big Drop III, the largest airdrop since World War II. The squadron helped deploy members of the Army 82d Airborne Division, U.K. 5th Airborne Brigade personnel, and their heavy equipment onto three drop zones on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Al humanitarian mission included the deliverance of relief supplies from Kadena AB, Japan to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam after Typhoon Linda devastated the area in early November 1997. The typhoon unleashed torrential rains and winds that wiped out coastal villages, killed hundreds of people and left thousands homeless.[2]

In 2000, the squadron retired its C-141 Starlifters for the new C-17 Globemaster III airlifter. In a response to the terrorist attacks against America on September 11, 2001, President George Bush initiated war against terrorism named Operation Infinite Justice, later renamed Operation Enduring Freedom. The squadron supported these efforts by airlifting troops and supplies destined for Afghanistan. It also flew humanitarian airdrops that hundreds of thousands of the rations for starving Afghans. Flights in support of Coalition efforts in Afghanistan continue to the present-day.[3]

In January 2003 additional personnel and aircraft would deploy to locations all around the world in support airlift operations. By the end of January all aircraft supporting this effort would fly their missions from Charleston AFB, SC, the only East coast C-17 Base. Similar C-17 stage operations had been operating into Afghanistan from a base in Germany. After repeated noncompliance to UN demands Operation Iraqi Freedom begins. “On my orders, coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance to undermine Saddam Hussein’s ability to wage war,” President Bush stated in an address to the nation. During the time of war squadron personnel would be in the thick of the fight. Under the cover of darkness at a forward operation location at Aviano, Italy on March 26, 2003, squadron aircraft flew into combat in to the hostile sky’s of Northern Iraq. The nine-hour mission, covering distance roughly the equivalent of Seattle to St. Louis, delivered members of the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigades "Sky Soldiers" into to an area north of Baghdad. This mission, the largest combat airdrop since the invasion of Panama in December 1989 in Operation Just Cause, was the first combat insertion of paratroopers using C-17's. Operations in support of Operation Iraqui Freedom continued until the United States withdraw from Iraq at the end of 2011.[3]

Lineage

Activated on 1 Feb 1940
Re-designated: 8th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 Jul 1942
Inactivated on 11 Nov 1945
Re-designated: 8th Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium, on 23 Jun 1948
Re-designated: 8th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 12 Oct 1949
Re-designated: 8th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy, on 1 Jan 1965
Re-designated: 8th Military Airlift Squadron on 8 Jan 1966
Re-designated: 8th Airlift Squadron on 1 Dec 1991.[4]

Assignments

Attached to Alaskan Air Command, 2 Sep-1 Dec 1948
Attached to 62d Troop Carrier Wing, 8-14 Jan 1960

Stations
Deployed at Elmendorf Field, Alaska, 2 Sep-1 Dec 1948
  • Kelly AFB, Texas, 9 May 1950
  • McChord AFB, Washington, 27 Jul 1950
  • Larson AFB, Washington, 9 May 1952
  • McChord AFB, WA, 13 Jun 1960–Present [4]

Aircraft

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

  1. ↑ Clay, Lt.Col. Steven E. (2010). US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941 Vol. 3: The Services: Air Service, Engineers, and Special Troops Organizations (PDF). Command and General Staff College, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-9841901-4-0. Retrieved 2011-09-20.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 62d Airlift Wing office of history
  3. 1 2 McChord Air Museum, 2000 to2010
  4. 1 2 3 4 8th Airlift Squadron lineage and history

External links

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