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772nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron

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772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
A 772 Expeditionary Airlift Squadron C-130J at Kandahar Airfield is loaded with supplies to be airdropped 15 November 2012
Active1943–1945; 1953–1971; 1972–1993; unknown-present
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleAirlift
Part ofAir Combat Command
Nickname(s)The Hallmark Squadron
Motto(s)If You Care Enough Send the Best
EngagementsMediterranean Theater of Operations
Vietnam War
War in Afghanistan
DecorationsDistinguished Unit Citation
Air Force Meritorious Unit Award
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Insignia
772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron emblem (approved 7 July 1972)[1]
Patch with 772d Troop Carrier Squadron emblem
772d Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 16 February 1944)[2][3]

The 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit, assigned to Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed. It is deployed with the 451st Air Expeditionary Wing at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.[4]

The squadron was first activated as the 772d Bombardment Squadron during World War II. After training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before inactivating in Italy.

The squadron was redesignated the 772d Troop Carrier Squadron and activated in January 1953, when it assumed the mission, personnel and aircraft of a reserve unit that had been called to active duty for the Korean War and was being released from active duty. The squadron provided airlift during a number of contingency operations, and in 1968, moved to the Philippines, from which its crews and planes rotated too Vietnam to provide airlift support during the Vietnam War. The squadron returned to the United States, where it continued airlift operations until inactivating in 1993. It was converted to provisional status in 2001.

Mission

The squadron provides airlift to forces engaged in the Global War on Terrorism.

History

World War II

Training in the United States

The squadron was first activated at Geiger Field, Washington on 1 August 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 463d Bombardment Group.[1][5] The 772d moved to Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota, where it received its initial cadre. On 1 September, the key personnel of the squadron and 463d Group moved to Orlando Army Air Base, where they participated in advanced tactical training with the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. A model crew from the squadron moved to Montbrook Army Air Field to participate in simulated missions with a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. The cadre returned to Rapid City at the end of the month, where the ground echelon of the squadron was filled out and ground school begun.[6]

The squadron moved to MacDill Field, Florida in November and began flight training with the Flying Fortress, although its air echelon was not fully manned until early December. on 2 February, the squadron's ground echelon departed Florida for the Port of Embarkation at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia for shipment to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, while the air echelon ferried their B-17s via the southern ferry route.[1][6]

Combat in the Mediterranean Theater

772d Bombardment Squadron B-17G Flying Fortresses in formation

The squadron arrived in Italy in March 1944 and flew its first combat mission fromm Celone Airfield on 30 March against an airfield at Imotski, Yugoslavia.[6] It engaged primarily in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It attacked targets like marshalling yards, oil refineries and aircraft factories in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia.. The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission against oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania on 18 May 1944.[5] Clouds that obscured the target resulted in Fifteenth Air Force recalling the mission, but the squadron and the rest of the 463d Group did not receive the recall message and was the only unit to continue on,[6] causing major destruction to the target. Although crippled by intense fighter attacks, they also inflicted severe damage on the opposing air defenses. On 24 May 1945, the 463d Group led the 5th Bombardment Wing in an attack against a Daimler-Benz tank factory at Berlin, Germany. The squadron made a successful attack despite three separate attacks by enemy air defenses, including attacks by German jet fighters.[6] This action earned the squadron its second DUC.[5]

The squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic mission to perform air support and air interdiction missions. In May and June 1944, it bombed bridges to support the campaign for the liberation of Rome. In August 1944, it struck bridges, gun positions and other targets to support Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. It hit military airbases, bridges and other tactical targets to support partisan forces and the Red Army advance in the Balkans. During the last months of the war the squadron operated primarily to support Operation Grapeshot, the spring 1945 offensive in Northern Italy.[5]

The squadron flew its final combat mission on 26 April 1945.[6] After V-E Day the squadron transported personnel (primarily soliders of Fifth Army) from Italy to Casablanca for return to the United States. By early September, the unit had been substantially reduced by transfers to other units and returns of personnel to the United States and it was inactivated in Italy with the end of Project Green in September 1945.[1][6]

Airlift operations

Activation and move to Ardmore

C-119 as flown by the squadron

The squadron was redesignated the 772d Troop Carrier Squadron and activated at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee 0n 16 January 1953. At Memphis, it absorbed the mission, personnel and Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars of the 345th Troop Carrier Squadron, a reserve unit that had been mobilized for the Korean War and was being returned to the reserves.[7] In August, the squadron departed the civilian airfield at Memphis for the newly reopened Ardmore Air Force Base, Oklahoma.[1]

463d Troop Carrier Wing C-130A[note 1]

The squadron airlifted equipment and supplies and supported Army airborne exercises. The squadron became one of the first to equip with the new Lockheed C-130A Hercules in 1956. In September of 1957, Tactical Air Command converted the 463d Wing to the dual deputy system.[note 2] The 463d Group was inactivated, and the squadron was assigned directly to the 463d Troop Carrier Wing.[1]

In July 1958, president Camille Chamoun of Lebanon was facing an insurgency against his government and requested military assistance from the United States, which implemented Operation Blue Bat. The squadron, along with other elements of the 463d Wing, flew command elements of Nineteenth Air Force and other personnel and equipment of the Composite Air Strike Force to locations in the Middle East.[8] The following month, the squadron provided airlift for the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis.[1]

Operations from Sewart

Although Ardmore had only been open for six years, the Air Force decided to close the base again. The inactivation of the 513th Troop Carrier Wing, a Fairchild C-123 Provider unit at Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee,[9] provided room for the 772d and the other operational units of the 463d Wing to move there. The squadron moved to Sewart in November 1958,[1] and soon began replacing its C-130As with C-130B models.

Vietnam War

Deployed to Pacific Air Forces in 1966, being stationed in the Philippines. Engaged in airlift missions between the Philippines and South Vietnam, airlifting supplies and equipment to airfields in the combat areas; evacuating wounded personnel to hospitals at Clark Air Base. Remained in the Western Pacific until 1971 when inactivated as part of the drawdown of United States forces in the region.

Operations from Dyess

Reactivated at Dyess AFB, Texas as a theater airlift squadron in June 1972, initially under Tactical Air Command, later Military Airlift Command and lastly Air Mobility Command. Deployed frequently to Europe or the Pacific, performing intra-theater airlift missions with C-130s. Inactivated in October 1993 as part of the drawdown of the USAF after the end of the Cold War.

Expeditionary operations

Reactivated as a provisional expeditionary airlift squadron in 2001 as a result of the 9/11 attacks and subsequent Global War on Terrorism. Activities and stations are undetermined.

Lineage

  • Constituted as the 772d Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 19 May 1943
Activated on 1 August 1943
Redesignated 772d Bombardment Squadron, Heavy c. 29 September 1944
Inactivated on 25 September 1945
  • Redesignated 772d Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 1 December 1952
Activated on 16 January 1953
Redesignated: 772d Troop Carrier Squadron, Assault on 18 December 1961
Redesignated: 772d Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 15 May 1965
Redesignated: 772d Troop Carrier Squadron on 1 January 1967
Redesignated: 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 August 1967
Inactivated on 15 June 1971. Activated on 1 June 1972
  • Redesignated 772d Airlift Squadron on 1 November 1991
Inactivated on 1 October 1993
  • Redesignated 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron and converted to provisional status on 4 December 2001[1]

Assignments

  • 463d Bombardment Group, 1 August 1943 – 25 September 1945
  • 463d Troop Carrier Group, 16 January 1953
  • 463d Troop Carrier Wing, 25 September 1957
  • 840th Air Division, 23 November 1965
  • 463d Troop Carrier Wing (later 463d Tactical Airlift Wing), 7 February 1966 – 15 June 1971
  • 463d Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 June 1972
Attached to: 513th Tactical Airlift Wing, 9 July – 15 September 1972 and 10 November 1972 – 10 January 1973, 5 January – 15 March 1975 and 3 November 1975 – 15 January 1976; 374th Tactical Airlift Wing, 6 May – 4 June 1973; 322d Tactical Airlift Wing, 5 February – 8 April 1974, 3 August – 15 October 1976; 313th Tactical Airlift Group, 3 November 1977 – 7 January 1978, 3 April – 5 June 1979, 3 August – 5 October 1980, 3 December 1981 – 13 February 1982, 4 April – 7 June 1983; 5 June – 4 August 1984; 10 October – 7 December 1985, 4 June – 12 August 1987, 4 August – 13 October 1988, and 4 October – 12 December 1989
  • 463d Operations Group, 1 November 1991 – 1 October 1993
  • Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate at any time after 4 December 2001[1]

Stations

Aircraft

  • Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945
  • Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1953–1957
  • Lockheed C-130 Hercules, 1956–1971; 1972–1993, unknown-present

Awards and campaigns

Award streamer Award Dates Notes
Distinguished Unit Citation 18 May 1944 Ploesti, Romania, 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Distinguished Unit Citation 24 March 1945 Berlin, Germany, 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Air Force Meritorious Unit Award 6 January 2011-31 January 2012 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron[10]
Air Force Meritorious Unit Award 1 February 2012-31 January 2013 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron[10]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 1 January 1967-31 May 1968 772d Troop Carrier Squadron (later 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron)[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 1 June 1968-30 June 1969 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 1 July 1970-31 May 1971 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat "V" Device 1 March 2002-31 May 2003 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron[10]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 15 December 1960-1 April 1961 772d Troop Carrier Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 July 1964-22 November 1965
7 February 1966-15 June 1966		 772d Troop Carrier Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 May 1977-15 July 1978 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 16 July 1978-30 June 1979 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron[1]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award 1 March 1981-30 April 1982 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron[1]
Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm 1 January 1967-31 May 1971 772d Troop Carrier Squadron (later 772d Tactical Airlift Squadron)[1]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
Air Offensive, Europe 11 March 1944–5 June 1944 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Air Combat, EAME Theater 11 March 1944–11 May 1945 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Rome-Arno 11 March–9 September 1944 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Central Europe 22 March 1944–21 May 1945 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Normandy 6 June 1944–24 July 1944 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Northern France 25 July 1944–14 September 1944 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Southern France 15 August 1944–14 September 1944 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
North Apennines 10 September 1944–4 April 1945 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Rhineland 15 September 1944–21 March 1945 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Po Valley 3 April 1945–8 May 1945 772d Bombardment Squadron[1]
Consolidation II unknown–30 November 2006 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron[11]
Consolidation III 1 December 2006–unknown 772d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron[11]

See also

References

Notes

Explanatory notes
  1. ^ Aircraft is Lockheed C-130A-LM Hercules, serial 55-31, taken in 1957.
  2. ^ Under this plan flying squadrons reported to the wing Deputy Commander for Operations and maintenance squadrons reported to the wing Deputy Commander for Maintenance
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Bailey, Carl E. (3 December 2009). "Factsheet 772 Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (ACC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
  2. ^ Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 747
  3. ^ Watkins, pp. 110-111
  4. ^ "New day, new job for Expeditionary Airlift Squadron at Kandahar". Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 338-339
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "463rd Bombardment Group (H).5th Wing/15th Air Force "The Swoose Group" 1943-1945: Group History". 463rd Society. 27 December 1961. Retrieved 24 June 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Robertson, Patsy (8 December 2010). "Factsheet 345 Airlift Squadron (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 15 January 2014. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Byrd, p. 16
  9. ^ Ravenstein, pp. 279-281
  10. ^ a b c "Air Force Personnel Services: Unit Awards". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 24 June 2019. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) (search)
  11. ^ a b "Special Order G-33993" (PDF). United States Air Forces Central Command. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Bibliography

Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

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