Distinguished Unit Citation (4x) Meritorious Unit Award Air Force Outstanding Unit Award (27x) Philippine Presidential Unit Citation (World War II) Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm[1]
Insignia
22d Airlift Squadron emblem (approved 17 June 1944)[1]
The 60th Air Mobility Wing is the largest air mobility organization in the United States Air Force and is responsible for strategic airlift and aerial refueling missions around the world. It is the host unit at Travis Air Force Base in California. Wing activity is primarily focused on support in the Middle East region, however it also maintains operations in areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force air base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles east of the central business district of Fairfield, in Solano County, California, United States.
The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft originally designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Force (USAF) with a heavy intercontinental-range strategic airlift capability, one that can carry outsized and oversized loads, including all air-certifiable cargo. The Galaxy has many similarities to its smaller Lockheed C-141 Starlifter predecessor, and the later Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. The C-5 is among the largest military aircraft in the world.
Provide services and support, which promote quality of life and project global power through combat-proven airlift and airdrop.
An airdrop is a type of airlift, developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, who themselves may have been airborne forces. In some cases, it is used to refer to the airborne assault itself. Early airdrops were conducted by dropping or pushing padded bundles from aircraft. Later small crates with parachutes were pushed out of the aircraft's side cargo doors. Later cargo aircraft were designed with rear access ramps, lowerable in flight, that allowed large platforms to be rolled out the back.
History
World War II
The squadron's origins date to the activation of the 22d Transport Squadron at Essendon Airport near Melbourne in the southern fall of 1942. Activated in the wake of the United States withdrawal from the Philippines, the squadron was formed with a mixture of personnel withdrawn from Clark Field and some reinforcements which had arrived in Australia but did not see combat in the Philippines.[2]
A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.
Essendon Fields Airport, colloquially known as Essendon Airport, is a 305 ha public airport serving scheduled commercial, corporate-jet, charter and general aviation flights. It is located next to the intersection of the Tullamarine and Calder Freeways, in the north western suburb of Essendon Fields of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The airport is the closest to Melbourne's City Centre, approximately a 13 km (8.1 mi) drive north-west from it and 8 km (5.0 mi) south-east from Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. In 1970, Tullamarine Airport replaced Essendon as Melbourne's main airport.
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Its name refers to an urban agglomeration of 9,992.5 km2 (3,858.1 sq mi), comprising a metropolitan area with 31 municipalities, and is also the common name for its city centre. The city occupies much of the coastline of Port Phillip bay and spreads into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of approximately 4.9 million, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Melburnians".
A 22d Troop Carrier Squadron C-46 flying over the Owen Stanley Range, New Guinea, 1943 during the Battle of New Guinea carrying supplies to the combat forces on the north side of the island.
The squadron was hastily put together with some impressed civilian Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s with a mission of transporting personnel, equipment and supplies within Australia, organizing American and Australian forces against the perceived Japanese invasion of Australia.[2]
Over the next few months the squadron was assigned additional aircraft, flying derivatives of the Lockheed C-56 and C-60 Lodestar along with a war-weary four-engine Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress withdrawn from the Philippines and a Douglas B-18 Bolo which had found its way to the South Pacific. The squadron entered combat on 5 July 1942, being redesignated the 22d Troop Carrier Squadron. It participated in a paratroop drops at Nadzab, New Guinea, in September 1942. It continued to fly combat resupply and casualty evacuation missions from Northern Australia until 11 October 1942, when it relocated closer to the fighting front to Garbutt Field, in northern Queensland, not far from Japanese-occupied New Guinea.[2]
The Douglas B-18 Bolo is an American medium bomber which served with the United States Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The Bolo was built by the Douglas Aircraft Company, based on its DC-2, and was developed to replace the Martin B-10.
Nadzab Village is in the Markham Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on the Highlands Highway. The Nadzab Airport is located East of Nadzab Village and was the site of the only Allied paratrooper assault in New Guinea on 5 September 1943.
Casualty evacuation, also known as CASEVAC or by the callsign Dustoff or colloquially Dust Off, is a military term for the emergency patient evacuation of casualties from a combat zone. Casevac can be done by both ground and air. "DUSTOFF" is the callsign specific to U.S. Army Air Ambulance units. CASEVACs by air today are almost exclusively done by helicopter, a practice begun on a small scale toward the end of World War II; before that, STOL aircraft, such as the Fieseler Fi 156 or Piper J-3 were used. Casevac aircraft are a non-standardized and non-dedicated vehicle that does not necessarily have en route care, which is used to get a casualty back to another location where they can be treated by professional medical staff.
In November 1942 the squadron was assigned to the 374th Troop Carrier Group. The 374th was a newly arrived group from the United States equipped with new Douglas C-47 Skytrains. The mixture of aircraft the squadron was formed with were reassigned to other units. With the 374th Group the squadron continued to fly combat missions over New Guinea. On 24 January 1943, the squadron relocated from the Australian mainland to the airfield complex at Port Moresby, New Guinea.[2]
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remains in front line service with various military operators.
Port Moresby, also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea and the largest city in the South Pacific outside of Australia and New Zealand. It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the south-western coast of the Papuan Peninsula of the island of New Guinea. The city emerged as a trade centre in the second half of the 19th century. During World War II it was a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43 as a staging point and air base to cut off Australia from Southeast Asia and the Americas.
The squadron moved to Finschhafen Airfield in August 1944 to support the Allied effort to push Japanese forces off the island. The fierce fighting in tropical and mountainous New Guinea continued until 1945. It proved to be one of the most important and difficult campaigns in the Pacific War. The 11,000 to 13,000-foot, jungle-clad Owen Stanley Range of New Guinea, known as "the Hump,"[note 1] was commemorated on the unit emblem, approved on 17 June 1944, and still in use to this day.[2]
In the final month of the Pacific War, the 22d relocated to Nielson Field, Luzon, in the recently liberated Philippines, adding the larger Curtiss C-46 Commando transport plane to its veteran fleet of C-47s. When the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the squadron was flying combat resupply and support missions from Nielson Field, until it was inactivated at the end of January 1946, its personnel being returned to the United States.[2]
Postwar Service and Berlin Airlift
However, the need for intratheater transport in the Southwest Pacific led to its reactivation on 15 October 1946 as part of the postwar Thirteenth Air Force, flying C-46s from Nichols Field, Luzon as part of the 374th Troop Carrier Group. With the closure of Nichols Field, the squadron moved to Clark Field and was assigned long-range Douglas C-54 Skymasters for flights to Occupied Japan as well as other destinations in the Southwest Pacific.[2]
In June 1948, in response to the urgent need for C-54 transports in Germany as a result of the Berlin Airlift, the squadron deployed to Wiesbaden Air Base where it flew constant missions in the Berlin Air Corridor to airports in West Berlin and back to Wiesbaden. It remained in Germany for almost a year until the end of the airlift, when it returned to the Pacific, although at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, which was developed as a transport hub for military airlift into Occupied Japan. With its move to Tachikawa, the squadron was redesignated the 22d Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy.[2]
Korean War
22d Squadron C-124 Globemaster at a snowy airfield
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the squadron flew thousands of missions across the Sea of Japan in direct support of United Nations troops fighting the Communist-backed invasion of South Korea. Its C-46s flew into rough combat airfields with ordnance, supplies, gasoline and other materiel to support units in the field. Its C-54s flew into Kimpo Air Base and other permanent airfields, flying in equipment and evacuating casualties to hospitals in Japan. In 1952, the squadron was re-equipped with the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II intercontinental airlifter. From its base at Tachikawa, the squadron began flying trans-Pacific missions to Hawaii, along with flights to Military Air Transport Service (MATS) bases at McChord Air Force Base, Washington and Travis Air Force Base, California. It transported combat wounded and other personnel back to the United States, and personnel, equipment and supplies from the US to Japan.[2]
Pacific airlift
After the Korean War ended in August 1953, the 22d continued its mission of providing C-124 airlift throughout the Far East from Tachikawa during the 1950s. The unit was not operational between June 1957 and February 1959. In November 1958, the squadron was transferred from Pacific Air Forces to MATS as part of a re-alignment of airlift units. Beginning on 4 August 1964, the 22d began flying missions into South Vietnam and Thailand in support of the escalating conflict in Vietnam as part of the 1503d Air Transport Group and the 65th Military Airlift Group. As part of an Air Force-wide redesignation of transport units as part of the inactivation of MATS and the establishment of Military Airlift Command (MAC), the 22d was redesignated the 22d Military Airlift Squadron. It continued flying combat support missions into Southeast Asia from Tachikawa along with trans-Pacific flights to the United States until June 1969 when it was inactivated as part of the retirement of the C-124 and a general budget reduction with the new Nixon Administration.[2]
Reactivation in California
Lockheed C-5A Galaxy 68-10 of the 60th Military Airlift Wing in 1970s livery.
The squadron, however, was not inactive long. It was reactivated at Travis Air Force Base, California on 8 February 1972 as part of the 60th Military Airlift Wing. The 22d was equipped with new Lockheed C-5A Galaxy heavy airlifters and returned to its previous mission of intercontinental air transport of personnel, supplies and equipment. It has continued its mission for the past 40+ years from Travis flying the Galaxy worldwide. With its activation, the 22d and its sister C-5 squadron, the 75th Military Airlift Squadron supported the United States operations in Southeast Asia. It returned US servicemen and equipment from Indochina in the wake of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, which ended United States involvement in the war. However, squadron aircraft returned to South Vietnam in April 1975 as part of Operation Baby Lift, the evacuation of children and infants from the combat area near Saigon. Unfortunately, a squadron aircraft was lost as part of the operation, killing the crew and many of the passengers (including infants).[3]
After Vietnam, the squadron returned to normal peacetime operations through the 1970s and early 1980s, supporting United States initiatives throughout the world by airlifting passengers, equipment and materiel wherever needed. The squadron briefly returned to combat duty in October 1983, when it supported combat operations in Grenada as part of Operation Urgent Fury and airlifted combat personnel to the island and assisted in the evacuation of American civilian medical students back to the United States.[3]
A C-5 Galaxy takes off from a runway at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
The 22d was redesignated the 22d Airlift Squadron on 1 November 1991. Humanitarian operations were carried out by the 22d during Operation Fiery Vigil (1991), the evacuation of military personnel from Clark Air Base and their families from the Philippines following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, and Operations Provide Relief and Restore Hope (1992 to 1993), aiding thousands of famine victims in Somalia. In 1992 and 1993, the squadron provided airlift support to the Balkans peacekeeping missions beginning in 1995 with Operation Joint Endeavor, and continuing under Operations Joint Guardian and Joint Forge.
Since 9/11, the 22d has provided vital strategic airlift in support of allied forces in Southwest Asia participating in Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. In July 2002, a crew from the 782nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, consisting of members of the 22d and from Dover Air Force Base, made history when they conducted the first deployment in a combat environment of a C-5 aircraft by extracting a Canadian Forces infantry regiment and their equipment from a combat zone near Kandahar, Afghanistan.[3]
Lineage
22d Transport Squadron activated in Australia on 3 April 1942, prior to constitution on 4 April 1942
Redesignated 22d Troop Carrier Squadron on 5 July 1942
Inactivated on 31 January 1946
Activated on 15 October 1946
Redesignated 22d Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy on 21 May 1948
Redesignated 22d Military Airlift Squadron on 8 January 1966
Inactivated on 8 June 1969
Activated on 8 February 1972
Redesignated 22d Airlift Squadron on 1 November 1991.[1]
Assignments
Air Transport Command, US Army Forces in Australia (later, Air Carrier Service, Air Service Command, Fifth Air Force), 3 April 1942
374th Troop Carrier Group, 12 November 1942 – 31 January 1946
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy's Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force's Air Transport Command (ATC) into a single joint command. It was inactivated and discontinued on 8 January 1966 when the Air Force and Military Airlift Command (MAC) as a separate strategic airlift command and returned shore-based Navy cargo aircraft to Navy control as operational support airlift (OSA) aircraft.
The 374th Airlift Wing is a unit of the United States Air Force assigned to Fifth Air Force. It is stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is part of Pacific Air Forces. The 374th Airlift Wing is the only airlift wing in PACAF and provides airlift support to all Department of Defense agencies in the Pacific theater of operation. It also provides transport for people and equipment throughout the Kantō Plain and the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The 7th Airlift Squadron is part of the 62d Airlift Wing as McChord Air Force Base, Washington. It operates Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft supporting the United States Air Force global reach mission worldwide.
The 349th Air Mobility Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the Fourth Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California. The 349th AMW is an associate unit of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, Air Mobility Command (AMC) and if mobilized the wing is gained by AMC.
The 21st Airlift Squadron is part of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California. It operates C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carrying out United States Air Force global transport missions.
The 36th Airlift Squadron is an airlift squadron of the United States Air Force. It is part of the 374th Operations Group at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
The 56th Air Refueling Squadron is an active unit of the United States Air Force. It is part of the 97th Operations Group at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. It operates Boeing KC-46 Pegasus aircraft, conducting initial and advanced aircrew training for air refueling operations.
The 310th Airlift Squadron is part of the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. It operates C-37 aircraft providing executive airlift for Combatant Commanders.
The 815th Airlift Squadron is a flying unit of the United States Air Force assigned to the Air Force Reserve Command and part of the 403d Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi. It operates Lockheed C-130J Hercules aircraft providing global airlift.
The 19th Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the 60th Operations Group, Travis Air Force Base, California. It was inactivated on 19 July 1996.
The 313th Expeditionary Operations Group is a Provisional United States Air Force unit, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe to activate or inactivate as needed. It was last active at Moron Air Base, Spain, supporting Operations Odyssey Dawn and Unified Protector to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. It was inactivated on 31 October 2011.
The 60th Operations Group is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing. It is stationed at Travis Air Force Base, California.
The 316th Operations Group was the flying component of the Air Force District of Washington 316th Wing, stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland.
The 61st Air Base Group is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 61st Air Base Wing of Air Force Space Command. The unit is stationed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California.
The 315th Operations Group is a United States Air Force Reserve unit assigned to the 315th Airlift Wing. The unit is stationed at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. The 315th Group controls all operational McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III flying squadrons of the 315th Airlift Wing. It was activated in 1992, when Air Force Reserve Command implemented the Objective Wing organization.
The 403d Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force Reserve 403d Wing. It is stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.
The 375th Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 375th Air Mobility Wing. It is stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.
The 374th Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 374th Airlift Wing. It is stationed at Yokota Air Base, Japan.
The 317th Operations Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last stationed at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina as part of Air Mobility Command. It was activated in 1992 during the Air Force's Objective Wing reorganization, and inactivated the following year when all Air Force units at Pope were assigned to the 23d Wing.
The 55th Airlift Flight was first activated as the 55th Troop Carrier Squadron in 1942. The squadron deployed to New Guinea in July 1943. The 55th participated in the airborne assault on Nadzab, New Guinea, on 5 September 1943. During 1944, the 55th also operated Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers as supply aircraft. In February 1945 the squadron rebased to the Philippines, and in August to Okinawa. In September 1945 it moved to Tachikawa Airfield, Japan, and was inactivated there in 1946.
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