52d Airlift Squadron

52d Airlift Squadron
	A C-130 Hercules from Peterson AFB training with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System
Active	1942–1944; 1949–1951; 1953–1969; 1998–1992; 1994–1997; 2009–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Airlift
Part of	Air Mobility Command
Engagements	Operation Just Cause [1]
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ; Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm [1]
Insignia
Emblem of the 52d Airlift Squadron emblem (approved 14 May 1943) [1]

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 52d Airlift Squadron is a Regular Component United States Air Force unit. Its currently assigned to the 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas, but is based at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. There, the squadron flies and maintains aircraft with the Air Force Reserve's 302d Airlift Wing.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

The 19th Airlift Wing is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command's Eighteenth Air Force. It is stationed at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. The wing is also the host unit at Little Rock.

Little Rock Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located approximately 17 miles (27 km) northeast of Little Rock, Arkansas.

History

World War II

The squadron was first activated at Camp Williams, Wisconsin in June 1942 as the 52d Transport Squadron as the 63d Transport Group expanded from three to four squadrons. A few weeks after it was organized, the unit became the 52d Troop Carrier Squadron. It was equipped with various civilian and military versions of the Douglas DC-3, including the Douglas C-47 Skytrain and the C-53 Skytrooper. The squadron acted as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).^[1] RTUs were oversized units that trained individual pilots or aircrews for service in combat theaters.^[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.

Volk Field Air National Guard Base is a military airport located near the village of Camp Douglas, in Juneau County, Wisconsin, United States. It is also known as the Volk Field Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC). The base also houses Camp Williams, which is supported by the Wisconsin Army National Guard.

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.

The squadron moved its operations several times, arriving at Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri in January 1944. However, the Army Air Forces was finding that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were not proving well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit.^[3] The 52d was disbanded, and along with other units at Sedalia Army Air Field, was replaced by the 813th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training School, Troop Carrier).^[1]^[4]

Air Force reserve

The squadron was reconstituted and reactivated at Floyd Bennett Field, New York in June 1949, when Continental Air Command reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system, which placed both operational and support organizations under a single wing. Under the 1949 reserve plan, the squadron was manned at only 25% of its authorized strength.^[5] It trained with C-47s and a variety of trainer aircraft^[1] under the guidance of the regular 2230th Air Force Reserve Training Center.

Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air station. Bennett Field is currently part of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit, and is managed by the National Park Service (NPS). While no longer used as an operational commercial, military, or general aviation airfield, a section is still used as a helicopter base by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

Continental Air Command (ConAC) (1948–1968) was a Major Command of the United States Air Force (USAF) responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

A military reserve force is a military organization composed of citizens of a country who combine a military role or career with a civilian career. They are not normally kept under arms and their main role is to be available to fight when a nation mobilizes for total war or to defend against invasion. Reserve forces are generally not considered part of a permanent standing body of armed forces. The existence of reserve forces allows a nation to reduce its peacetime military expenditures while maintaining a force prepared for war. It is analogous to the historical model of military recruitment before the era of standing armies.

Along with all reserve combat units, the squadron was mobilized for the Korean War.^[6] It was included in the second wave of reserve unit callups, entering active duty on 1 May 1951. Its personnel were used as fillers for other units^[7] and the squadron was inactivated on 9 May.^[1]

The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border.

Later operations

Worldwide Airlift, 1953–1969. Supported Project Deep Freeze in the Antarctic, 1956–1958. Worldwide airlift, 1988–1992, including airdrop of troops and equipment in Operation Just Cause in Panama on 20 December 1989. Tactical Airlift, 1994–1997. Organization reactivated to duty on 3 October 2009 as an active associate airlift squadron dually-assigned to the Air Force Reserve's 302d Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan 23 Aug 2010 – present.

The 302d Airlift Wing is an Air Reserve Component of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to Twenty-Second Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

Peterson Air Force Base base of the United States Air Force

Peterson Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force Base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), the Air Force Space Command headquarters, and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) headquarters. Developed as a World War II air support base for Camp Carson, the facility conducted Army Air Forces training and supported Cold War air defense centers at the nearby Ent Air Force Base, Chidlaw Building, and Cheyenne Mountain Complex. The base has been the location of the Air Force Space Command headquarters since 1987 and has had NORAD/NORTHCOM command center operations since the 2006 Cheyenne Mountain Realignment placed the nearby Cheyenne Mountain Complex centers on standby.

Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for the Global War on Terrorism. On October 7, 2001, in response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced that airstrikes targeting Al Qaeda and the Taliban had begun in Afghanistan. Operation Enduring Freedom primarily refers to the War in Afghanistan, but it is also affiliated with counterterrorism operations in other countries, such as OEF-Philippines and OEF-Trans Sahara.

Lineage

Constituted as the 52d Transport Squadron on 30 May 1942

Activated on 15 June 1942

Redesignated 52d Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942

Disbanded on 14 April 1944

Reconstituted and redesignated 52d Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 10 May 1949

Activated in the reserve on 27 June 1949

Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951

Inactivated on 9 May 1951

Redesignated 52d Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy on 19 March 1953

Activated on 20 June 1953

Redesignated as: 52d Military Airlift Squadron on 8 January 1966

Inactivated on 8 February 1969

Activated on 1 June 1988

Redesignated as 52d Airlift Squadron on 1 January 1992

Inactivated on 30 September 1992

Activated on 1 May 1994

Inactivated on 27 September 1997

Activated on 3 October 2009^[1]

Assignments

63d Transport Group (later 63d Troop Carrier Group), 15 June 1942 – 14 April 1944
63d Troop Carrier Group, 27 June 1949 – 9 May 1951
63d Troop Carrier Group, 20 June 1953 (attached for operational control to 322d Air Division, c. 29 January-c. 1 August 1960 and c. January 1962)
63d Troop Carrier Wing (later 63d Military Airlift) Wing), 18 January 1963 (remained under operational control of 322d Air Division)
436th Military Airlift Wing, 8 January 1967 – 8 February 1969 (remained under operational control of 322d Air Division)
63d Military Airlift Wing, 1 June 1988

63d Operations Group, 1 January-30 September 1992

347th Operations Group, 1 May 1994 – 1 April 1997
19th Operations Group, 3 October 2009–present^[1]

Stations

Camp Williams, Wisconsin, 15 June 1942
Dodd Field, Texas, 17 September 1942
Stuttgart Army Air Field, Arkansas, 18 November 1942
Victorville Army Air Field, California, 25 December 1942
Lawson Field, Georgia, 5 May 1943
Grenada Army Air Field, Mississippi, 3 June 1943
Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri, c. 19 January- 14 April 1944
Floyd Bennett Field, New York, 27 June 1949 – 9 May 1951
Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 20 June 1953
Donaldson Air Force Base, South Carolina, 15 October 1953 (operated from Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, 29 January-c. 1 August 1960 and after c. January 1962)
Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia, 30 June 1963 (continued to operate from Rhein-Main Air Base)
Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, 8 January 1967 – 8 February 1969 (continued to operate from Rhein-Main Air Base)
Norton Air Force Base, California, 1 June 1988 – 30 September 1992
Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, 1 May 1994 – 1 April 1997
Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, 3 October 2009 – 2015^[1]

Aircraft

Douglas DC-3, 1942
Douglas C-39, 1942
Douglas C-53 Skytrooper, 1942–1943
Douglas C-47 Skytrain, 1942–1944; 1949–1951
North American T-6 Texan, 1949–1950
Beechcraft T-7 Navigator, 1949–1951
Beechcraft T-11 Kansan, 1949–1951
Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, 1953–1969
Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, 1988–1992
Lockheed C-130E Hercules, 1994–1997
Lockheed C-130H3 Hercules, 2009–present^[1]

Related Research Articles

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References

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Robertson, Patsy (August 23, 2011). "Factsheet 52 Airlift Squadron (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
↑ Craven & Cate, introduction, p. xxxvi
↑ Goss, p. 75
↑ Mueller, p. 589
↑ Cantwell, p. 74
↑ Cantwell, p. 87
↑ Cantwell, p. 96

Bibliography

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/ .

Cantwell, Gerald T. (1997). Citizen Airmen: a History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946-1994 (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 0-16049-269-6 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L, eds. (1955). The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Goss, William A. (1955). "The Organization and its Responsibilities, Chapter 2 The AAF". In Craven, Wesley F; Cate, James L. The Army Air Forces in World War II (PDF). Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947-1977 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9 . Retrieved December 17, 2016.

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[52ASfacts-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Robertson, Patsy (August 23, 2011). "Factsheet 52 Airlift Squadron (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved December 17, 2017.

[2] Craven & Cate, introduction, p. xxxvi

[3] Goss, p. 75

[4] Mueller, p. 589

[5] Cantwell, p. 74

[6] Cantwell, p. 87

[7] Cantwell, p. 96