42d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron

42d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron

C-130 Hercules from deployed units at Ramstein Air Base in 2008
Active 1942-1944; 1956-1957; 2008-2009
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Type Airlift
Engagements Aleutian Islands Campaign

The 42d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional unit of the United States Air Force, assigned to United States Air Forces in Europe to activate or inactivate as needed. It was last active in 2009 at Ramstein Air Base, Germany in 2009.

History

World War II

C-47 making the first landing on Shemya AAF in 1943

The squadron was first activated at Elmendorf Field, Alaska in May 1942. The 42d transported personnel and supplies to the Aleutian Islands until February 1944.[1]

As combat operations diminished, the squadron departed Alaska with the air echelon leaving on 11 February 1944 and the ground echelon following a week later. The squadron was reunited at Lawson Field, Georgia on 6 March to serve as a Replacement Training Unit (RTU).[2] RTUs were oversized units which trained aircrews prior to their deployment to combat theaters.[3] The squadron also began to participate in exercises with the parachute school at Fort Benning.[1]

However, the Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization, were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, it adopted a more functional system in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit,[4] while the groups and squadrons acting as RTUs were disbanded or inactivated.[5] As a result, one month after the squadron arived in Georgia, in April 1944, it was disbanded and its personnel and equipment were transferred to the 811th AAF Base Unit (Parachute Flight Training).[1][6]

Special Operations

SA-16s at RAF Molesworth

The squadron was reactivated as a "Special" troop carrier squadron at RAF Molesworth in fall 1956,[1] when it absorbed the personnel, SA-16 and C-119F aircraft and special operations mission of the 582d Air Resupply Group. In the spring of 1957, as United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) was preparing to wind down operations at Molesworth, the squadron moved to RAF Alconbury, where it was inactivated in December.[1]

Provisional squadron

It was reformed as the 42d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in 2007 and allotted to USAFE to activate as needed for operations. USAFE activated the squadron from 2008 to 2009 to fly missions in the United States Africa Command area.[1]

Lineage

Activated on 2 May 1942
Redesignated 42d Troop Carrier Squadron on 5 July 1942
Disbanded on 14 April 1944
Activated on 25 October 1956
Inactivated on 8 December 1957
Activated on 1 October 2008[1]
Inactivated on 15 June 2009

Assignments

Stations

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Haufmann, Daniel L. (November 21, 2008). "Factsheet 42 Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (USAFE)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Abstract, History 42 Troop Carrier Squadron Feb 1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved May 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ Craven & Cate, Vol. VI, p. xxxvi
  4. ↑ Goss, p. 75
  5. ↑ Maurer, Combat Units, p. 7
  6. ↑ "Abstract, History 42 Troop Carrier Squadron Apr 1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved May 8, 2015.

Bibliography

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

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. Vol. VI, Men & Planes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. LCCN 48003657. OCLC 704158. 
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