The 58th Air Transport Squadron is an inactive

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

unit. It was last active at

McGuire Air Force Base McGuire AFB/McGuire, the common name of the McGuire unit of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Air Force base in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, approximately south-southeast of Trenton. McGuire is under the j ...

in July 1960, where it was assigned to the 1611th Air Transport Group. The squadron was first active during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as a ferrying unit on the North Atlantic Ferry Route. It was activated again in the 1950s when

Military Air Transport Service 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 ...

replaced its Table of Distribution air transport squadrons with Table of Organization and Equipment units.

History

The squadron was first activated at Houlton Army Air Field, Maine in September 1942 as the 58th Air Corps Ferrying Squadron. It moved to Iceland, then Canada, where it supported the North Atlantic Ferry Route for

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies and ...

. It was replaced by Station 9, North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command in a general reorganization of Air Transport Command units in the fall of 1943. The squadron was redesignated as the 58th Air Transport Squadron and activated at

Kelly Air Force Base Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. In ...

in July 1952, when it assumed the mission of 1286th Air Transport Squadron The 1286th had been organized at Kelly only four months earlier, on 7 March 1952, when

moved the

Douglas C-124 Globemaster II The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is an American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. The C-124 was the primary heavy-lift transport for United States Air Force (USA ...

aircraft stationed at Kelly to

McChord Air Force Base McChord Field is a United States Air Force base in the northwest United States, in Pierce County, Washington. South of Tacoma, McChord Field is the home of the 62d Airlift Wing, Air Mobility Command, the field's primary mission being worl ...

, replacing them with

Douglas C-54 Skymaster The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian ...

s from McChord. It remained non-operational until May, when it received its first aircraft.The 1286th Squadron is not related to another 1286th Air Transport Squadron that was active at McChord Air Force Base, Washington from January to March 1952 as a training unit. . In June 1955, the squadron moved to

, New Jersey and was reassigned. In 1958, the squadron airlifted the

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...

and

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason an ...

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

shows to Europe to perform for troops stationed there.

Lineage

* Constituted as the 58th Air Corps Ferrying Squadron : Activated on 15 September 1943 : Redesignated 58th Transport Squadron c.29 March 1943 : Disbanded on 13 October 1943 * Reconstituted on 16 July 1952 as the 58th Air Transport Squadron, Medium : Activated on 20 July 1952 : Inactivated on 18 July 1960

Assignments

* 16th Ferrying Group (later 16th Transport Group), 15 September 1942 – 13 October 1943 * 1700th Air Transport Group, 20 July 1952 * 1611th Air Transport Group, 30 June 1955 – 28 July 1960

Stations

* Houlton Army Air Field, Maine, 15 September 1942 *

Meeks Field Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) was a United States Navy station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilitie ...

, Iceland, March 1943 *

Crystal I Kuujjuaq Airport is located southwest of Kuujjuaq, Quebec, Canada. History The airport site at Fort Chimo was located and surveyed on 12 July 1941 by a United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) team under Captain Elliott Roosevelt, operating b ...

(Fort Chimo), Quebec, Canada, 1943 – 13 October 1943 * Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, 20 July 1952 * McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, 30 June 1955 – 18 July 1960Mueller, p. 415

Aircraft

* Douglas C-54 Skymaster, 1952–1960

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{cite book, last=Mueller, first=Robert, title=Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982, url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330255/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-026.pdf , year=1989, publisher=Office of Air Force History, location=Washington, DC, isbn=0-912799-53-6 Military units and formations established in 1952 0058