The 39th Airlift Squadron is a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unit based at

Dyess Air Force Base Dyess Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located about southwest of downtown Abilene, Texas, and west of Fort Worth, Texas. The host unit at Dyess is the 7th Bomb Wing assigned to the Global Strike Command Ei ...

, Texas. The unit flies the

Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130J is the ...

. It is primarily tasked to transport cargo and personnel, and where circumstances require,

airdrop An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible tr ...

them. It traces its history to 1942 and fought in the Pacific during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

The 39th conducted

paratroop A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

drops on Noemfoor,

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, as well as aerial transport in the

Pacific Ocean theater of World War II The Pacific Ocean theater of World War II was a major theater of the Pacific War, the war between the Allies and the Empire of Japan. It included the U.S. Pacific Ocean Areas (command). which included most of the Pacific Ocean and its isl ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The squadron participated in the

Berlin Airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...

in 1948. It was the squadron that provided disaster relief for the Peruvian earthquake in June 1970 conducting numerous missions to the people of Peru. It was part of airlift missions to

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

, in October 1983, to

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, December 1989 – January 1990, and to

Southwest Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenia ...

, August 1990 – March 1991.

Operations

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Operation Southern Watch Operation Southern Watch was an air-centric military operation conducted by the United States Department of Defense from August 1992 to March 2003. United States Central Command's Joint Task Force Southwest Asia (JTF-SWA) had the mission of moni ...

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

* Operation New Dawn *

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used by the U.S. government for both the first stage (2001–2014) of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response ...

Lineage

* Constituted as the 39th Transport Squadron on 2 February 1942 : Activated on 22 February 1942 : Redesignated 39th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942 : Redesignated 39th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 21 May 1948 : Inactivated on 14 September 1949 * Redesignated 39th Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 3 July 1952 : Activated on 14 July 1952 : Redesignated 39th Troop Carrier Squadron on 1 March 1966 : Redesignated 39th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 May 1967 : Inactivated on 31 July 1971 * Activated on 31 August 1971 : Redesignated 39th Airlift Squadron on 1 January 1992 : Inactivated on 1 June 1992 * Activated on 1 October 1993

Assignments

317th Transport Group 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 ina ...

(later 317th Troop Carrier Group), 22 February 1942 – 14 September 1949 * 317th Troop Carrier Group, 14 July 1952 * 465th Troop Carrier Wing, 12 March 1957 * 317th Troop Carrier Wing, 8 July 1957 *

322d Air Division 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

, 25 September 1958 * 317 Troop Carrier Wing (later 317 Tactical Airlift Wing), 15 April 1963 – 31 July 1971 (attached to Detachment 1, 322d Air Division, February–May 1965;

513th Tactical Airlift Wing The 513th Air Control Group is an Air Reserve Component unit of the United States Air Force. It is assigned to the Tenth Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and is stationed at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The group's mission is to provi ...

, 13 May–18 July 1968; 7310th Tactical Airlift Wing (15 April–22 July 1969)) * 317th Tactical Airlift Wing, 31 August 1971 (attached to

322d Tactical Airlift Wing The 322d Tactical Airlift Wing is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. History The unit was activated as the 322d Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 January 1970 at Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, replacing the 7310th Tactical Airlift Win ...

, 12 December 1973 – 17 February 1974; 513th Tactical Airlift Wing, 9 July–15 September 1974, 12 July – 14 September 1975; 435th Tactical Airlift Wing, 12 April–14 June 1976, 1 October–15 December 1977; 435th Tactical Airlift Group, 4 January–4 March 1977) * 317th Tactical Airlift Group, 1 October 1978 (attached to 313th Tactical Airlift Group, 5 June–14 August 1979) * 317th Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 April 1980 (attached to 313th Tactical Airlift Group, 8 October–13 December 1980, 3 February–14 April 1982, 4 June–13 August 1983, 1 October–12 December 1984, 2 February–15 April 1986), 3 March–15 May 1987, 3 June–10 August 1988, May–11 July 1991) * 317 Operations Group, 1 January–1 June 1992 (attached to 313th Tactical Airlift Group, 3 April–31 May 1992) *

7th Operations Group The 7th Operations Group is the operational flying component of the United States Air Force 7th Bomb Wing, stationed at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. The 7th Operations Group currently flies the B-1 Lancer. The 7th Operations Group is a direct s ...

, 1 October 1993 * 317th Airlift Group, 1 April 1997 – present

Stations

Duncan Field 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. I ...

, Texas, 22 February 1942 * Bowman Field, Kentucky, 9 October 1942 *

Lawson Field Lawson may refer to: Places Australia * Lawson, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Lawson, New South Wales, a town in the Blue Mountains Canada * Lawson, Saskatchewan * Lawson Island, Nunavut United States * Lawson, Arkansas ...

, Georgia, October 1942 * Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base, North Carolina, 2–12 December 1942 * Garbutt Field, Queensland, Australia, 22 January 1942 *

Archerfield Airport Archerfield Airport is a leased federal airport located in Archerfield, Queensland, Archerfield, to the south of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. For some time, it was the primary airport in Brisbane, but it is now the secondary airport. During ...

, Queensland, Australia, 22 February 1942 *

Port Moresby Airfield Complex The Port Moresby Airfield Complex was a World War II military airfield complex, built near Port Moresby in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea. It was used during the Battle of New Guinea as a base of Allied air operations primarily in 1942 an ...

, New Guinea, 28 September 1943 * Finschhafen Airfield, New Guinea, 23 April 1944 *

Hollandia Airfield Dortheys Hiyo Eluay International Airport — also known as Sentani International Airport — is an airport serving Jayapura, from DAFIF (effective October 2006) the capital of Papua (province), Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of ...

, New Guinea, July 1944 *

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

, Philippines, 19 November 1944 *

Clark Field Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated ...

, Philippines, 28 March 1945 *

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Ryuku Island, 19 August 1945 *

Fukuoka Air Base — formerly known as Itazuke Air Base — is an international airport located east of Hakata Station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. The facility has two runways and covers 355 hectares (877 acres) of land. Fukuoka Airport is the principal a ...

, Japan, 11 November 1945 *

Tachikawa Air Base is an aerodrome, airfield in the city of Tachikawa, Tokyo, Tachikawa, in the western part of Tokyo, Japan. Currently under the administration of the Ministry of Defense (Japan), Ministry of Defense, it has also served as a civilian airport with ...

, Japan, 15 January 1946 * Yamoto Air Base, Japan, 17 July 1946 * Carelus Army Air Field, Japan, 6 September 1946 *

, Japan, 16 October 1946 – 21 September 1948 *

Wiesbaden Air Base Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden forms a conurbation with a population of aro ...

, Germany, 30 September 1948 * RAF Celle, Germany, 23 December 1948 – 14 September 1949 *

Rhein-Main Air Base Rhein-Main Air Base was a United States Air Force air base near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was a Military Airlift Command (MAC) and United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) installation, occupying the south side of Frankfurt ...

, Germany, Germany, 14 July 1952 *

Neubiberg Air Base Neubiberg Air Base is a former German Air Force and United States Air Force airfield which was closed in 1991. It is located 9 km south of the city of Munich, Germany. Today the former base area holds the campus of Bundeswehr University of ...

, Germany, 23 March 1953 *

Évreux-Fauville Air Base Évreux-Fauville Air Base (''Base aérienne 105 Évreux'' or BA 105) is a French Air and Space Force base located about 2 miles (3 km) east of the town of Évreux in the Eure ''département'', on the north side of the Route nationale 13 ...

, France, 24 June 1956 – 20 June 1964 *

Lockbourne Air Force Base Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base is an Ohio Air National Guard installation at Rickenbacker International Airport near Lockbourne in southern Franklin County. The base was named for the famous early aviator and Columbus native Eddie Ric ...

, Ohio, 20 June 1964 – 31 July 1971 :: Deployed to Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France, February–May 1965;

RAF Mildenhall Royal Air Force Mildenhall, or more simply RAF Mildenhall , is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station located near Mildenhall, Suffolk, Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. Despite its status as a List of Royal Air Force stations, ...

, England, 13 May-18 July 1968; Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany (15 April-22 July 1969) *

Pope Air Force Base Pope Field is a U.S. military facility located northwest of the central business district of Fayetteville, in Spring Lake, Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States.. Federal Aviation Administration. effective 15 November 2012. Forme ...

, North Carolina, 31 August 1971 – 1 June 1992 :: Deployed to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany , 12 December 1973 – 17 February 1974, 12 April–14 June 1976, 1 October–15 December 1977; RAF Mildenhall, England, 12 July–14 September 1975, 4 January–4 March 1977, 5 June–14 August 1979, 8 October–13 December 1980, 3 February–14 April 1982, 4 June–13 August 1983, 1 October–12 December 1984, 2 February–15 April 1986, 3 March–15 May 1987, 3 June–10 August 1988, May–11 July 1991, 3 April–31 May 1992) *

, Texas, 1 October 1993 – present

Aircraft

Douglas C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for tro ...

(1942–1946) *

Curtiss C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company p ...

(1946–1948) *

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 civilia ...

(1946–1949) *

Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar The Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Navy and Marine Corps designation R4Q) is an American military transport aircraft developed from the World War II-era Fairchild C-82 Packet, designed to carry cargo, personnel, Litter (rescue basket), litte ...

(1952–1958) *

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

(1958–1971, 1971 – Present)

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

{{US Air Force navbox Military units and formations in Texas 039