40th Tactical Airlift Squadron

The 40th Airlift Squadron is a United States Air Force unit based at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas. It currently flies the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules aircraft. Nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, it is a decorated airlift unit in the U.S. Air Force, with several Meritorious Unit Awards, six Campaign Streamers, a Service Streamer, and an Armed Forces Expeditionary Streamer.

Origins

Constituted on 2 February and activated on 18 February 1942, the 40th Transport Squadron was stationed at Duncan Field, Texas, and assigned to the 317th Transport Group three days later. Beginning with squadron commander second lieutenant Fred H. Schomburg and eight enlisted men, the squadron took shape. In about four months, the squadron was full-sized. It then transferred to Bowman Field, Kentucky, where it began flying the Douglas C-47 Skytrain. The start of World War II drove a rapid training and deployment schedule, and on 6 December 1942, the 40th moved to Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base, North Carolina, to begin staging for its move to the Pacific. A few days later, it left North Carolina for the Brookley AFB, Alabama, where it received thirteen new C-47s, which the squadron flew to California.

World War II operations

On 5 January 1943, the squadron left California for the Southwest Pacific Theater. Two days later it landed at Brisbane, Australia, where it came under the command of the Fifth Air Force. A short time later, it moved to Garbutt Field, Townsville, Australia, its first permanent overseas home.

Buna

In the Buna campaign, the 40th ferried food, ammunition, equipment, and reinforcements to Allied troops and evacuated the wounded to hospitals on its return flights. As the battle of Buna neared its end, the fight for Wau was just beginning.

Wau

In Wau, Papua New Guinea, the squadron provided support for the Australian commandos of Kanga Force who were engaging the Japanese in battle. The squadron pilots became accustomed to landing on the 3,000-foot dirt strip at Wau, which had a 12% grade heading directly at Mount Kaindi. They transported reinforcements, ammunition, artillery pieces, food, and other supplies. The 40th squadron experienced its first combat casualties when a crew crashed while attempting to land on 18 January.

On 29 January, the Japanese launched a full-scale assault on the airstrip and managed to reach one end of the runway, which they subjected to constant mortar fire. At times, planes circled the area while the Australians fought the Japanese back far enough into the jungle to allow the aircraft to land. Many of the reinforcements flown into the strip had to jump from the planes straight into battle. However, by the end of 30 January, most of the Japanese attacks had been repulsed, and the airstrip remained under Allied control for the rest of the war.

Consolidation

The 40th subsequently established and operated air routes across Australia, New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. It airlifted troops, reinforcements, supplies, and equipment into combat and evacuated the wounded. It dropped paratroopers in airborne assault operations and airdropped equipment and supplies. Secondary missions included carrying captured Japanese troops to the rear, transporting commanders to and from combat areas, and conducting training with airborne troops.

Assault on Lae

The 40th's next major battle occurred on 5 September, when Allied Forces assaulted the island of Lae. The squadron joined the rest of the 317th Troop Carrier Group in an air assault on the Nadzab plain. General Kenney, Fifth Air Force commander, later said, "I truly don't believe that another air force in the world today could have put this over as perfectly as the Fifth Air Force did. 302 airplanes in all, taking off from eight different fields in the Moresby and Dabo dura areas, made rendezvous right on the nose over Marilina, flying through clouds, passes in the mountains, and over the top. Not a single squadron did any circling or stalling around, but all slid into place like clockwork and proceeded on the final flight down the Watut Valley, turned to the right down the Markham River, and went directly to the target."

Move across New Guinea

As Allied troops pressed westward across New Guinea, the squadron moved to Ward Airdrome at Port Moresby on 6 October 1943, placing them closer to combat, and eliminating many of the long flights back to Australia. The 317th Group soon became known as the "Jungle Skippers". Heavily loaded and unarmed, the C-47s were often flown unconventionally by their hard-pressed crews. Counting on stealth and surprise to help even the odds, the pilots slipped their transports down river valleys and through mountain gaps, skipping and skimming across the jungle and rain forests. Through the rest of 1943 and into 1944, the 40th continued its support of the Allied advance. On 21 April 1944, it moved to Finschhafen, New Guinea, and again in May to Cyclops Field, Hollandia.

Invasion of the Philippines

During Operation Table Tennis, the 40th airdropped troops on the island of Noemfoor during July 1944. In November, it airdropped supplies to American troops on the island of Leyte in the Philippines. In January 1945, it transferred to Leyte, from whence it made covert airdrops to Filipino guerrillas and commandos operating throughout the island chain.

The squadron's last major action of World War II came on 16 February with the invasion of Luzon. The 317th Group was tasked with dropping the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment troopers onto Corregidorc. The only suitable drop zones were an old American parade ground and a golf course. At precisely 0830, 51 C-47s began wheeling over the two small drop zones in counter-rotating, orbits dropping eight men per pass. With 317th Group commander Colonel Jack Lackey in the lead plane, the 39th and 40th Squadrons dropped on the former golf course while the 41st and 46th Squadrons rushed to drop on the parade ground. Most of the aircraft were hit by intense ground fire, but none were lost. For its efforts in the assault, the squadron won its second Distinguished Unit Citation.

The squadron also participated in the airdrop of the 11th Airborne Division on Mindoro Island, and the airdrop of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment on Los Banos, on the Batangas Peninsula of Luzon. In February 1945, it carried the "most valuable cargo ever moved in the Southwest Pacific Theater", when it brought 120 doctors and nurses to Mabalacat to care for American prisoners liberated from Japanese prisoner of war camps after three years of imprisonment. In March, it moved to Clark Field, Philippines, where it dealt with raids by fanatical Japanese who penetrated security around Clark to make hit-and-run attacks against the barracks and flight line.

On 15 April, the squadron launched a short career as a strategic bombing squadron. Japanese troops holed up on Carabao Island, Cavite were threatening Allied shipping. Conventional bombing failed to make an impact, so the 40th's C-47s were loaded with 55-gallon drums of napalm and were credited with killing 2700 Japanese.

Move to Okinawa

In August, the squadron moved to Naha Airfield

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