Country United States | ||
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Active 1943-1946; 1949-1951; 1952-1955; 1957-1974; 2007-Present Branch United States Air Force Decorations Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm | ||
The 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 13th Air Expeditionary Group, based at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.
Contents
Mission
The 304th EAS operates the C-17 Globemaster III airlfiter in support of Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica (JTF-SFA). The squadron provides the bulk of the aerial resupply between New Zealand and Antarctica. It also provides ntercontinental transport of personnel and cargo to and from the United States.
The 304th EAS consists of aircraft and personnel deployed forward to New Zealand from the 62d and 446th Airlift Wings, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
History
The squadron was first activated as the 304th Troop Carrier Squadron in September 1943 under I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with Douglas C-47 Skytrains. It trained in various parts of the eastern United States until early 1944. The squadron deployed to England and became part of IX Troop Carrier Command.
The unit prepared for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It began operations by dropping paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day on 6 June 1944 and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom.
After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during Operation Market Garden. the airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne.
When the Allies made the air assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft of the squadron towed two gliders with troops of the 17th Airborne Division and released them near Wesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to Curtiss C-46 Commandos and used the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after V-E Day. It was inactivated in Germany in September 1946.
Postwar the squadron was activated in the air force reserve in 1940 at Fairfax Field, Kansas, operating C-46 Commandos. It was called to active duty and onactivated during the Korean War in 1951. Its aircraft and personnel were used as fillers for active duty units, and the squadron was inactivated. The unit reformed in the reserve in 1952, moving to Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base near Kansas City in 1955. Conducted routine reserve training operating Douglas C-124 Globemaster IIs flying worldwide transport missions beginning in 1961. The squadron was called to active duty in 1961 due to the Berlin Wall Crisis, but returned to reserve service in the late summer of 1962.
The squadron converted to Lockheed 130A Hercules aircraft on 27 October 1971. It was inactivated on 30 June 1974 when personnel and equipment was merged into the 303d Tactical Airlift Squadron.