47th Tactical Airlift Squadron

History

Activated in early 1942 under Air Transport (Later I Troop Carrier) Command as a C-47 transport squadron; trained in the southeastern United States. Deployed to North Africa as part of the Operation Torch landings; being assigned to Oujda Airfield; French Morocco. Performed troop carrier and transport airlift of supplies to ground forces advancing though Algeria into Tunisia under Twelfth Air Force. Also evacuated wounded personnel to rear areas. Carried airborne paratroopers and performed airborne assault missions over Sicily and Italy as part of the invasion forces.

Reassigned to IX Troop Carrier Command in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in February 1944 as part of the pre-invasion buildup of forces in England. Performed combat airborne assault missions as part of D-Day; Operation Market-Garden and Operation Varsity 1944–1945. Also performed supply and evacuation missions in France and the Low Countries; participated in the Western Allied invasion of Germany; 1945. Continued combat airlift and supply missions until the German capitulation in May 1945.

Squadron continued to operate from Achiet, France during 1945, performing transportation of personnel and supplies within Europe; demobilized in place during August, and inactivated as a paper unit in September 1945.

Reactivated as part of the United States Air Forces in Europe, 1946. Assigned to transport duties as part of the European Air Transport Service, 1946–1947 as part of the army of occupation. Inactivated in Austria in June 1947. Immediately reactivated as a Tactical Air Command troop carrier squadron in 1947; being assigned to Texas and equipped with C-46s. Deployed to Germany in 1948 to support Berlin Airlift; operated from British Zone of Occupation, with C-54s. Inactivated in West Germany in September 1949.

Reactivated under Eighteenth Air Force in 1953 as a Tactical Air Command C-119 Flying Boxcar troop carrier squadron. Performed routine airlift of supplies and personnel; including Army Airborne parachute drops until being inactivated due to funding restrictions in 1955; Reactivated as a C-130 Hercules Troop Carrier (later Tactical Airlift) squadron under TAC in 1964; performed assigned theater airlift missions until inactivated as part of the post-Vietnam drawdown in 1973.

Lineage

Constituted as 47th Transport Squadron on 15 June 1942

Activated on 2 March 1942 Redesignated as 47th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942 Inactivated on 22 September 1945

Activated on 30 September 1946

Redesignated as 47th Troop Carrier Squadron (Heavy) on 30 July 1948 Redesignated as 47th Troop Carrier Squadron (Special) on 1 February 1949 Inactivated on 18 September 1949

Redesignated as 47th Troop Carrier Squadron (Medium) on 26 November 1952

Activated on 1 February 1953 Inactivated on 8 June 1955.

Activated on 1 October 1964

Redesignated as 47th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 May 1967 Inactivated on 1 August 1973

Assignments

313th Transport (later Troop Carrier) Group, 2 March 1942 – 22 September 1945

313th Troop Carrier Group, 30 September 1946 – 18 September 1949

313th Troop Carrier Group, 1 February 1953 – 8 June 1955.

313th Troop Carrier Wing, 1 October 1964

313th Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 May 1967

463d Tactical Airlift Wing, 6 July 1973 – 1 August 1973

Aircraft

C-47 Skytrain, 1942–1945;1946–1948

C-46 Commando, 1945; 1953

C-82 Packet, 1947–1948

C-54 Skymaster 1948–1949

C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1953–1955

C-130 Hercules, 1964–1973