Active 1943-1944; 1972-1996 Type Airlift | Country United States Motto(s) Global Reserve | |
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Branch United States Air Force | ||
The 708th Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve unit. It was last assigned to the 349th Operations Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 30 September 1996.
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The squadron was active during World War II as the 308th Troop Carrier Squadron a training unit that was part of the I Troop Carrier Command.
It was activated in 1972 as an associate unit, flying aircraft assigned to the regular Air Force 60th Military Airlift Wing.
History
The 308th Troop Carrier Squadron was activated as an operational training unit (OTU) in March 1943 and served in this role until July 1943. The OTU program involved the use of an oversized parent unit to provide cadres to “satellite groups”. The 308th then served as a replacement training unit (RTU) for glider crews until April 1944. RTUs were oversized units to train individual pilots or aircrews.
However, the United States Army Air Forces found that standard military units, based on relatively inflexible tables of organization were proving less well adapted to the training mission. Accordingly, a more functional system was adopted in which each base was organized into a separate numbered unit. Accordingly, the 307th was disbanded and its mission, personnel, and equipment were absorbed by the 805th AAF Base Unit (Replacement Training Unit, Troop Carrier).
The 708th Military Airlift Squadron was activated at Travis AFB, California in 1972 as an Air Force Reserve associate squadron. The squadron did not have aircraft assigned, but flew Lockheed C-141 Starlifter aircraft assigned to the regular United States Air Force 60th Military Airlift Wing (later 60th Airlift Wing). The squadron was inactivated in 1996 as part of phaseout of C-141s.
Lineage
308th Troop Carrier Squadron
708th Airlift Squadron