18th Airborne Command and Control Squadron

Established as the 28th Transport Squadron (Mail & Cargo) on 1 February 1942 at Daniel Field, Georgia. The squadron was equipped with Douglas C-47 Skytrain transports as one of the original four squadrons of the 89th Transport Group.[2] The 89th group provided transition training for transport pilots.[2] However, a little more than three months later, the squadron was reassigned to the 60th Transport Group at Westover Field, Massachusetts, and redesignated as the 28th Transport Squadron.[1]

C-47s of the 60th Troop Carrier Group.

The 60th group at Westover was preparing for shipment overseas, and the squadron trained and trained for combat resupply and casualty evacuation missions. Was ordered deployed to England, assigned to Eighth Air Force in June 1942. Assigned fuselage code 3D, the unit was redesignated as the 28th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942. Performed intro-theater transport flights of personnel, supply and equipment within England during summer and fall of 1942, reassigned to Twelfth Air Force after Operation Torch invasion of North Africa in November 1942, transporting paratroopers to Oran, Algeria during the early hours of Operation Torch.[3]

In combat, performed resupply and evacuation missions across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia during North African Campaign. During June 1943, the unit began training with gliders in preparation for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. It towed gliders to Syracuse, Sicily and dropped paratroopers at Catania during the operation. After moving to Sicily, the squadron airdropped supplies to escaped prisoners of war in Northern Italy in October.[3]

The unit provided support for partisans operating in the Balkans. Its unarmed aircraft flew at night over uncharted territory, landing at small unprepared airfields to provide guns, ammunition, clothing, medical supplies, gasoline, and mail to the partisans. It even carried jeeps and mules as cargo. On return trips it evacuated wounded partisans, evadees and escaped prisoners. These operations earned the squadron the Distinguished Unit Citation. It also dropped paratroopers at Megava, Greece in October 1944 and propaganda leaflets in the Balkans in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations until end of combat in Europe, May 1945.[3]

After hostilities ended, was transferred to Waller Field, Trinidad attached to the Air Transport Command Transported personnel and equipment from Brazil to South Florida along the South Atlantic Air Transport Route.[3] Squadron picked up personnel and equipment in Brazil or bases in Northern South America with final destination being Miami, Boca Raton Army Airfield or Morrison Fields in South Florida. Inactivated at the end of July 1945.[1]

A Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, which was operated by the unit between 1953 and 1969.

The 28th Logistic Support Squadron was activated at Hill Air Force Base,[4] Utah and equipped with Douglas C-124 Globemaster IIs in July 1953. Its mission was to provide worldwide airlift of special weapons and related equipment, with a secondary mission to airlift other Department of Defense cargo as required when space was available.[5]

In 1955, Air Materiel Command organized the 3079th Aviation Depot Wing to exercise command jurisdiction over all its logistic support squadrons.[6] Previously, the 7th, 19th and 28th Logistic Support Squadrons had been assigned to separate air materiel areas. The 3097th wing also commanded aviation depot groups[6] responsible for the storage and maintenance of special weapons.

In 1962, the squadron was transferred to Military Air Transport Service (MATS)'s 1501st Air Transport Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California.[7] It was redesignated the 28th Air Transport Squadron, but remained at Hill with the same mission (as indicated by the "Special" added to its designation). When MATS became Military Airlift Command in 1966, the squadron was renamed the 28th Military Airlift Squadron and its headquarters, now the 60th Military Airlift Wing, remained at Travis.[8] In 1967, the 60th wing retired its C-124s and the squadron was reassigned to the 62d Military Airlift Wing, which now had the global special weapons airlift support mission.[9] The squadron was inactivated in the spring of 1969.

The 18th Airborne Command and Control Squadron was activated at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, on 10 February 2023 and assigned to the 319th Reconnaissance Wing at Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota.[10] The squadron received its first Bombardier E-11A BACN on 24 April 2023 and will be fully operational by FY2027.[11][12]

• 89th Transport Group 1 February 1942
• 60th Transport Group (later 60th Troop Carrier Group), 19 May 1942 – 31 July 1945[13]
• Ogden Air Materiel Area, 8 July 1953 (attached to 2849th Air Base Wing)
• 3079th Aviation Depot Wing, 8 February 1955
• 1501st Air Transport Wing, 18 January 1962[7]
• 60th Military Airlift Wing, 8 January 1966[8] (attached to 62d Military Airlift Wing 1–8 July 1967)[9]
• 62d Military Airlift Wing, 8 July 1967 – 8 April 1969[9]
• 319th Reconnaissance Wing, 10 February 2023 – present[10]

• Douglas C-47 Skytrain, 1942–1945[13]
• Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, 1952–1969
• Bombardier E-11A BACN, 2023–present[10]

Explanatory notes

Citations

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

• Anderson, Capt. Barry (1985). Army Air Forces Stations: A Guide to the Stations Where U.S. Army Air Forces Personnel Served in the United Kingdom During World War II (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Research Division, USAF Historical Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
• Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
• Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6.
• Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
• AF Pamphlet 900-2, Unit Decorations, Awards and Campaign Participation Credits Archived 4 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine Department of the Air Force, Washington, DC, 15 June 1971

Further reading

• Ulanoff, Stanley M. (1964). MATS: The Story of the Military Air Transport Service. New York, NY: Franklin Watts, Inc. ISBN 978-1-19908-768-3.