746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron

The squadron was first activated on 1 June 1943 as the 746th Bombardment Squadron at Wendover Field, Utah, where it was one of the four original squadrons of the 456th Bombardment Group and received its initial cadre. Shortly thereafter the squadron moved to Gowen Field, Idaho and began to train with Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers. It completed its training in December 1943 after which it began moving to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations.[1][3]

15th Air Force B-24 Liberator attacking a target

The squadron arrived in theater at Cerignola Airfield on 11 January 1944 and later that month moved to its combat station of Stornara Airfield, Italy.[1] The squadron commenced combat operations the following month, primarily engaging in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. Its early operations were conducted against airfields, aircraft factories, and railroad bridges in Italy, Austria and Romania. On 10 May 1944, the squadron targeted a manufacturing center at Wiener Neustadt, Austria, but adverse weather caused most of the attacking force to turn back before reaching the target. The 746th and the rest of the 456th Group proceeded to attack the target despite heavy interceptor opposition that was able to concentrate on defending against the group's Liberators. Its actions in this operation earned the squadron its first Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC).[3]

Later, the squadron expanded its operations to include attacks on locomotive manufacturing plants, oil refineries, oil storage facilities and viaducts in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and on the Balkan peninsula. On 2 July 1944, the squadron experienced severe fighter attacks while bombing oil facilities at Budapest, Hungary, for which it was awarded a second DUC.[3]

During this time, the squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic mission to carry out air support and air interdiction missions. From July through August 1944, it helped set the conditions for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. In the spring of 1945, it supported Operation Grapeshot, the offensive by the United States Fifth Army and British Eighth Army against remaining German forces in northern Italy.[3]

Following V-E Day, the squadron airlifted supplies to airfields in northern Italy. It returned to the United States in July and began to reorganize as a very heavy bomber unit in preparation for operations in the Pacific. However, with the surrender of Japan, the squadron was inactivated on 17 October 1945.[1][3]

The squadron was reactivated as a reserve unit in July 1947, under Air Defense Command (ADC) at McChord Field, Washington, where its training was supervised by ADC's 406th AAF Base Unit (later the 2345th Air Force Reserve Training Center).[4] It was nominally a very heavy bomber unit, but according to air force historian Maurer Maurer, the squadron does not appear to have been fully manned or equipped with operational aircraft while a reserve unit.[5] In 1948 Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed responsibility for managing reserve and Air National Guard units from ADC.[6] President Truman’s reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force.[7] ConAC also reorganized its reserve units under the wing base organization system in June 1949. As a result, the squadron was inactivated and its personnel and equipment were transferred to elements of the 302d Troop Carrier Wing, which was activated simultaneously.[1][8]

C-119 Flying Boxcars from the 456th Troop Carrier Group deployed to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, October 1954

In 1952, the squadron was redesignated the 746th Troop Carrier Squadron and activated at Miami International Airport, Florida, where it replaced the 78th Troop Carrier Squadron, a reserve unit that had been mobilized for the Korean War and which was returning to reserve status.[1][9] The squadron and its Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars moved to Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina in August 1953. It participated in numerous military exercises in the United States and overseas, primarily with airborne forces of the United States Army.[10]

In March 1955, the 456th Troop Carrier Wing reorganized, and the squadron was assigned directly to wing headquarters as the 456th Group. All wing support organizations were inactivated at this time, while the squadron formed a detachment with eight C-119L aircraft. In October, the squadron moved with the wing to Shiroi Air Base, Japan, but the flying detachments of the wing were located at various points between Okinawa and Alaska. The squadron took part in Project Drag Net, recovering instrument packages from high altitude research or reconnaissance balloons.[lower-alpha 3] The project was terminated in May 1956 due to its low success rate, although the squadron earned an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for its participation. The squadron returned to the United States and Ardmore Air Force Base, Oklahoma, where it was inactivated in July 1956 and its assets transferred to the 341st Troop Carrier Squadron.[1][10]

The squadron was converted to provisional status as the 746th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in 2002.[11] It was activated in 2004 as a Lockheed C-130 Hercules airlift squadron as part of the Global War on Terrorism. It is a "rainbow" unit, composed of crews and planes from active duty, reserve, and Air National Guard units.[12] The squadron, as recently as 2017 was responsible for transporting personnel and materiel to support Operation Inherent Resolve.[13]

• 456th Bombardment Group, 1 June 1943 – 17 October 1945
• 456th Bombardment Group, 12 July 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 456th Troop Carrier Group, 1 December 1952
• 456th Troop Carrier Wing, 1 March 1955 – 9 July 1956[14]
• Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate as needed, 12 June 2002[11]
• Air Combat Command to activate or inactivate as needed, 19 March 2003[15]

379th Expeditionary Operations Group, c. 2004 – present[12][16]

• Consolidated B-24 Liberator, 1943–1945
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress, 1945
• Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1952–1956[14]
• Lockheed C-130 Hercules, 2004 – present[12]

Explanatory notes

Citations

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

• Knaack, Marcelle Size (1978). Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems (PDF). Vol. 2, Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-59-5. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• 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. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
• 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.
• Watkins, Robert A. (2009). Insignia and Aircraft Markings of the U.S. Army Air Force In World War II. Vol. IV, European-African-Middle Eastern Theater of Operations. Atglen,PA: Shiffer Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7643-3401-6.

Further reading

• Cantwell, Gerald T. (1997). Citizen Airmen: a History of the Air Force Reserve, 1946-1994. Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program. ISBN 0-16049-269-6. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
• Mulcahy, Robert (1 October 2003). "Corona Program Oral History (No. 6): Interview with Lt Col Harold E. Mitchell" (PDF). Space and Missile Systems Center History Office. Retrieved 9 May 2019. (experiences with Project Drag Net)
• Anonymous (1997) [1945]. 456th Bomb Group – Steed's Flying Colts (Turner Limited ed.). Turner Publications. ISBN 978-1563111419.