709th Airlift Squadron

709th Airlift Squadron
A crew from the 709th prepares for a training flight on the first C-5M at Dover Air Force Base[a]
Active	1943–1945; 1947–1949; 1973–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Airlift
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ	Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
Motto(s)	Global Airlift
Colors	White (World War II)[1]
Engagements	European Theater of Operations Operation Just Cause
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
709th Airlift Squadron emblem[b][2]
709th Bombardment Squadron emblem[c][3]
ETO Fuselage Code[1]	IE
447th Bombardment Group tail marking[1]	Square K

The 709th Airlift Squadron is part of the 512th Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

The squadron was first activated during World War II as the 709th Bombardment Squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to the European Theater, where it engaged in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. After V-E Day, it returned to the United States, where it was inactivated in the fall of 1945.

The squadron was briefly activated in the reserves from 1947 to 1949. In 1973, the squadron was redesignated the 709th Military Airlift Squadron and activated at Dover as a reserve associate unit of the 436th Military Airlift Wing. Its reservists operated the 436th's C-5s alongside members of the regular Air Force.

Since 1973 the squadron has trained for and flown airlift missions with the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, It also participates in military exercises and global humanitarian and contingency operations.^[2]

The squadron was first activated on 1 May 1943 at Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington as the 709th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four squadrons of the 447th Bombardment Group.^[3][4]

The original mission of the squadron was to be an Operational Training Unit.^[5] However, by the time the 447th Group reached full strength in October it had been identified for overseas deployment and its key personnel were sent to the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida for advanced tactical training. The cadre trained at Brooksville Army Air Field with the 1st Bombardment Squadron, engaging in simulated attacks against Mobile, Alabama, Charleston, South Carolina and New Orleans. The squadron then trained at Rapid City Army Air Base, South Dakota with the 17th Bombardment Training Wing. In June 1943 the group moved to Harvard Army Air Field, Nebraska for Phase I training.^[6] The unit sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 23 November 1943 and arrived at the Firth of Clyde on 29 November 1943.^[7] The squadron's B-17s began to move from the United States to the European theater of operations in November 1943.^[3]

The squadron was stationed at RAF Rattlesden, England, from December 1943 to August 1945. It flew its first combat mission on 24 December 1943 against a V-1 flying bomb launch site near Saint-Omer in Northern France.^[8]

From December 1943 to May 1944, the squadron helped prepare for the invasion of the European continent by attacking submarine pens, naval installations, and cities in Germany; missile sites and ports in France; and airfields and marshaling yards in France, Belgium and Germany.^[9] The squadron conducted heavy bombardment missions against German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20 to 25 February 1944.^[4]

The unit supported Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 by bombing airfields and other targets.^[4] On D-Day the squadron bombed the beachhead area using pathfinder aircraft.^[10]

The squadron aided in Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint Lo, France, and the effort to take Brest, France, from July to September 1944.^[4] It bombed strategic targets from October to December 1944, concentrating on sources of oil production.^[4] It assaulted marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communication centers during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945.^[4] In March 1945 the group bombed an airfield in support of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine. The unit flew its last combat mission on 21 April 1945 against a marshalling yard at Ingolstadt, Germany.^[11]

The 709th redeployed to the United States during the summer 1945. The air echelon ferried their aircraft and personnel back to the United States, leaving on 29 and 30 June 1945. The squadron ground echelon, along with the 711th squadron sailed 3 August 1945 on the SS Benjamin R. Milam, from Liverpool. Most personnel were discharged at Camp Myles Standish after arrival at the port of Boston. A small cadre proceeded to Drew Field, Florida^[12] and the squadron inactivated on 7 November 1945.^[4]

Two years later, on 25 July 1947, the 709th was redesignated the 709th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy. It was activated under Air Defense Command (ADC) in the reserves on 10 November 1947, at Bergstrom Field Texas, although it does not appear that the squadron was fully manned or equipped with tactical aircraft.^[3] In July 1948, Continental Air Command (ConAC) assumed reserve training responsibility from ADC. President Truman's reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force.^[13] As a result, the squadron was inactivated in June 1949^[3] when its parent group moved to Castle Air Force Base, California and became a corollary unit of the 93d Bombardment Group.^[4][14]

The squadron was redesignated the 709th Military Airlift Squadron and activated as a Military Airlift Command reserve associate C-5 Galaxy squadron in 1973 and was associated with the 436th Military Airlift Wing. The associate program meshes active-duty and reserve units using the active-duty host aircraft and equipment for training.^[15]

Since 1973 the 709th has trained for and flown airlift missions, participating in exercises and global humanitarian and contingency operations.^[2]

In December 1989 through January 1990, the 709th participated in Operation Just Cause, which removed Manuel Noriega from power in Panama.^[2] Later that year, the squadron was called to active duty to support Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In 2004 and 2005 reserve crews from Dover supported humanitarian relief operations following the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina.^[15]

• Constituted as the 709th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 6 April 1943

Activated on 1 May 1943

Redesignated 709th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943

Inactivated on 7 November 1945

Redesignated 709th Bombardment Squadron, Very Heavy on 24 October 1947

Activated in the reserve on 10 November 1947

Inactivated on 27 June 1949

• Redesignated 709 Military Airlift Squadron (Associate) on 19 June 1973

Activated in the Reserve on 1 October 1973

Redesignated 709th Airlift Squadron (Associate) on 1 February 1992

Redesignated 709th Airlift Squadron on 1 October 1994^[2]

• 447th Bombardment Group, 1 May 1943 – 7 November 1945
• 447th Bombardment Group, 10 November 1947 – 27 June 1949
• 512th Military Airlift Wing (later 512 Airlift Wing), 1 October 1973
• 512th Operations Group, 1 August 1992 – present^[2]

• Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945
• Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, 1973–present^[2]

Award streamer	Award	Dates	Notes
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	13 October 1973 – 14 November 1973	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 January 1974 – 30 April 1975	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 May 1975 – 31 May 1976	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 June 1976 – 31 May 1978	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 June 1978 – 31 May 1979	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 January 1988 – 30 June 1989	709th Military Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 July 1993 – 30 June 1995	709th Airlift Squadron[2]
	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award	1 September 1996 – 31 August 1998	709th Airlift Squadron[2]

Campaign Streamer	Campaign	Dates	Notes
	American Theater	1 May 1943 – 11 November 1943	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Air Offensive, Europe	29 November 1943 – 5 June 1944	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Normandy	6 June 1944 – 24 July 1944	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Northern France	25 July 1944 – 14 September 1944	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Rhineland	15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Ardennes-Alsace	16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Central Europe	22 March 1944 – 21 May 1945	709th Bombardment Squadron[3]
	Just Cause	20 December 1989 – 31 January 1990	709th Military Airlift Squadron, Panama[2]

• List of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress operators

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 23 January 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
• Freeman, Roger A. (1970). The Mighty Eighth: Units, Men and Machines (A History of the US 8th Army Air Force). London, England: Macdonald and Company. ISBN 978-0-87938-638-2.
• Knaack, Marcelle Size (1978). Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems. Vol. 2, Post-World War II Bombers 1945–1973. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-59-5.
• 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.
• Surridge; Dooley, Edward C., eds. (1946). Pictorial History of the 447th Bombardment Group (H). World War II Regimental Histories No. 107. Tampa, FL. Retrieved 16 January 2014.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Watkins, Robert (2008). Battle Colors: Insignia and Markings of the Eighth Air Force in World War II. Vol. I (VIII) Bomber Command. Atglen, PA: Shiffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7643-1987-7.

• 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.

• "709th Airlift Squadron". The Institute of Heraldry. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014. (Heraldic description and symbolism of unit emblem)
• Aceveda, MSG Veronica (6 April 2012). "709th Airlift Squadron flies final C-5B mission". 512 Airlift Wing Public Affairs. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
• "709th Airlift Squadron (709th AS)". GlobalSecurity.com. Retrieved 20 January 2014.