710th Airlift Squadron

The 710th Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as a reserve unit. It was an associate airlift squadron of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, assigned to the 349th Operations Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1998.

710th Airlift Squadron
A Lockheed C-141A Starlifter flown by the 710th Military Airlift Squadron over the Pacific Ocean near San Francisco
Active1943–1945; 1973–1998
Country United States
Branch United States Air Force
RoleAirlift
Part ofAir Force Reserve Command
EngagementsEuropean Theater of Operations
DecorationsAir Force Outstanding Unit Award
Insignia
Patch showing 710th Airlift Squadron emblem
710th Bombardment Squadron emblem (approved 6 September 1943)[1]
ETO Fuselage Code and Squadron Color[2]IF
Red
447th Bombardment Group tail marking[2]Square K

The squadron was established as the 710th Bombardment Squadron, a heavy bomber squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to the European Theatre of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It returned to the United States and was inactivated in November 1945.

History

World War II

Training in the United States

The squadron was first activated on 1 May 1943 at Ephrata Army Air Base, Washington as the 710th Bombardment Squadron, one of the four original squadrons of the 447th Bombardment Group.[1][3]

The original mission of the squadron was to be an Operational Training Unit.[4] 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 unit moved to Harvard Army Air Field, Nebraska for Phase I training.[5] The unit sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth on 23 November 1943 and arrived at the Firth of Clyde on 29 November 1943.[6] The squadron's B-17s began to move from the United States to the European theater of operations in November 1943.[1]

Combat in the European Theater
B-17s of the 447th Bombardment Group attacking Koblenz 19 September 1944

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.[7]

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.[8] The squadron conducted heavy bombardment missions against German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20 to 25 February 1944.[3]

The unit supported Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 by bombing airfields and other targets.[3] On D-Day the squadron bombed the beachhead area using pathfinder aircraft.[9]

The squadron aided in Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint Lo, France, and the effort to take Brest, France, from July to September 1944.[3] It bombed strategic targets from October to December 1944, concentrating on sources of oil production.[3] It assaulted marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communication centers during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945.[3] 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.[10]

The 710th 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 group headquarters and 708th squadron sailed on the SS Joseph T. Robinson on 1 August 1945, 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[11] and the squadron inactivated on 7 November 1945.[3]

Reserve airlift operations

By 1968, Air Force Reserve formed associate units. In this program, reserve units flew and maintained aircraft owned by an associated regular unit.[12] The squadron was redesignated the 710th Military Airlift Squadron and activated under the 349th Military Airlift Wing as an associate of Military Airlift Command's 60th Military Airlift Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California in the spring of 1973. The squadron flew the 60th Wing's Lockheed C-141 Starlifters on worldwide transport mission. The squadron provided support to the State of California during the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[13] The squadron was inactivated in 1998 as part of phaseout of C-141s.

Lineage
  • Constituted as the 710th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 6 April 1943
Activated on 1 May 1943
  • Redesignated 710th Bombardment Squadron, Heavy on 20 August 1943
Inactivated on 7 November 1945[14]
  • Redesignated 710th Military Airlift Squadron (Associate) on 19 June 1973
Activated in the reserve on 1 July 1973
Redesignated 710th Airlift Squadron (Associate) on 1 February 1992[15]
Redesignated 710th Airlift Squadron on 1 October 1994
Inactivated on 1 January 1998

Assignments
  • 447th Bombardment Group, 1 May 1943 – 7 November 1945[14]
  • 349th Military Airlift Wing (later 349th Airlift Wing), 1 July 1973[15]
  • 349th Operations Group, 1 August 1992 – 1 January 1998[15]

Stations

Aircraft
  • Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, 1943–1945[14]
  • Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, 1973–1997

Awards and Campaigns
Award streamerAwardDatesNotes
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1974-30 June 1975710th Military Airlift Squadron[17]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1975-30 June 1977710th Military Airlift Squadron[18]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1992-30 June 1994710th Airlift Squadron[18]
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award1 July 1994-15 August 1996710th Airlift Squadron[18]
Campaign Streamer Campaign Dates Notes
American Theater1 May 1943 – 11 November 1943710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Air Offensive, Europe29 November 1943 – 5 June 1944710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Normandy6 June 1944 – 24 July 1944710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Northern France25 July 1944 – 14 September 1944710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Rhineland15 September 1944 – 21 March 1945710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Ardennes-Alsace16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
Central Europe22 March 1944 – 21 May 1945710th Bombardment Squadron[1]
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See also

References

Notes
  1. Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 712
  2. Watkins, pp. 92–93
  3. Maurer, Combat Units, pp. 321–322
  4. Surridge & Dooley, p. 18
  5. Surridge & Dooley, pp. 19–21
  6. Freeman, p. 257
  7. "Abstract, History 447 Bombardment Group May 1943 – April 1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  8. "447th Air Expeditionary Group". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  9. "Abstract, History 447 Bombardment Group Mar–Jun 1944". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. "Abstract, History 447 Bombardment Group Apr 1945". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. Surridge & Dooley, pp. 214–215
  12. Cantwell, p. 210
  13. "Abstract, Vol. 1 History 349 Airlift Wing 1993". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  14. Lineage information, including assignments, stations and aircraft during World War II in Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 712
  15. See "Abstract, Vol. 1 History 349 Airlift Wing 1993". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
  16. Station number in Anderson.
  17. AF Pamphlet 900-2, Vol II, p. 88
  18. "Air Force Recognition Programs". Air Force Personnel Center. Retrieved 22 January 2014.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

Further reading
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