49th Troop Carrier Squadron

The 49th Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the 313th Troop Carrier Group stationed at Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. It was inactivated on 22 September 1945.

History
Activated in early 1942 under Air Transport (Later I Troop Carrier) Command as a C-47 transport squadron; trained in the southeastern United States. Deployed to North Africa as part of the Operation Torch landings; being assigned to Oujda Airfield; French Morocco. Performed troop carrier and transport airlift of supplies to ground forces advancing though Algeria into Tunisia under Twelfth Air Force. Also evacuated wounded personnel to rear areas. Carried airborne paratroopers and performed airborne assault missions over Sicily and Italy as part of the invasion forces.

Reassigned to IX Troop Carrier Command in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) in February 1944 as part of the pre-invasion buildup of forces in England. Performed combat airborne assault missions as part of D-Day; Operation Market-Garden and Operation Varsity 1944-1945. Also performed supply and evacuation missions in France and the Low Countries; participated in the Western Allied invasion of Germany; 1945. Continued combat airlift and supply missions until the German capitulation in May 1945.

Squadron continued to operate from Achiet, France during 1945, performing transportation of personnel and supplies within Europe; demobilized in place during August, and inactivated as a paper unit in September 1945.

Operations and Decorations

 * Combat Operations. World War II: Included airborne assaults on Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland, and Germany, and aerial transportation in MTO and ETO, during World War II. Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949.


 * Campaigns. World War II: Sicily; Naples-Foggia; Rome-Arno; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Central Europe.


 * Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citations: Sicily, 11 Jul 1943; France [6-7] Jun 1944.

Lineage

 * Constituted as 49th Transport Squadron on 15 June 1942
 * Activated on 2 March 1942
 * Redesignated as 49th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942
 * Inactivated on 22 September 1945

Assignments

 * 313th Transport (later Troop Carrier) Group, 2 March 1942-22 September 1945

Stations

 * Daniel Field, Georgia, 15 January 1942
 * Bowman Field, Kentucky, 21 June 1942
 * Florence AAF, South Carolina, 4 August 1942
 * Maxton Airport, North Carolina, 13 December 1942-25 April 1943
 * Oujda Airfield, French Morocco, 11 May 1943
 * Kairouan Airfield, Tunisia, 16 June 1943


 * Sciacca Airdrome, Sicily, 4 September 1943
 * Trapani/Milo Airfield, Sicily, 3 October 1943-15 February 1944
 * RAF Folkingham (AAF-484), England, 24 February 1944
 * Achiet Airfield (B-54), France, 28 March-5 August 1945
 * Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, 21-22 September 1945

Aircraft

 * C-47 Skytrain, 1942–1945
 * C-46 Commando, 1945