306th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron

The 306th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to Air Mobility Command, and operates from Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Mission
Attached to the 89th Airlift Wing, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, with 60 maintenance personnel, and also nearly a dozen operations personnel supporting four C-17 Globemaster IIIs. The squadron supports presidential airlift, through a mission known as "Banner Express". Aircraft and personnel are pre-positioned to support an expected surge in airlift requirements.

It is expected to commence operations in April 2012 and will inactivate in late November.

History
Activated in September 1943 under I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with C-47 Skytrains. Trained in various parts of the eastern United States until early 1944. Deployed to England and assigned to IX Troop Carrier Command, Ninth Air Force.

Prepared for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Began operations by dropping paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom.

After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on Holland. In December, it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne.

When the Allies made the air assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the 17th Airborne Division and released them near Wesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to C-46s and the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after V-E Day. Inactivated in Germany in September 1946.

Postwar the squadron was activated in the air force reserve in 1940 at Fairfax Field, Kansas, operating C-46 Commandos for Tactical Air Command Eighteenth Air Force. Inactivated during the Korean War in 1951, its aircraft and personnel being used as fillers for active duty units, then inactivated.

Operations and decorations

 * Combat operations. Participated in airborne assaults on Normandy during Operation NEPTUNE in June 1944, in Southern France during Operation ANVIL, over Holland during Operation MARKET in September 1944, and into Germany during Operation VARSITY in March 1945. Called to active service during the Berlin Crisis, October 1961 to August 1962; routinely flew airlift support missions to the Pacific region and Southeast Asia, 1964 to 1972.
 * Campaigns. World War II: Rome-Arno; Southern France; Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Central Europe.
 * Decorations. Distinguished Unit Citation: France, [6-7] Jun 1944. Air Force Outstanding Unit Award: 1 August 1967 to 25 October 1968. Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm: 1 April 1966 to 19 May 1972.

Lineage

 * Constituted 306th Troop Carrier Squadron on 25 May 1943
 * Activated on 1 September 1943
 * Inactivated on 30 September 1946


 * Re-designated 306th Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 10 May 1949
 * Activated in the reserve on 27 June 1949
 * Ordered to active service on 10 March 1951
 * Inactivated on 12 March 1951


 * Redesignated 306th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, and converted to provisional status on 27 March 2003.

Assignments

 * 442d Troop Carrier Group, 1 September 1943 to 30 September 1946
 * 442d Troop Carrier Group, 27 June 1949 to 12 Mar 1951
 * Air Mobility Command to activate or inactivate at any time after 27 March 2003.
 * Attached to: 89th Airlift Wing, 1 December 2011 to present

Stations

 * Sedalia Army Air Field, Missouri, 1 September 1943
 * Alliance Army Air Field, Nebraska, 15 December 1943
 * Pope Field, North Carolina, 26 January 1944
 * Baer Field, Indiana, 2 to 8 March 1944
 * RAF Fulbeck (AAF-488), England, 27 March 1944
 * RAF Weston Zoyland (AAF-447), England, 12 June 1944
 * Operated from Follonica Airfield, Italy, 18 July to 24 August 1944


 * Saint-André-de-l'Eure Airport (B-24), France, 5 November 1944
 * Operated from Metz Airfield (Y-34), France, 21 April to 15 May and 26 May to 10 September 1945


 * AAF Station Munich, Germany, September 1945 to 30 September 1946
 * Fairfax Field, Kansas, 27 June 1949
 * Olathe NAS, Kansas, 27 May 1950 to 12 March 1951
 * Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, 1 December 2011 to present

Aircraft

 * C-47 Skytrain, 1943 to 1946; 1949 to 1950
 * Waco CG-4A Glider, 1944 to 1945
 * C/TC-46 Commando, 1949, 1950 to 1951
 * C-17 Globemaster III, 2012