6th Airlift Squadron

The 6th Airlift Squadron (6 AS) is part of the 305th Air Mobility Wing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. It operates the C-17 Globemaster III supporting the United States Air Force global reach mission world wide. The main base, along with the flying squadron, is located near the borough of Wrightstown, New Jersey.

Mission
Train and equip C-17 aircrews for global airland operations.

History
The 6th Airlift Squadron is the oldest airlift squadron in the Air Force, having served with distinction since 1 October 1933. The squadron made airlift history during World War II when, in October 1942, it was transferred to Port Moresby, New Guinea. Then flying C-47s, the 6th became the first personnel transport squadron to fly in the Pacific. It was during this assignment that the squadron earned the nickname Bully Beef Express, as it carried tons of boiled beef to allied combat troops in Australia and New Guinea. The French called it "boujili boef', and the Americanization of the term has continued to this day to be the squadron's emblem.

The 6th performed aerial transportation in the Pacific Theater and Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II and in the Far East during the Korean War and after until 1968.

It has performed worldwide airlift operations since April 1970. The 6th conducted resupply missions in support of scientific stations in the Antarctic during Operation Deep Freeze from, 1971–1974. It re-supplied Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. It evacuated Vietnamese refugees during the fall of Saigon, April–June 1975. It has also supported U.S. forces in Grenada, October–December 1983, during the invasion of Panama, December 1989–January 1990, and during the liberation of Kuwait, August 1990–March 1991.

Operations

 * World War II
 * Cuban Missile Crisis
 * Korean War
 * Operation Deep Freeze
 * Operation Urgent Fury
 * Operation Nickle Grass
 * Operation Just Cause
 * Operation Desert Storm

Previous designations

 * 6th Transport Squadron (1933–1942)
 * 6th Troop Carrier Squadron (1942–1948)
 * 6th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy (1948–1966)
 * 6th Military Airlift Squadron (1966–1991)
 * 6th Airlift Squadron (1991 – present)

Assignments

 * 10th Transport Group (1939–1940)
 * 60th Transport Group (1940–1941)
 * 61st Transport Group (1941–1942)
 * 315th Transport Group (1942)
 * 63d Troop Carrier Group (1942)
 * 374th Troop Carrier Group (1942–1946)
 * 403d Troop Carrier Group (1946)
 * 374th Troop Carrier Wing (1946–1958)
 * 1503d Air Transport Wing (1958–1964)
 * 1502d Air Transport Wing (1964–1966)
 * 61st Military Airlift Wing (1966–1968)
 * 438th Military Airlift Wing (1970–1994)
 * 305th Air Mobility Wing (1994–present)

Bases stationed

 * Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania, (1939–1942)
 * Camp Williams, Wisconsin, (1942)
 * Dodd Army Airfield, Texas (1942)
 * Wards Airfield (5 Mile Drome), Port Moresby, New Guinea (1942–1943)
 * RAAF Base Garbutt (Townsville), Australia (1943–1944)
 * Nadzab Airfield Complex, New Guinea (1944)
 * Mokmer Airfield, Biak, Netherlands East Indies (1944–1945)
 * Tacloban Airfield, Leyte, Philippines (1945–1946)
 * Nielson Field, Luzon, Philippines (1946)
 * Naha AB, Okinawa (1946–1947)
 * Tachikawa (later, Tachikawa AB), Japan (1947)
 * Harmon Field (later, AFB), Guam, Marianas Islands (1947–1949)
 * Tachikawa (later, Tachikawa AB), Japan (1949–1964)
 * Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii (1964–1968)
 * McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey (1970 – present)

Aircraft operated

 * C-33 (1940–1942)
 * C-39 (1940–1942)
 * C-53 Skytrooper (1941–1942)
 * C-47 Skytrain (1942–1945)
 * C-46 Commando (1945–1947)
 * C-54 Skymaster (1946–1952)
 * C-124 Globemaster II (1952–1968)
 * C-141 Starlifter (1970–2004)
 * C-17 Globemaster III (2004-present)