 | This article includes alist of references,related reading, orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| 59th Troop Carrier Squadron | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1942-1945 |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
The59th Troop Carrier Squadron is an inactiveUnited States Air Force unit. It was last assigned to the61st Troop Carrier Group, based atWaller Field, Trinidad. It was inactivated on 31 Jul 1945.
Activated in June 1942 as aI Troop Carrier CommandC-47 Skytrain troop carrier squadron, trained in the United States. Assigned to Twelfth Air Force and deployedNorth Africa during May 1943. The squadron's aircraft flew supplies to front-line units in Algeria andTunisia during theNorth African Campaign as soon as suitable landing strips were available and evacuated casualties back to rear area field hospitals.
Squadron engaged in combat operations, dropping airborne units into Sicily during the Operation Husky invasion and later into areas around Anzio, Italy as part of Operation Shingle, the invasion of mainland Italy and the initiation of the Italian Campaign, January 1944. Moved north through Italy, in 1943 in support of Allied ground forces, evacuated wounded personnel and flew missions behind enemy lines in Italy and the Balkans to haul guns, ammunition, food, clothing, medical supplies, and other materials to the partisans and to drop propaganda leaflets.
Was moved to England in February 1944, assigned toIX Troop Carrier Command,Ninth Air Force. Prepared for theinvasion ofNazi-occupied Europe. In June 1944, subordinate units dropped paratroops inNormandy, subsequently flying numerous missions to bring in reinforcements and needed supplies. During the airborne attack on theNetherlands (Operation Market Garden, September 1944), the squadron dropped paratroops, towed gliders, and flew resupply missions. Several of its subordinate units also participated in the invasion of southern France in August 1944. The 50th supported the 101st Airborne Division in theBattle of the Bulge by towing gliders full of supplies nearBastogne on 27 December 1944.
When theAllies made the air assault across theRhine River in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the17th Airborne Division and released them nearWesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals.
In late May 1945, afterV-E Day, the squadron was moved toWaller Field, Trinidad and attached to Air Transport Command. From Trinidad, the squadron ferried returning military personnel to Morrison Field, Florida, where they were sent on to other bases or prepared for separation after the war. The squadron was inactivated in place as an administrative unit on 31 Jul 1945.
|
|
This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
.svg)