733rd Military Airlift Squadron
military unit
The 733rd Military Airlift Squadron, officially the 733d Military Airlift Squadron, is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was activated as the 333rd Bombardment Squadron during World War II. After training in the United States, it deployed to the European Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations. It returned to the United States in December 1945 and was inactivated at the Port of Embarkation.
The squadron was reactivated at Marietta Army Air Field, Georgia in the reserves in 1947, but was not fully manned or equipped until 1949, when it began to receive Douglas B-26 Invaders. It was inactivated on 20 March 1951 after being called to active duty for the Korean War, with its personnel used as "fillers" to bring other units up to strength.
When the Air Force reserves revived their combat units in 1952, the squadron was activated as a tactical reconnaissance unit. It briefly returned to the light bomber role in 1955, but in 1957, became an airlift unit as the 733rd Troop Carrier Squadron. It was again mobilized in 1962, and continued to serve as a reserve airlift unit until it was inactivated at Hill Air Force Base, Utah on 1 January 1973.
History
World War II
Initial organization and training
The squadron was activated at MacDill Field, Florida, on 15 June 1942 as the 333rd Bombardment Squadron, one of the original squadrons of the 94th Bombardment Group. The AAF had decided to concentrate training of heavy bomber units under Second Air Force, and the squadron moved to Pendleton Field, Oregon, one of that command's bases, two weeks later to begin training with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.
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This entry incorporates text from “733rd Military Airlift Squadron” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.