History
Activated in mid 1943 as a B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomb squadron, trained under Second Air Force. Deployed to England in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) during November 1943, assigned to VIII Bomber Command as a strategic bombardment squadron. Participated in the air offensive over Nazi Germany and Occupied Europe until German capitulation in May 1945. Personnel demobilized in England and returned to the United States; squadron reassigned to Third Air Force for possible re-equipping with B-29 Superfortresses and deployment to Pacific Theater. Japanese capitulation led to inactivation in November 1945.
Activated in the postwar reserve as a B-29 squadron. Trained for proficiency as part of Strategic Air Command reserve forces. Activated as a result of Korean War in 1951, squadron's aircraft and personnel reassigned to Far East Air Force Bomber Command, inactivated as a paper unit.
Reactivated as Military Airlift Command reserve C-5 Galaxy squadron in 1973 and became associate squadron of 436th Military Airlift Wing. Since 1973 the 709th has trained for and flown airlift missions, participating in exercises and global humanitarian and contingency operations.
Read more about this topic: 709th Airlift Squadron
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.”
—Henry James (1843–1916)
“Boys forget what their country means by just reading “the land of the free” in history books. Then they get to be men, they forget even more. Liberty’s too precious a thing to be buried in books.”
—Sidney Buchman (1902–1975)
“We have need of history in its entirety, not to fall back into it, but to see if we can escape from it.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)