15th Air Transport Squadron
Encyclopedia
The 15th Air Transport Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 unit. Its last was assigned to the 1607th Air Transport Wing
1607th Air Transport Wing
The 1607th Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the Eastern Transport Air Force, Military Air Transport Service, stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware...

, Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

, stationed at Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located two miles southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware.-Units:...

, Delaware. It was inactivated on 1 January 1965.

History

The 15th Air Transport Squadron’s lineage can be traced back to 18 February 1942 when the unit was constituted as the 15th Aircraft Ferrying Squadron. It was activated on 7 March 1942 and assigned to the Army Air Force Ferrying Command’s 23rd Army Air Force Ferrying Wing, 8th Ferrying Group, stationed at Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle, Maine
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in the sparsely populated Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,692 at the 2010 census...

.(1)

Presque Isle had been planned originally to serve as a transfer point at which Ferrying Command crews would turn over aircraft to the British for transoceanic delivery. Construction of the base’s facilities was authorized in August 1941, and the work proceeded through the fall under the supervision of Ferrying Command control officers. The base was ready for limited operations by mid October. It became the main port of embarkation for American aircraft flying the Atlantic. It was at Presque Isle that, in January 1942, the headquarters of the newly activated North Atlantic Sector of the Ferrying Command was established.(2)

On 1 July 1942, the Air Corps Ferrying Command became the Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command
Air Transport Command is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its mission was to meet the urgent demand for the speedy reinforcement of the United States' military bases worldwide during World War II, using an air supply system to supplement surface transport...

. It consisted of two main divisions, the Ferrying Division and the Air Transport Division.(3) From 25 July 1942 through 19 October 1942 the 23rd Ferrying Wing’s, Ferrying Groups and Ferrying Squadrons were re-designated as Transport Groups and Transport Squadrons. The 23rd itself, was re-designated the North Atlantic Wing as to be more descriptive of its geographical location. The 15th Ferrying Squadron was re-designated a Transport Squadron on 25 July 1942. On 1 September 1943 the 15th Transport Squadron was disbanded.(4)

On 19 May 1948, orders were issued by Headquarters Air Transport Command, that the 15th would be re-designated the 15th Air Transport Squadron effective 1 June 1948 and be assigned to the 520th Air Transport Wing, 520th Air Transport Group, Westover Air Force Base, Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts.(5) Then on 15 September 1948, orders issued by Headquarters Military Air Transport Service
Military Air Transport Service
The Military Air Transport Service is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command into a single, joint, unified command...

 (MATS), directed that effective 1 October 1948, the 15th Air Transport Squadron be re-designated the 1253rd Air Transport Squadron and the 520th Air Transport Wing and Group be re-designated as the 1600th Air Transport Wing and the 1600th Air Transport Group.(6) These orders did not direct a reconstitution of the unit nor a change in station. They did, however, maintain an administrative function, if necessary, for the temporary assignment of personnel procured from sources within the Military Air Transport Service. It is also noted that the 1253rd Air Transport Squadron was specifically a major command controlled organization and as such does play a part in the official lineage of the 15th Air Transport Squadron. It was not until 20 July 1952 that the 1253rd Air Transport Squadron was discontinued and the unit was re-designated and reconstituted as the 15th Air Transport Squadron (Heavy) and assigned to the 1600th Air Transport Wing, 1600th Air Base Group, Westover Air Force Base, Massachuetts.(7) The squadron’s aircraft was the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II.

On 8 March 1955, Headquarters, Military Air Transport Service (MATS), United States Air Force, Washington, D.C., directed that the Commanders of the Atlantic Division, MATS, the 1600th Air Transport Group (Heavy) and the 15th Air Transport Squadron (Heavy); all of Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, take the necessary action to move the 15th Air Transport Squadron (H) from Westover Air Force Base to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. On 9 March 1955, movement orders were issued affecting the transfer. The unit would move at its current strength and its transfer would begin on the earliest possible date after 15 April 1955 and would be completed no later than 15 May 1955. The unit would remain assigned to the Atlantic Division of MATS. When the unit move is completed, the 15th Air Transport Squadron (H) would be relieved of assignment to the 1600th Air Transport Group and would be assigned to the 1607th Air Transport Group (Heavy), Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.(8) Unit authorized strength was 68 officers and 342 enlisted personnel with twelve C-124 Globemasters assigned. The squadron commander was Major Wayne S. Crawford Jr.

It wasn’t long after the 15th Air Transport Squadron’s arrival at Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located two miles southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware.-Units:...

, that the squadron and its crews were initiated into a tradition that would last for the next ten years. During three weeks in May 1955 a crew from the 15th, in addition to crews from the 40th Air Transport Squadron and the 45th Air Transport Squadron, operated five aircraft in support of Project ICECUBE, the construction of the DEWLINE network in northern Canada. Operating out of Dover Air Force Base, these five aircraft and crews made a total of 28 hazardous ice landings at Mount Joli, Quebec, carrying over one million pounds of cargo.

A reorganization of the 1607th Air Transport Wing took place during the latter half of 1955. The mission and command responsibilities would not change; however, a new mission directive was published by Atlantic Division, MATS that increased the command’s responsibilities to the extent that the wing was required to accomplish all cross-service agreements with other agencies of the Department of Defense, maintaining a liaison with the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, and informing the Atlantic Division of the base facilities developments in relation to mission requirements. The most noticeable change affecting the 15th’s airlift operations was the activation of both the 1607th Air Base Group and the 1607th Maintenance Group placing them under the wing. Major George E. Hedge, formerly of the 15th ATS, would assume command of the Maintenance Group’s Periodic Maintenance Squadron. Also, the Air Force’s tradition of individual squadron maintenance would be abolished on 1 January 1957, when the maintenance function would be placed with the 1607th Maintenance Group.

The mission responsibilities of the 15th Air Transport Squadron’s airlift operation would expand considerably. In the years following, the 1607th Air Transport Wing assumed the additional responsibility for logistical airlift operations including entire unit deployments, airdrop supply, airlanded supply, scheduled and nonscheduled airlift, joint airborne operations and training to include the capability for airdrop of personnel and cargo.

With its new mission directive, the 15th Air Transport Squadron would assume its share of responsibilities in major joint mobility exercises and global operations conducted during the “Cold War”. Examples include: Big Slam/Puerto Pine, March 1960, was an exercise that deployed 22,000 combat Army troops and 12,000 tons of gear from stateside bases to Ramey AFB and Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station, Puerto Rico; Check Mate II, September 1961, involved the deployment of the 301st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to bases in Europe; Southern Express, October 1962, a NATO exercise which involved airlifting troops from central Europe to northern Greece; Big Lift, October 1963, the deployment of a full Army division from Texas to Germany; The Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...

, October 1962. In support of President John F. Kennedy’s decision to blockade Cuba, the 1607th Air Transport Wing was called upon to support the buildup of forces in the southeastern United States. The wing and its aircrews worked at peak capacity airlifting troops and supplies from bases throughout the country to Florida and Guantanamo Bay. History shows that we were within 36 hours of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union; Operation Good Hope, September 1957, the airlift of arms support to Jordan. Forty vehicles equipped with 109mm weapons were carried on five C-124s from Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to Amman Jordan; The Congo Airlift, also known as Operation “New Tape” was, at the time, history’s longest lasting operational airlift, lasting 3 1/2 years, from 1960 to 1964. A crew from the 15th Air Transport Squadron was the first Dover Air Force Base unit deployed in support of this operation and LtCol Harvey E. Beedy, Commander of the 15th ATS, was selected as the initial Provisional Squadron Commander headquartered at Chateauroux, France.

During its tenure at Dover Air Force Base, what seemed impossible to many was considered day- to-day routine operations to the aircrews of the 15th Air Transport Squadron. On February 7, 1960, a 15th ATS aircrew flew a record breaking non-stop flight from Hickam AFB, Hawaii to Dover AFB in eighteen hours and forty minutes; the AMIGO Airlift, mercy missions to Santiago, Chile in May 1960, when an earthquake literally re-made parts of that country. The 15th ATS flew 623 hours in support of this operation; in 1962, the 15th flew the last leg of the four month round-the-world tour of John Glenn’s space capsule Friendship VII; in July 1963, the 15th ATS flew the first leg of the presidential support mission for John F. Kennedy from Andrews AFB to Dublin, Ireland. It was on this trip, at the Berlin Wall, that President Kennedy spoke the famous words “Ich Bin Ein Berliner”; in February 1964, the 15th delivered a telepectograph to Ascension Island
Ascension Island
Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island in the equatorial waters of the South Atlantic Ocean, around from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America, which is roughly midway between the horn of South America and Africa...

 in support of the space Project FIRE. It was the first time such an instrument was airlifted as a complete unit. The 15th airlifted supplies and emergency equipment to Alaska after an earthquake struck that state in March 1964; and many re-supply missions from Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base
Thule Air Base or Thule Air Base/Pituffik Airport , is the United States Air Force's northernmost base, located north of the Arctic Circle and from the North Pole on the northwest side of the island of Greenland. It is approximately east of the North Magnetic Pole.-Overview:Thule Air Base is the...

, Greenland to the northern most weather outposts at Nord
Nord
Nord may refer to:Places:* Nord, California, an unincorporated community in Butte County, California* Nord , a department in northern France* Nord Department , a department in northern Haiti...

 and Alert. Both stations are within some 500 miles of the North Pole. These are but a few of the approximate 60 significant events added to the normal day to day global operations, of which the 15th Air Transport Squadron was involved while assigned to the 1607th Air Transport Wing. During the 15th’s ten- year history at Dover Air Force Base, the wing accumulated in excess of one million transport flying hours of which the 15th Air Transport Squadron shares a great part thereof.

In November 1964, the Secretary of Defense announced that eighty Department of Defense activities within the United States would be reduced or discontinued and that a troop carrier squadron would be transferred to Dover Air Force Base. Thus, by MATS Special Order No. G-180, dated November 30, 1964, the 15th Air Transport Squadron would deactivate along with the organization and reactivation of the 9th Troop Carrier Squadron. Some of the 15th ATS personnel were reassigned directly to the 9th TCS and others would be transferred to McChord Air Force Base, Washington and others to Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

. With this directive, the lineage of the 15th Air Transport Squadron (Heavy) was permanently terminated with the squadron’s deactivation at Dover Air Force Base.

Lineage

• Constituted as the 15th Aircraft Ferrying Squadron on 18 February 1942 and activated on 7 March 1942.

• Re-designated the 15th Transport Squadron on 25 July 1942 and disbanded on 1 September 1943.

• Reconstituted and re-designated the 15th Air Transport Squadron on 1 June 1948.

• Re-designated the 1253rd Air Transport Squadron on 1 October 1948.

• Re-designated the 15th Air Transport Squadron (Heavy) on 20 July 1952 and disbanded on 1 January 1965.

Assignments

• Air Corps Ferrying Command, 7 March 1942.

• 23rd Army Air Force Ferrying Wing, 8th Ferrying Group (later North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command) 25 July 1942 to 1 September 1943.

• 520th Air Transport Group, 1 June 1948.

1600th Air Transport Group
1600th Air Transport Group
The 1600th Air Transport Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the Atlantic Division, Military Air Transport Service, stationed at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts...

, 1 October 1948 (As 1253rd ATS).

1600th Air Transport Group
1600th Air Transport Group
The 1600th Air Transport Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the Atlantic Division, Military Air Transport Service, stationed at Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts...

, 20 July 1952.

• 1607th Air Transport Group (Heavy), 20 April 1955.

1607th Air Transport Wing
1607th Air Transport Wing
The 1607th Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the Eastern Transport Air Force, Military Air Transport Service, stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware...

 (Heavy), 18 January 1963 to 1 January 1965.

Stations

• Presque Isle Air Field, Maine, 7 March 1942.

• Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, 1 June 1948.

• Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, 1 October 1948.

• Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, 20 July 1952.

Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base
Dover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located two miles southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware.-Units:...

, Delaware, 20 April 1955.

Commanders

• Major Wayne S. Crawford Jr. unknown - 9 January 1957

• Major Benjamin F. Armstrong 10 January 1957 - 15 June 1958

• LtCol Harvey E. Beedy 16 June 1958 - 1 July 1962

• LtCol Louis O. Williamson 2 July 1962 - 24 February 1963

• LtCol Henry G. Bierbaum 25 February 1963 - 4 July 1963

• LtCol William C. McCamy 5 July 1963 - 12 December 1963

• LtCol John G. Weir 13 December 1963 - 1 January 1965
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