9th Airlift Squadron

9th Airlift Squadron
9th Airlift Squadron C-5B 86-0020 is marshalled out of its parking spot for a four-day mission March 8, 2012. This was the last active-duty C-5B mission flown at Dover AFB.
Active	1 January 1938–Present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Type	Airlift
Part of	Air Mobility Command 18th Air Force 436th Airlift Wing 436th Operations Group
Garrison/HQ	Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
Nickname(s)	Proud Pelicans
Engagements	World War II (Asia-Pacific Theater) Korean War Southwest Asia Service Defense of Saudi Arabia Liberation and Defense of Kuwait
Commanders
Current commander	Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Huseman
Insignia
9th Airlift Squadron emblem

The 9th Airlift Squadron is a unit of the United States Air Force based at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware and flying the C-5M Super Galaxy.

Mission

The 9th Airlift Squadron (9 AS) provides global reach with unique outsized and oversized airlift capability. The "Proud Pelicans" provide worldwide airlift to meet Department of Defense, Department of State and Presidential mobility requirements. The unit supports global engagement through direct delivery of time-critical theater deployment assets and ensures combat readiness of Air Mobility Command (AMC) active duty C-5 Galaxy airlift crews.

History

The 9th conducted replacement training through 1943, and subsequently aerial transportation in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

It has provided worldwide airlift since 1953. The 9th resupplied scientific camps in Antarctica from 1959–1961, and 1965–1968. It also flew missions to Southeast Asia from 1965–1968, and 1972–1973 and participated in the evacuation of refugees from Southeast Asia in April 1975. The squadron supported operations in Grenada, 24 October 1983 – 11 December 1983; Panama, 19 December 1989 – 14 January 1990; and Southwest Asia, August 1990–July 1991.

Lineage

• Constituted 9th Transport Squadron on 1 Jan 1938

Activated on 1 Dec 1940

Redesignated 9th Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 Jul 1942

Inactivated on 15 Oct 1946

• Redesignated 9th Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium, on 10 May 1949

Activated in the Reserve on 27 Jun 1949

Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951

Inactivated on 9 May 1951

• Redesignated 9th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 19 Mar 1953

Activated on 20 Jun 1953

Discontinued, and inactivated, on 18 Jan 1963

• Activated on 13 Nov 1964

Organized on 1 Jan 1965

Redesignated 9th Military Airlift Squadron on 8 Jan 1966

Discontinued, and inactivated, on 8 Sep 1968

• Activated on 1 Apr 1971

Redesignated 9th Airlift Squadron on 1 Dec 1991

Assignments

• 63d Transport (later, 63d Troop Carrier) Group, 1 Dec 1940
• Seventh Air Force, 3 Feb 1944
• VI Air Service Area Command, 25 Jul 1945
• Army Air Forces, Middle Pacific, 15 Dec 1945
• Pacific Air Command, 1 Jan 1946
• Far East Air Service Command, 9 Jan 1946
• 54th Troop Carrier Wing, 15 Jan 1946
• 374th Troop Carrier Group, c. Feb 1946

• 54th Troop Carrier Wing, 15 May 1946
• 403d Troop Carrier Group, 31 May-15 Oct 1946
• 63d Troop Carrier Group, 27 Jun 1949 – 9 May 1951; 20 Jun 1953-18 Jan 1963
• Military Air Transport Service, 13 Nov 1964
• 1607th Air Transport Wing, 1 Jan 1965
• 436th Military Airlift Wing, 8 Jan 1966 – 8 Sep 1968; 1 Apr 1971
• 436th Operations Group, 1 Dec 1991–Present

Stations

• Patterson Field, Ohio, 1 Dec 1940
• Brookley Field, Alabama, 18 Sep 1941
• Camp Williams, Wisconsin, 24 May 1942
• Dodd Army Airfield, Texas, c. 18 Sep 1942
• Stuttgart AAF, Arkansas, 11 Nov 1942
• Victorville Army Airfield, California, 18 Dec 1942
• Ft Sumner AAF, New Mexico, 4 Mar 1943
• Lawson Field, Georgia, 7 May 1943
• Grenada Army Airfield, Mississippi, c. 3 Jun 1943 – 17 Jan 1944

• Hickam Field, Hawaii, 21 Feb 1944
• Abemama Island, 27 Mar 1944
• East Field, Saipan, Mariana Islands, 4 Aug 1944
• Agana Airfield, Guam, Marianas Islands, Jul-15 Oct 1946
• Floyd Bennett NAS, New York, 27 Jun 1949 – 9 May 1951
• Altus AFB, Oklahoma, 20 Jun 1953
• Donaldson AFB, South Carolina, 15 Oct 1953 – 18 Jan 1963
• Dover AFB, Delaware, 1 Jan 1965 – 8 Sep 1968; 1 Apr 1971–Present

Aircraft

• C-33 (1940–1941)
• C-34 (1940–1941)
• C-39 (1940–1941)
• C-50 (1942)
• C-53 Skytrooper (1942–1943)
• C-47 Skytrain (1942–1946, 1949–1951)

• C-46 Commando (1945–1946)
• C-54 Skymaster (1946)
• C-124 Globemaster II (1953–1963, 1965-1966)
• C-141 Starlifter (1966–1968)
• C-5A/B Galaxy (1971 – 2012)
• C-5M Super Galaxy (2009 – Present)

Operations

• Operation Neptune
• Operation Deep Freeze
• Operation Urgent Fury
• Operation Just Cause
• Operation Desert Storm
• Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation New Dawn
• Operation Enduring Freedom