| Unit Name: | 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron |
| Dates: | 1943–1946; 1949–1951; 1952–1955; 1957–1974; 2003–2004; 2005–2006; 2007–present |
| Role: | Airlift |
| Command Structure: | Air Mobility Command |
| Battles: | Mediterranean Theater of Operations European Theater of Operations[1] |
| Decorations: | Distinguished Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm |
| Identification Symbol Label: | 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron emblem[2] |
The 304th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 13th Air Expeditionary Group, based at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.
The 304th operates the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III airlifter in support of Joint Task Force-Support Forces Antarctica (JTF-SFA). The squadron provides the bulk of the air resupply between New Zealand and Antarctica. It also provides intercontinental transport of personnel and cargo to and from the United States.
The squadron consists of aircraft and personnel deployed to New Zealand from the 62d and 446th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
The squadron was first activated as the 304th Troop Carrier Squadron in September 1943 under I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with Douglas C-47 Skytrains. It trained in various parts of the eastern United States until early 1944. The squadron deployed to England and became part of IX Troop Carrier Command.
The unit prepared for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It began operations by dropping paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day on 6 June 1944 and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom.
After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the 82nd Airborne Division near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during Operation Market Garden. the airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne.
When the Allies made the air assault across the Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft of the squadron towed two gliders with troops of the 17th Airborne Division and released them near Wesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to Curtiss C-46 Commandos and used the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after V-E Day. It was inactivated in Germany in September 1946.
Postwar the squadron was activated in the air force reserve in 1949 at Fairfax Field, Kansas, operating Curtiss C-46 Commandos. It was called to active duty and activated during the Korean War in 1951. Its aircraft and personnel were used as fillers for active duty units, and the squadron was inactivated.
The unit reformed in the reserve in 1952, moving to Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base near Kansas City in 1955. Conducted routine reserve training operating Douglas C-124 Globemaster IIs flying worldwide transport missions beginning in 1961. The squadron was called to active duty due to the Berlin Crisis of 1961, but returned to reserve service in the late summer of 1962.
The squadron converted to the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft on 27 October 1971. It routinely flew airlift support missions to the Pacific region and Southeast Asia from 1964 until 1972. It was inactivated on 30 June 1974 when personnel and equipment was merged into the 303d Tactical Airlift Squadron.
Activated on 1 September 1943
Inactivated on 30 September 1946
Activated in the reserve on 27 June 1949
Ordered into active service on 10 March 1951
Inactivated on 12 March 1951
Inactivated on 26 July 1955
Redesignated 304th Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy on 8 May 1961
Ordered into active service on 1 Oct 1961
Relieved from active duty on 27 August 1962[3]
Redesignated 304th Air Transport Squadron, Heavy on 1 December 1965
Redesignated 304th Military Airlift Squadron on 1 January 1966
Inactivated on 30 June 1974
Activated on 15 August 2003
Inactivated on 1 March 2004
Activated on 15 August 2004
Inactivated on 28 February 2005
Activated 29 July 2005
Inactivated c. 28 February 2006
Activated 2007
500th Air Expeditionary Group, 15 August 2003 – 1 March 2004
Attached to 715th Air Mobility Operations Group, 15 August 2004 – 28 February 2005
500th Air Expeditionary Group, 29 July 2005 – c. 28 February 2006
Attached to: 13th Air Expeditionary Group, 1 October 2007