BEEliners: 70 years in the making

  • Published
  • By Mark Wilderman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Historian
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  In early 1942, the 21st Air Transport Squadron was constituted by the U.S. Army Air Forces during the dark days of World War II, when Allied forces were in retreat before Imperial Japanese military forces throughout the Pacific Theater of operations.

The 21st ATS was activated on April 3, 1942, at Archerfield airport, near Brisbane, Australia and assigned to the U.S. Army Air Forces in Australia. The 21st ATS initially flew a large variety of twin-engine transport aircraft. On occasion, the 21st ATS flew the four-engine B-17 Flying Fortress, and the Consolidated LB-30 Liberator, as well as the twin-engine B-18 Bolo. On 5 July 1942, the 21 ATS was designated the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron and participated in the paratroop drops at Nazdab, New Guinea, in September 1942.

On Feb. 18, 1943, the 21st TCS relocated to Port Moresby, New Guinea, for eight months to again support the Allied offensive against the Japanese in New Guinea. On Sept. 28, 1943, the 21st TCS returned to Archerfield, Australia. On Nov. 12, 1943, the 21st TCS was assigned to the 374th Troop Carrier Group. From July 2 to Sept. 1 1944, the 21st TCS was attached to the 54th Troop Carrier Wing, stationed at Nazdab and later Biak, New Guinea. Starting in 1945, the 21st TCS replaced the venerable C-47 Skytrain with the larger C-46 Commando. The 21st TCS operated in Australia and New Guinea until the end of WWII.

Soon after the official surrender of Imperial Japan, the 21st TCW was stationed at Atsugi Air Base, Japan, as part of the U.S. Occupation Force. The 21st TCS was relocated to Manila, the Philippines, near end of 1945 until deactivated on Jan. 31, 1946.

The unit was reactivated on Oct. 15, 1946 as the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron flying the C-46 and the C-54 Skymaster from its new base at Harmon Field, Guam. On June 29, 1950, the unit relocated to Tachikawa Air Base, Japan. On July 21, 1950, the unit relocated to Ashiya AB, Japan.

The Communist-backed North Korean invasion of the Republic of Korea in June 1950 and the resulting three-year Korean War opened a new chapter in the history of the 21st AS, now known as the BEEliners. In September 1950, the 21st TCS participated in the airborne assault on Sukchon and Sunchon, Korea, which helped rout North Korean invasion forces and liberated the occupied Republic of Korea.

In November and December 1950, the 21st TCS participated in the Hagaru-Ri evacuation of the 1st Marine Division surrounded by 70,000 Communist Chinese troops in the Chosin Reservoir sector. The 21st TCS evacuated 4,700 wounded troops from the surrounded base under intense small arms fire. The 21st TCS continued to support all the major United Nations battles in Korea during the remainder of the Korean War, despite seven more relocations within Japan during the following two and a half years.

After the end of the Korean War in July 1953, the 21st TCS remained in the Far East, continuing troop carrier and transport service for four decades. In November 1955, the 21st TCS relocated from Tachikawa AB, Japan, to Naha AB, Okinawa. In 1956, the unit began to operate the C-119 Flying Boxcar and was designated the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron. In 1958, the 21st TCS began to replace its C-119s with the more capable turboprop C-130 Hercules.

During the Vietnam War, the 21st TCS provided C-130 aircraft and crews for transport missions and special operations missions throughout Southeast Asia. On Aug. 1, 1967, the 21 TCS was designated the 21st Tactical Airlift Squadron, assigned to the 374th Operations Group. The 21st TCS supported the U.S. Marines surrounded at Khe Sanh in 1968 with massive airdrops and assault landings under intense small arms fire. The 21st TAS crews also made airdrops and short-field landing in support of U.S. ground forces during the fierce battles of at An Loc and Kontum. In March and April 1975, the 21st TAS flew logistical support and evacuation missions from its new location at Clark AB, Republic of the Philippines, to Cambodia and South Vietnam, as those two nations fell to Communist forces.

The 21st TAS also played a key role in Operation Baby Lift, the evacuation of orphans from Southeast Asia, and Operation New Life, the relocation of several thousand refugees to safe havens after the end of the war.

As a result of its Southeast Asia service, the BEEliners earned a Presidential Unit Citation, two Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards, and an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Combat V device.

After Vietnam, the 21st TAS operated its C-130s under the 374th Operations Group throughout the entire western Pacific region from Clark AB, flying resupply missions to Wake Island, Micronesia, and U.S. embassies in Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong.

In May 1976, they delivered relief supplies to earthquake victims in New Guinea and Indonesia. On Oct. 1, 1989, the 21st TAS relocated to Yokota AB, Japan. In 1991, the 21st AS participated in the evacuation of more than 23,000 U.S. military personnel and their families from the Philippines during the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption. On April 1, 1992, the unit was designated the 21st Airlift Squadron, the name it carries to this day.