It was inactivated on 31 August 1971, when the 39th Tactical Airlift Squadron replaced it at Pope, before being reactivated in 2003 for service in Operation Enduring Freedom.

The air echelon trained for a few weeks in Tunisia before joining the remainder of the group in Italy and entering combat in April.

[6] The group engaged in long range strategic bombing missions to enemy military, industrial and transportation targets in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia, bombing railroad marshaling yards, oil refineries, airdrome installations, heavy industry, and other strategic objectives.

It bombed enemy supply lines to assist Operation Grapeshot, the advance of the US Fifth and British Eighth Army in northern Italy in April 1945.

[6] After V-E Day, the squadron was assigned to the Green Project, the movement of troops from Europe to the United States via the South Atlantic Transport Route.

B-24s were modified with sealed bomb bays, removal of all defensive armament and internal fuselage equipped with seating to carry approximately 30 personnel.

It provided air transport until the end of July when the unit was inactivated,[6] and most of its personnel assigned to the South Atlantic and Caribbean Wings of ATC.

In September 1954, the squadron moved to Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina where it was colocated with the Army's 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg.

Its crews and planes located in Vietnam were transferred to the newly activated 311th Troop Carrier Squadron on 8 July, and it returned to the 464th Wing on the same day as a paper unit.

The Wing's commitment increased to 14 aircraft with the development of an expanded rescue plan called Operation Dragon Rouge.

[10] The wing dropped Belgian paratroops into Stanleyville, and after the runways were cleared, landed additional troops at Simi-Simi Airport.

[c] An additional 500–1000 were evacuated from Paulis in a follow-on operation,[d] although not all hostages could be rescued and a number were executed by the Simba rebels.

[12] The 46 aircraft dispatched to San Isidro so overcrowded the field that many were unable to unload and some had to be diverted to Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico.

[15] The squadron continued to perform tactical airlift missions until August 1971 when it was inactivated and its mission, personnel and equipment were absorbed by the 39th Tactical Airlift Squadron, which had been inactivated at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio the previous month and which was activated at Pope the same day.