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1st Combat Cargo Group / 512th Troop Carrier Group

  April 1944 to December 1945

  United States of America

TYPE: USAAF unit

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Bowman Field, KY (1944), Baer Field, IN (1944), Sylhet, Bengal India (1944), Imphal, Manipur, India (1944), Tsuyung, Yunnan, China (1944-1945), Dohazari, Bengal, India (1945), Hathazari, Bengal, India (1945), Myitkyina, Burma (1945), Liuchow, Guangxi, China (1945), Kiangwan, Shanghai, China (1945), Camp Anza, CA (1945)

OTHER NAMES: 1st Combat Cargo Group (June 1944 to September 1945), 512th Troop Carrier Group (September 1945 to December 1945)

SUBSEQUENT NAME: 512th Troop Carrier Group, Medium (when reactivated August 1949)

Commandos operated, squadron or station unknown:

 

The 1st Combat Cargo Group was activated on 15 April 1944 at Bownman Field, KY. It trained under I Troop Carrier Command at Baer Field, IN until August 1944, on C-47 Skytrains.

The group moved to the China-Burma-India theater in August 1944, and began operations in September by transporting supplies and reinforcements to and evacuating casualties from Imphal, Burma. It continued to support Allied operations in Burma, flying in men and supplies from India, moving equipment required to construct and operate airstrips, dropping dummy cargoes to lead the enemy away from Allied offensives, dropping paratroops for the assault on Rangoon (May 1945), and evacuating prisoners of war who were freed by Allied advances. Meanwhile, part of the group had been sent to China, and for a short time (December 1944 to Jan 1945) the group's headquarters was located there. Operations in China included helping to evacuate the air base at Kweilin during a Japanese drive in September 1944, moving Chinese troops, and flying many supply missions, some of which involved ferrying gasoline and materiel over the Hump from India. The group, partially re-equipped with Commandos in June 1945, engaged primarily in transporting men, food, arms, and ammunition until the end of the war.

After V-J Day, the Group's combat task was over and it was redesignated 512th Troop Carrier Group on 19 September 1945. All of its squadrons were subsequently redesignated.

The 1st Combat Cargo Group was composed of four squadrons, however only two of them operated Commandos: