63rd Troop Carrier Squadron

  December 1942 to May 1946

  United States of America

TYPE: USAAF unit

IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil

HEADQUARTERS: Bowman Field, KY (1942), Alliance AAF, NE (1942-1943), Pope Field, NC (1943), Baer Field, IN (1943), Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides (1943-1944), Los Negros Island, Admiralty Islands (1944), Mokmer Airfield, Biak, Netherlands East Indies (1944-1945), Dulag Airfield, Leyte, Philippines (1945-1946), Clark Field, Luzon, Philippines (1946)

FORMER NAME: Nil

SUBSEQUENT NAME: 63^rd Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium (June 1949)

The 63^rd Troop Carrier Squadron was one of the 403^rd Troop Carrier Group's eight squadrons during the second part of World War II. It was activated on 12 December 1942 at Bowman Field, KY with a fleet of Douglas C-47. Commandos started flying along with them from 1945 until inactivation in 1946.

The squadron initially trained stateside for overseas duty at various bases, and then moved to the Southwest Pacific theater of operations in the summer of 1943, initially based in the New Hebrides under the auspices of the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command (SCAT) and later 13^th Air Force. From Espiritu Santo, it supported the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns by transporting men and cargo to combat areas. The 63^rd evacuated casualties and dropped or airlanded supplies to guerrilla forces in the Philippines. The unit moved to the Philippines in 1945 and remained there after the Japanese surrender as part of Far East Air Forces (FEAF). It flew occupation troops to Japan, evacuated prisoners of war and flew cargo and personnel between Australia and Japan. In 1946, the squadron began to transition to the Douglas C-54 Skymaster.

The 63^rd was inactivated in May 1946.

February 1945* to May 1946

• Curtiss C-46D-10-CU Commando: 44-77767