41st Airlift Squadron


The 41st Airlift Squadron is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the Air Mobility Command's 19th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. It operates Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules aircraft.
The 41st AS became Air Mobility Command's first active-duty C-130J combat unit during 2007.

History

World War II

The squadron was constituted as 41 Transport Squadron on 2 Feb 1942. Activated on 18 Feb 1942 at Duncan Field, Texas. Redesignated as: 41 Troop Carrier Squadron on 4 July 1942. The 41st participated in airborne drops on Nadzab, Noemfoor, Tagaytay, Corregidor, and Aparri, as well as aerial transportation in South, Southwest, and Western Pacific, during World War II.
While stationed at the Hollandia Airfield Complex, the squadron rebuilt a captured Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar fighter.

Occupation of Japan and Berlin Airlift

Redesignated 41 Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 30 June 1948 and participated in the Berlin Airlift in 1948. The 41st was inactivated on 14 Sep 1949.

Airlift operations and Vietnam War

Redesignated as 41 Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium, on 3 July 1952 and activated on 14 July 1952. The 41st transported United Nations troops to the Congo in 1960, Redesignated as: 41 Troop Carrier Squadron on 8 Dec 1965. Airlifted personnel and equipment to Southeast Asia from Ryukyu Islands from, 1965–1971. The 41 Troop Carrier Squadron was renamed 41 Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 August 1967. Supported airlift operations in Korea during Pueblo crisis in January 1968.

European deployments and expeditionary operations

The squadron was inactivated on 28 February 1971. Activated on 31 August 1971. It has supported U.S. Army training and performed rotational duty throughout Europe, since 1971. The 41st airlifted personnel, special forces and supplies during operations in Grenada in 1983, Panama from December 1989 – January 1990, and in Southwest Asia from, 11 August 1990 – 21 March 1991. Redesignated as the 41st Airlift Squadron on 1 January 1992.

Modern Era

The 'Blackcats' received their first on 13 March 2007, this marked the start of the squadron's replacement of their elderly C-130H Hercules transporters.
On 26 July 2019, the 41st Airlift Squadron was awarded the 2018 General Joseph Smith Trophy for being the most outstanding airlift squadron in Air Mobility Command for 2018. The squadron led the largest wing exercises in a decade, delivered the most prevalent overseas airdrop in five years, and had the Air Force's lowest C-130J mishap rate for eight years.

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