World War II The
squadron was first activated as the
758th Bombardment Squadron at
Alamogordo Army Air Field, New Mexico on 1 July 1943 as one of the original squadrons of the
459th Bombardment Group. It was equipped with
Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bombers and trained at
Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona. The squadron received deployment orders for the
Mediterranean Theater of Operations in September 1943, but was diverted to fly long-range convoy escort missions over the Newfoundland Banks to Long Island Sound, November–December 1943 while its station in Italy was being constructed. The squadron deployed to Southern Italy in January 1944 and entered combat in March as part of
Fifteenth Air Force's strategic bombing campaign. The squadron attacked enemy military, industrial and transportation targets in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Yugoslavia, bombing railroad
marshalling yards, oil refineries, airfields, concentration centers and other strategic objectives. The squadron earned a
Distinguished Unit Citation when the 459th Group led the
304th Bombardment Wing on a raid against an aircraft plant at
Bad Vöslau. The
group pressed its attack despite opposition by enemy
interceptors and intense
flak. President
Truman's reduced 1949 defense budget required reductions in the number of units in the Air Force, In addition,
Continental Air Command, which had assumed responsibility for reserve training in 1948, reorganized its reserve units under the
wing base organization system in 1949. This resulted in the squadron's parent 459th Group being reduced to a single operational squadron, and the 758th was inactivated on 27 June 1949. The 459th
Wing, located at
Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland activated the 758th, now the
758th Troop Carrier Squadron, in 1957 as its third flying squadron at
Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pennsylvania. In April 1959, the wing reorganized under the Dual Deputy system. Its
459th Troop Carrier Group was inactivated and the
756th,
757th and 758th Troop Carrier Squadrons were assigned directly to the wing.
Activation of groups under the wing Although the dispersal of flying units was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the
Berlin Crisis of 1961 To resolve this, at the start of 1962, Continental Air Command determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing
groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for the
Cuban Missile Crisis. The formation of troop carrier groups was delayed until January for wings that had not been mobilized. The squadron was assigned to the new
911th Troop Carrier Group on 17 January. ==Lineage==