World War II The squadron was initially activated on 1 June 1943 under
I Troop Carrier Command and equipped with
Douglas C-47 Skytrains as the
93d Troop Carrier Squadron. It trained in various parts of the eastern United States until the end of 1943 when it was deployed to the
United Kingdom and assigned to
IX Troop Carrier Command. Prepared for the
invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Began
operations by dropping
paratroops of the
101st Airborne Division in
Normandy on
D-Day (6 June 1944) and releasing
gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The unit received a
Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom. After moving to France in September, the unit dropped paratroops of the
82nd Airborne Division near
Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the
airborne attack on the Netherlands. In December, it participated in the
Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near
Bastogne. When the
Allies made the air assault across the
Rhine River in March 1945, each aircraft towed two gliders with troops of the
17th Airborne Division and released them near
Wesel. The squadron also hauled food, clothing, medicine, gasoline, ordnance equipment, and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals. It converted from C-47s to C-46s and the new aircraft to transport displaced persons from Germany to France and Belgium after
V-E Day. Returned to the U.S. during the period July–September 1945, and trained with
Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft until inactivated. On 1 April 1981, the 93d TFS were reassigned to the
482d Tactical Fighter Wing. The squadron converted to the F-4D Phantom II in 1983, continuing to maintain combat readiness in tactical fighter operations.
The Makos began to convert to the
General Dynamics F-16A/B Fighting Falcon in November 1989. On 24 August 1992, Homestead Air Force Base was hit by
Hurricane Andrew, a
Category 5 storm, heavily damaging the base. The 93d FS evacuated the base and briefly operated from
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, between September and December 1992 before relocating to
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in February 1993 where
the Makos remained until March 1994. The squadron converted over to the F-16C/D Fighting Falcon in 1995, with most of their old F-16A/B aircraft being retired to
AMARC. While deployed they operated alongside the
Hellenic,
Israeli,
Italian and the
United Arab Emirates Air Forces.
The Makos deployed 12 F-16Cs to
RAF Lakenheath,
Suffolk, in the United Kingdom between 5–21 May 2019 where they carried out
dissimilar air combat training with
F-15E Strike Eagles of the
492nd Fighter Squadron and
RAF Typhoons. Across the two-week deployment, the 93rd FS flew more than 180 hours across over 136 sorties. ==Lineage==