Early years The squadron was originally activated as Marine Bombing Squadron 463 (
VMB-463), a fixed-wing bombing squadron, on 20 July 1944 at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, and assigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 62,
9th Marine Aircraft Wing. In November 1944, the squadron was reassigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 34. The following February, the squadron was reassigned to
Marine Operational Training Group 81 only to be decommissioned on 28 July 1945. On 15 July 1945, the squadron was reactivated at
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 463 (
VMTB-463) and assigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 51. The following year, on 20 March 1946, the squadron was once again decommissioned and would remain so until 1958. The squadron was reactivated on 1 September 1958 at
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana, California, as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 463 and assigned to
Marine Air Group 36,
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and then decommissioned again less than a year later on 30 June 1959.
Vietnam War Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 was reactivated on March 1, 1966, at MCAS Santa Ana and assigned to
Marine Wing Support Group 37, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing flying the
CH-53 Sea Stallion airframe. A four-plane detachment from HMH-463 deployed to
Marble Mountain Air Facility in
South Vietnam in January 1967 and was assigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 16. The remainder of the squadron would deploy during May 1967 to Marble Mountain where they participated in combat operations during the
Vietnam War for the next four years. On 8 January 1968, CH-53A #65-100 crashed in the
Hải Lăng Forest south of
Đông Hà Combat Base, killing all 46 personnel on board. One of the more different flights taken by the squadron occurred in 1968 when they participated in
Operation Bahroom. This entailed delivering an elephant via helicopter from the airstrip at
Chu Lai Air Base to the Special Forces camp at Tra Bong to work at a local
saw mill. 1970 saw the squadron start to delve into bombing missions or what they termed "barrel bombing." During this time they would fly 2 - 4 ship flights at low altitude to draw enemy fire. Once they encountered enemy contact they would then fly over the area again and drop
55 gallon drums of gasoline and napalm that were sling-loaded to the bottom of the aircraft. Usually the force of impact would ignite the barrel mixture but they would occasionally need machine gun fire from the helicopter door guns or rockets from an
OV-10 Bronco or
AH-1 Cobra. On a mission over "Charlie Ridge" just west of
Danang the squadron dropped over 400 tons of the fuel mixture against entrenched
North Vietnamese Army positions. After the Vietnam War, HMH-463 relocated to
Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii in May 1971 and was reassigned to
Marine Aircraft Group 24, 1st Marine Brigade. In 1973, HMH-463 returned to Vietnam and participated in
Operation End Sweep, the minesweeping operations in the
Haiphong–Hon Gai area of
North Vietnam from February through July. On 26 March 1975, HMH-463 embarked on the at
Pearl Harbor and the Hancock proceeded to
Subic Bay and then on station in the Gulf of Thailand. On 12 April 1975, the squadron participated in
Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of
Phnom Penh and 17 days later it participated in
Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of
Saigon. For its efforts during the U.S. evacuation of South Vietnam, HMH-463 was awarded the "Outstanding Helicopter Squadron of the Year" award by the Marine Corps Aviation Association in 1975.
1990s In August 1990, HMH-463 deployed to
Saudi Arabia to take part in
Operation Desert Shield. The squadron remained in
Southwest Asia to participate in
Operation Desert Storm before returning to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in March 1991.
2000s In March 2006, HMH-463 deployed in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), making it the first individual CH-53D unit to be deployed to
Iraq, but not the first CH-53D to enter the country for OIF/OEF. The squadron returned to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in October 2006 after being relieved by
HMH-363. In August 2009, HMH 463 deployed to the
Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. By the end of 2011, HMH-463 had retired all of its CH-53D helicopters. The unit completed the transition to the CH-53E in 2012. On 14 January 2016 twelve Hawaii Marines were killed when two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters collided off of Oahu’s
North Shore. HMH-463 was decommissioned on April 22, 2022, during a ceremony held at MCAS Kaneohe Bay. The squadron's stand down was part of a restructure of Marine Corps forces in Hawaii as part of the Commandant of the Marine Corps
Force Design 2030 initiative. ==Unit awards==