The squadron participated in the D-Day operation, dropping 101st Airborne Division paratroops near Cherbourg Naval Base, then carried out re-supply and glider delivery missions the following day.
The squadron's aircraft flew supplies into Normandy as soon as suitable landing strips were available and evacuated casualties to England. On 17 July the air echelon flew to Grosseto airbase in Italy to prepare for operations connected with the invasion of southern France returning to England on 24 August.
Squadron moved to France in July 1944 and for the balance of the Northern France Campaign and the Western Allied invasion of Germany was engaged in combat resupply of ground forces, operating from Advanced Landing Grounds in northern France. Delivered supplies to rough Resupply and Evacuation airfields near the front lines, returning combat casualties to field hospitals in rear areas. Dropped airborne forces during Operation Market-Garden in September 1944 into the Netherlands; later participated in the airborne invasion of Germany in March 1945. After V-E Day, the squadron evacuated prisoners of war.
Returned to the United States in August 1945, became a transport squadron for Continental Air Command until inactivation in November 1945 when it was inactivated.
Reactivated as a reserve C-46 squadron at Grenier Air Force Base in 1955; inactivated 1957 due to budget reductions.
Operations and decorations
Combat Operations. Airborne assaults on Normandy, Southern France, the Netherlands, and Germany; relief of Bastogne; transportation of cargo and personnel in ETO and MTO during World War II.
Campaigns. Rome-Arno; Normandy; Northern France; southern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe.
Lineage
Constituted as the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron on 23 March 1943
Activated on 1 April 1943
Inactivated on 15 November 1945
Activated in the reserve on 16 July 1947
Re-designated 81st Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium on 27 June 1949
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