page_title: 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron
section_title: Activation and move to Ardmore
hierarchical_section_title: 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron / History / Airlift operations / Activation and move to Ardmore
caption_attribution_description: English: 463d Troop Carrier Wing Lockheed C-130A-LM Hercules 55-031 1957
context_page_description: The 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron is a provisional United States Air Force unit, assigned to the 455th Expeditionary Operations Group at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan. The squadron provides airlift to forces engaged in the War in Afghanistan.
  The squadron was first activated as the 774th Bombardment Squadron during World War II. After training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before inactivating in Italy.
  The squadron was redesignated the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron and activated in January 1953, when it assumed the mission, personnel and aircraft of a reserve unit that had been called to active duty for the Korean War and was being released from active duty. The squadron provided airlift during a number of contingency operations, and in 1968, moved to the Philippines, from which its crews and planes rotated to Vietnam to provide airlift support during the Vietnam War.
context_section_description: The squadron was redesignated the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron and activated at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee 0n 16 January 1953.  At Memphis, it absorbed the mission, personnel and Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars of the 347th Troop Carrier Squadron, a reserve unit that had been mobilized for the Korean War and was being returned to the reserves.  In August, the squadron departed the civilian airfield at Memphis for the newly reopened Ardmore Air Force Base, Oklahoma.  
  The squadron airlifted equipment and supplies and supported Army airborne exercises.  The squadron became one of the first to equip with the new Lockheed C-130A Hercules in 1956.  The squadron also operated a Tactical Air Command (TAC)-sponsored flight demonstration team during the late 1950s and early 1960s known as "The Four Horsemen," utilizing four C-130A aircraft.  In September of 1957, Tactical Air Command (TAC) converted the 463d Wing to the dual deputy system.   The 463d Group was inactivated, and the squadron was assigned directly to the 463d Troop Carrier Wing.
  In July 1958, president Camille Chamoun of Lebanon was facing an insurgency against his government and requested military assistance from the United States, which implemented Operation Blue Bat.  The squadron, along with other elements of the 463d Wing, flew command elements of Nineteenth Air Force and other personnel and equipment of the Composite Air Strike Force to locations in the Middle East. The following month, the squadron provided airlift for the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis.
caption: 463d Troop Carrier Wing C-130A[note 3]
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