I Troop Carrier Command

I Troop Carrier Command
Emblem of the I Troop Carrier Command
Active	1942-1945
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army Air Forces
Type	Troop carrier training
Garrison/HQ	Stout AAF, Indiana
Engagements	World War II

For the Air Transport Command which existed after 1 July 1942, see Air Transport Command

The I Troop Carrier Command (I TCC) is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with the First Air Force, based at Stout Army Air Field, Indiana.

Its primary mission was theater troop and logistics transport training. Equipped largely with C-47 Skytrain and later C-46 Commando aircraft, its wings acted as training organization in the United States during World War II, the component groups were then reassigned to deployed overseas Numbered Air Forces worldwide. As a result of the Army Air Forces reorganization after World War II, the Troop Carrier mission was reassigned to the new major commands, and Troop Carrier Command was inactivated on 4 November 1945.

History

The US Army Air Forces troop carrier mission officially came into existence on 30 April 1942 when the 50th Transport Wing, a unit that had activated at Wright Field, Ohio January 14, 1941, transferred out of the Air Service Command into a new unit named the Air Transport Command.

Originally assigned to the Air Corps Maintenance Command, which became the Air Service Command in October 1941, the wing's primary mission was to transport aircraft parts and other technical supplies from the Air Corps depot at Wright Field to air bases throughout the United States and as far north as Alaska and as far south as the Canal Zone.

When the Army began developing airborne forces, the 50th Transport Wing was given responsibility for providing aircraft and crews to transport the fledgling paratroopers to their drop zones. The Air Transport Command designation was short-lived. The Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, Mr. Lawrence J. Pogue, was pressing the White House to form a government airline to transport military cargo. In response to the pressure from the CAB, Army Air Forces chief General Henry H. Arnold decided to elevate the Army Ferrying Command to become a military transport command with the dual mission of coordinating military contracts with the commercial airlines and ferrying combat and training aircraft from the factories to operational units. The new organization was named the Air Transport Command and the former unit was redesignated as I Troop Carrier Command.

The 50th Transport Wing became the 50th Troop Carrier Wing and its subordinate units were redesignated as troop carrier groups. Included in the reorganization were two squadrons that were already active in combat operations in the Southwest Pacific, the 21st and 22nd Air Transport Squadrons, which had been activated in February and were operating as part of the Air Transport Command of the Far East Air Force in Australia.

With the activation of the I Troop Carrier Command, the Army Air Forces established the troop carrier mission as one of the four combat missions of the Army Air Forces - bombardment, pursuit or fighter, reconnaissance and troop carrier. Twenty-eight troop carrier groups were activated for training and combat service overseas. In 1944 three additional groups with a similar mission was activated as combat cargo groups, which were scaled-down troop carrier units with fewer support personnel and whose crews were not trained for paratroop operations.

Troop carrier squadrons were formed for assignment to three air commando groups that were established to support British special troops in Burma (one air commando group was assigned to Far East Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific.)

Lineage

• Established as Air Transport Command on 30 April 1942

Redesignated as I Troop Carrier Command on 1 July 1942

Disbanded on 4 November 1945

Assignments

• Headquarters, United States Army Air Forces, 30 April 1942
• First Air Force, July 1942-4 November 1945

Components

• 50th Transport (later Troop Carrier) Wing: 30 April 1942-9 October 1943, 29 September 1945-21 March 1946
• 51st Troop Carrier Wing: 1 June-19 July 1942
• 52d Transport (later Troop Carrier) Wing: 5 June 1942-8 May 1943, July 1945-27 August 1946
• 53d Troop Carrier Wing: 1 August 1942-11 March 1944
• 60th Troop Carrier Wing: 12 June 1943-8 October 1945
• 61st Troop Carrier Wing: 13 June 1943-4 October 1945

Stations

• The Pentagon, Virginia, 30 April 1942
• Stout AAF, Indiana, c. 20 May 1942-4 November 1945.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency

• Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
• Shaw, Frederick J. (2004), Locating Air Force Base Sites History’s Legacy, Air Force History and Museums Program, United States Air Force, Washington DC, 2004.