page_title: 710th Airlift Squadron
section_title: Combat in the European Theater
hierarchical_section_title: 710th Airlift Squadron / History / World War II / Combat in the European Theater
caption_attribution_description: English: Air raid on Koblenz (Germany) by the US Air Force, September 19th 1944, 447th Bombardment Group (Letter K in a square) Deutsch: Zielfoto der US Air Force während der Bombenabwürfe auf Koblenz am 19. September 1944
context_page_description: The 710th Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. It was last active as a reserve unit. It was an associate airlift squadron of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, assigned to the 349th Operations Group at Travis Air Force Base, California, where it was inactivated on 1 January 1998.
  The squadron was established as the 710th Bombardment Squadron, a heavy bomber squadron. After training in the United States, it deployed to the European Theatre of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It returned to the United States and was inactivated in November 1945.
context_section_description: The squadron was stationed at RAF Rattlesden, England, from December 1943 to August 1945. It flew its first combat mission on 24 December 1943 against a V-1 flying bomb launch site near Saint-Omer in Northern France.
  From December 1943 to May 1944, the squadron helped prepare for the invasion of the European continent by attacking submarine pens, naval installations, and cities in Germany; missile sites and ports in France; and airfields and marshaling yards in France, Belgium and Germany. The squadron conducted heavy bombardment missions against German aircraft industry during Big Week, 20 to 25 February 1944.
  The unit supported Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 by bombing airfields and other targets. On D-Day the squadron bombed the beachhead area using pathfinder aircraft.
  The squadron aided in Operation Cobra, the breakthrough at Saint Lo, France, and the effort to take Brest, France, from July to September 1944. It bombed strategic targets from October to December 1944, concentrating on sources of oil production. It assaulted marshalling yards, railroad bridges and communication centers during the Battle of the Bulge from December 1944 to January 1945. In March 1945 the group bombed an airfield in support of Operation Varsity, the airborne assault across the Rhine.  The unit flew its last combat mission on 21 April 1945 against a marshalling yard at Ingolstadt, Germany.
  The 710th redeployed to the United States during the summer 1945. The air echelon ferried their aircraft and personnel back to the United States, leaving on 29 and 30 June 1945. The squadron ground echelon, along with the group headquarters and 708th squadron sailed on the SS Joseph T. Robinson on 1 August 1945, from Liverpool.  Most personnel were discharged at Camp Myles Standish after arrival at the port of Boston.  A small cadre proceeded to Drew Field, Florida and the squadron inactivated on 7 November 1945.
caption: B-17s of the 447th Bombardment Group attacking Koblenz 19 September 1944
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