page_title: 22nd Airlift Squadron
section_title: Reactivation in California
hierarchical_section_title: 22nd Airlift Squadron / History / Reactivation in California
caption_attribution_description: C-5 Galaxy of the 60th MAW, 1970s
context_page_description: The 22nd Airlift Squadron, sometimes written as 22d Airlift Squadron, is part of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California. It operates C-5M Galaxy aircraft supporting the United States Air Force global reach mission worldwide. The mission is to provide services and support which promote quality of life and project global power through combat-proven airlift and airdrop.
context_section_description: The squadron, however, was not inactive long.   It was reactivated at Travis Air Force Base, California on 8 February 1972 as part of the 60th Military Airlift Wing.  The 22d was equipped with new Lockheed C-5A Galaxy heavy airlifters and returned to its previous mission of intercontinental air transport of personnel, supplies and equipment.   It has continued its mission for the past 40+ years from Travis flying the Galaxy worldwide.   With its activation, the 22d and its sister C-5 squadron, the 75th Military Airlift Squadron supported the United States operations in Southeast Asia.   It returned US servicemen and equipment from Indochina in the wake of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, which ended United States involvement in the war.   However, squadron aircraft returned to South Vietnam in April 1975 as part of Operation Baby Lift, the evacuation of children and infants from the combat area near Saigon.   Unfortunately, a squadron aircraft was lost as part of the operation, killing the crew and many of the passengers (including infants).
  After Vietnam, the squadron returned to normal peacetime operations through the 1970s and early 1980s, supporting United States initiatives throughout the world by airlifting passengers, equipment and materiel wherever needed.     The squadron briefly returned to combat duty in October 1983, when it supported combat operations in Grenada as part of Operation Urgent Fury and airlifted combat personnel to the island and assisted in the evacuation of American civilian medical students back to the United States.
  In December 1989, the 22d participated in Operation Just Cause, which ended the dictatorship of Panama's Gen. Manuel Noriega.  In August 1990, the unit provided strategic airlift in support of the massive coalition forces buildup in Southwest Asia prior to Operations Desert Shield; Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch. These operations helped contain the expansionist policies of Iraqi president Sadaam Hussein.  In the wake of the 1991 Gulf War, the squadron also supported Operation Provide Comfort for Kurdish refugees (1991 to 1996) for Kurdish refugees threatened by Iraqi forces
  The 22d was redesignated the 22d Airlift Squadron on 1 November 1991.   Humanitarian operations were carried out by the 22d during Operation Fiery Vigil (1991), the evacuation of military personnel from Clark Air Base and their families from the Philippines following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption, and Operations Provide Relief and Restore Hope (1992 to 1993), aiding thousands of famine victims in Somalia.  In 1992 and 1993, the squadron provided airlift support to the Balkans peacekeeping missions beginning in 1995 with Operation Joint Endeavor, and continuing under Operations Joint Guardian and Joint Forge.
  Since 9/11, the 22d has provided vital strategic airlift in support of allied forces in Southwest Asia participating in Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn. In July 2002, a crew from the 782nd Expeditionary Airlift Squadron, consisting of members of the 22d and from Dover Air Force Base, made history when they conducted the first deployment in a combat environment of a C-5 aircraft by extracting a Canadian Forces infantry regiment and their equipment from a combat zone near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
caption: Lockheed C-5A Galaxy 68-10 of the 60th Military Airlift Wing in 1970s livery.
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