page_title: 346th Tactical Airlift Squadron
section_title: Reserve training and Korean War callup
hierarchical_section_title: 346th Tactical Airlift Squadron / History / Reserve training and Korean War callup
context_page_description: The 346th Tactical Airlift Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force squadron that was last assigned to the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing at Ching Chuan Kang Air Base, Republic of China, where it was inactivated in May 1971.
  The squadron was first activated as the 346th Troop Carrier Squadron in the Air Force Reserve in 1949 and trained at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee. In 1951 it was called to active duty for the Korean War and served until 1953.
  In 1955 the unit was activated at Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee as a rotary wing troop carrier assault unit in a test of the USAF's ability to support United States Army assault operations. It participated in Operation Sage Brush, which was, in part, a test of this concept. The squadron was inactivated the following year and its aircraft distributed to helicopter support organizations.
  A few months later the squadron was activated as a fixed wing troop carrier assault unit at Sewart and equipped with Fairchild C-123 Provider aircraft.
context_section_description: The squadron was activated in the reserves at Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee in June 1949 when Continental Air Command implemented the wing base organization, in which combat groups and all supporting units on a base were assigned to a single wing, for its reserve units. At Memphis, it was assigned to the 516th Troop Carrier Group, which absorbed most of the reservists from the inactivating 95th Bombardment Group. The squadron trained under the supervision of the 2584th Air Force Reserve Training Center until April 1951.  The 346th was called to active duty that month, and, along with other reserve troop carrier organizations mobilized for Tactical Air Command during the Korean War, formed the new Eighteenth Air Force. It participated in tactical exercises and worldwide airlift. The exercises included a cold weather exercise (Snowfall) and a desert exercise (Longhorn). It converted from Curtiss C-46 Commando to Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar aircraft in 1952. The 346th was inactivated and replaced by the 773d Troop Carrier Squadron in January 1953.
caption: Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar
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