page_title: 21st Airlift Squadron
section_title: Modern era
hierarchical_section_title: 21st Airlift Squadron / History / Modern era
caption_attribution_description: English: 21st Airlift Squadron Lockheed C-5B Galaxy 87-0037 returns from a training flight March 31 2006. The event marked the final C-5 flight for the 21st Airlift Squadron. The day also marked the squadron’s 64th anniversary. Aircraft was transferred to the USAF Reserve 439th Airlift Wing, Westover AFB, Massachusetts. (U.S. Air Force photo by Nan Wylie)
context_page_description: The 21st Airlift Squadron is part of the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force Base, California. It operates C-17 Globemaster III aircraft carrying out United States Air Force global transport missions, duties which involve airlift and airdrop missions as well as provision of services and support in order to promote quality of life for both soldiers and civilians in situations requiring humanitarian aid.
  First formed as the 21st Transport Squadron at Archerfield Airport, Australia on 3 April 1942. Activated in the wake of the United States withdrawal from the Philippines, the squadron was formed with a mixture of personnel withdrawn from Clark Field and some reinforcements which had arrived in Australia but did not see combat in the Philippines. The squadron was hastily put together with some impressed civilian Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s.
context_section_description: As part of a worldwide realignment of Air Mobility Command assets on 1 October 1993, the 21st transferred its C-130s at Yokota to the 36th Airlift Squadron, which retired its C-141 Starlifters at McChord Air Force Base, Washington and moved to Yokota as a paper unit.    The 21st, in turn, was transferred to Travis Air Force Base, California where it took over the assets of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy 75th Airlift Squadron.  The 75th was transferred in turn to Ramstein Air Base, Germany where it took over the Douglas C-9 Nightingale medical Evacuation mission of USAFE.  This realignment was due to the large reduction in USAF assets after the end of the Cold War and the directive by USAF Chief of Staff General Merrill McPeak to retain notable units on active duty as much as possible.
  Since the conversion to the C-5 Galaxy in 1993, the 21st helped avert conflict between North and South Korea by flying triple aerial-refueling mission carrying Patriot missile batteries directly to South Korea.
  They were also involved in several humanitarian missions in 1994 including transportation of tons of badly needed medical supplies and food to disease-ravaged Rwanda, missions in support of the Haitian and Cuban relief efforts, and closer to home, the 21st provided the first C-5 crew to fly critically needed firefighters equipment to earthquake-stricken Los Angeles. With the combination of the C-5 and aerial-refueling, the 21st delivered heavy and outsized cargo from the cold of Russia to the heat of Indonesia.
  On 3 April 2006, the 21st Airlift Squadron celebrated its 64th anniversary. On the same day, the squadron transferred from the C-5 Galaxy to the Boeing C-17A Globemaster III. On 8 August 2006, the 21st received its first C-17, "The Spirit of Solano". With the arrival of the C-17, the C-5 Galaxies were transferred to the United States Air Force Reserve 439th Airlift Wing, Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts.
caption: 21st Airlift Squadron Lockheed C-5B Galaxy, 87-0037, returns from a training flight 31 March 2006. The event marked the final C-5 flight for the 21st Airlift Squadron.
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