page_title: 773d Airlift Squadron
section_title: Combat in the Mediterranean Theater
hierarchical_section_title: 773d Airlift Squadron / History / World War II / Combat in the Mediterranean Theater
caption_attribution_description: English: B-17 of the 463d Bomb Group (World War II)
context_page_description: The 773d Airlift Squadron called itself the "Fleagles" and was most recently assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown Air Reserve Station, Ohio. The unit flew the Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.
  The squadron was first activated as the 773d Bombardment Squadron during World War II. After training in the United States with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, it deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it participated in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany, earning two Distinguished Unit Citations before inactivating in Italy.
  The squadron was redesignated the 773d Troop Carrier Squadron and activated in January 1953, when it assumed the mission, personnel and aircraft of a reserve unit that had been called to active duty for the Korean War and was being released from active duty. The squadron provided airlift for a number of contingency operations, and in 1968, moved to the Philippines, from which its crews and planes rotated to Vietnam to provide airlift support during the Vietnam War. The squadron was reactivated in the United States, where it continued airlift operations until inactivating in 1993.
context_section_description: The squadron arrived in Italy in March 1944 and flew its first combat mission from Celone Airfield on 30 March against an airfield at Imotski, Yugoslavia.  It engaged primarily in the strategic bombing campaign against Germany. It attacked targets like marshalling yards, oil refineries and aircraft factories in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia. The squadron was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation (DUC) for a mission against oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania on 18 May 1944. Clouds that obscured the target resulted in Fifteenth Air Force recalling the mission, but the squadron and the rest of the 463d Group did not receive the recall message and was the only unit to continue on, causing major destruction to the target.  Although crippled by intense fighter attacks, they also inflicted severe damage on the opposing air defenses.  On 24 May 1945, the 463d Group led the 5th Bombardment Wing in an attack against a Daimler-Benz tank factory at Berlin, Germany.  The squadron made a successful attack despite three separate attacks by enemy air defenses, including attacks by German jet fighters.  This action earned the squadron its second DUC.
  The squadron was occasionally diverted from its strategic mission to perform air support and air interdiction missions.  In May and June 1944, it bombed bridges to support the campaign for the liberation of Rome.  In August 1944, it struck bridges, gun positions and other targets to support Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France.  It hit military airbases, bridges and other tactical targets to support partisan forces and the Red Army advance in the Balkans.  During the last months of the war, the squadron operated primarily to support Operation Grapeshot, the spring 1945 offensive in Northern Italy.
  The squadron flew its final combat mission on 26 April 1945.  After V-E Day the squadron transported personnel (primarily soldiers of Fifth Army) from Italy to Casablanca for return to the United States.  By early September, the unit had been substantially reduced by transfers to other units and returns of personnel to the United States and it was inactivated in Italy with the end of Project Green in September 1945.
caption: B-17 of the 463d Group
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