459th Airlift Squadron The 459th Airlift Squadron ( 459 AS ) is part of the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base , Japan . It operates the UH - 1 Iroquois and the C - 12J Huron aircraft , providing aeromedical evacuation and search and rescue missions . History . The 459th Airlift Squadron was established in mid - 1942 under II Bomber Command as a B - 17 Flying Fortress Replacement Training Unit ( RTU ) . They operated until March 1944 with the end of Heavy Bomber training . B - 29 Superfortress operations against Japan . The 459th Airlift Squadron was re - designated as a B - 29 Superfortress Very Heavy bombardment squadron on 1 April 1944 . After completion of training in January 1945 , they moved to North Field , Guam , in the Mariana Islands of the Central Pacific Area , and were assigned to XXI Bomber Command , Twentieth Air Force . The squadron ' s mission was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese home islands and the destruction of its war - making capability . The Squadron Flew " shakedown " missions against Japanese targets on Moen Island , Truk , and other points in the Carolines and Marianas . The squadron began missions over Japan on 25 February 1945 with a firebombing mission over northeast Tokyo . The squadron continued to participate in wide - area firebombing attacks , but when the Army Air Forces ran out of incendiary bombs after ten days , the squadron flew conventional strategic bombing missions using high explosive bombs . The squadron continued attacking urban areas with incendiary raids until the end of the war in August 1945 , attacking major Japanese cities and causing massive destruction of urbanized areas . They also conducted raids against strategic objectives such as aircraft factories , chemical plants , oil refineries , and other targets in Japan . The squadron flew its last combat missions on 14 August when hostilities ended . Afterwards , the squadron ' s B 29s carried relief supplies to Allied prisoner of war camps in Japan and Manchuria . The squadron remained in the western Pacific , although largely demobilized in the fall of 1945 . Some of the squadron ' s aircraft were scrapped on Tinian ; others were flown to storage depots in the United States . The squadron was inactive from the end of 1945 until 1949 . United States Air Force . It was reactivated as a reserve B - 29 squadron at March Joint Air Reserve Base , California , in 1949 . Squadron personnel were activated on 1 May 1951 for service in the Korean War service and reassigned to active duty units , which were deployed to the Far East Air Forces . The unit was inactivated in June 1951 and briefly reactivated as a C - 46 Commando Troop Carrier Squadron in June – July 1952 . During the Vietnam War the squadron was reactivated at Cam Ranh Air Base , South Vietnam , in 1966 . It provided intra - theatre airlift services in Vietnam , including air - land and airdrop assault missions from 1966 to 1970 . The unit was inactivated as part of the drawdown of United States forces . The squadron conducted airlifts of key Department of Defense personnel from April 1975 to March 1978 , aeromedical airlifts from March 1978 to November 1991 , and operational support airlifts since December 1991 .