37th Airlift Squadron The 37th Airlift Squadron ( 37 AS ) is part of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein Air Base , Germany . It operates C - 130J Super Hercules aircraft providing theater airlfit . Mission . Conduct airlift , airdrop and aeromedical evacuation operations . History . Activated in June 1942 under First Air Force , being formed at Patterson Field , Ohio . Trained at various stationd in the southeast and Texas with C - 47 Skytrain transports . Deployed to Egypt in November 1942 as part of President Roosevelt ' s decision to aid the Royal Air Force Western Desert Air Force , assigned to the newly - established Ninth Air Force , headquartered in Cairo . Transported supplies and evacuated casualties in support of the British Eighth Army , operating from desert airfields in Egypt and Libya . Reassigned in May 1943 to the USAAF Twelfth Air Force in Algeria , supporting Fifth Army forces in the Tunisian Campaign . Began training for the invasion of Sicily ; dropped paratroops over the assault area on the night of 9 July . Carried reinforcements to Sicily on 11 July and received a DUC for carrying out that mission although severely attacked by ground and naval forces ; dropped paratroops over the beachhead south of the Sele River on the night of 14 September 1943 . Remained in the MTO until February 1944 until being reassigned back to Ninth Air Force in England , IX Troop Carrier Command to participate in the buildup of forces prior to the Allied landings in France during D - Day in June 1944 . Engaged in combat operations by dropping paratroop s into Normandy near Ste - Mere - Eglise on D - Day ( 6 June 1944 ) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day . The unit received a third Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions . After the Normandy invasion the squadron ferried supplies in the United Kingdom . The squadron also hauled food , clothing , medicine , gasoline , ordnance equipment , and other supplies to the front lines and evacuated patients to rear zone hospitals . It dropped paratroops near Nijmegen and towed gliders carrying reinforcements during the airborne attack on Holland . In December , it participated in the Battle of the Bulge by releasing gliders with supplies for the 101st Airborne Division near Bastogne . Returned to the United States in May 1945 , becoming a domestic troop carrier squadron for Continental Air Forces . In the Korean War the squadron flew airborne assaults at Sukchon and Munsan - ni and aerial transportation between Japan and Korea . While deployed in Taiwan , crews of the 37th flew to Hanoi on 17 February 1973 in support of Operation Homecoming , the repatriation of American prisoners of war to Clark Air Base , Philippines , on 5 March 1973 . It conducted airlift operations during Operation Desert Shield in Southwest Asia , 14 August 1990 – 29 March 1991 . It airdropped humanitarian supplies in Operation Provide Comfort for the relief of fleeing Kurdish refugees in northern Iraq , April – May 1991 . The 37th flew airlift and airdrop missions to Bosnia and Herzegovina for Operation Provide Promise from July 1992 - January 1996 . In November 2009 , the 37th gave up its last C - 130E and now flies only C - 130J models .