Talk:6th Airlift Squadron

Military history: Aviation / North America / United States

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Oldest Airlift Squadron

I have removed a statement (citing Clay) that the squadron is the oldest airlift squadron in USAF and has been active since 1933.

First, the squadron was not activated until 14 October 1939 (Maurer, Kane, and Clay all agree on this). By that time, the 1st (15 July 1935) 2d (28 June 1935), 3d (5 July 1935) and 4th (8 July 1935) Transport Squadrons had all been activated. By the normal standard, the 2d Airlift Squadron is the oldest airlift squadron, while the 4th Airlift Squadron is the oldest active airlift squadron at the time this is being written.

The claim seems to be based on the squadron's status as a Regular Army Inactive (RAI) unit. First, this status did not date to 1933 for the 6th, but to July 1934. Clay, p. 1374. RAI units were units that were constituted in the regular army. Although they were not activated, they were organized with reserve personnel during the 1920s and early 1930s. Even though they had reserve personnel assigned, they were not Organized Reserve units. Because they had no regular personnel they were still considered inactive in the regular army. Clay, p. vi However, the 6th was not unique in having this status. All the lower numbered transport squadrons predated the 6th's RAI status, and were organized with reservices in March 1934. Clay, p. 1369-1370, 1372-1373. --Lineagegeek (talk) 00:44, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]