459th Airlift Squadron

459th Airlift Squadron
The first squadron C-12J arriving at Yokota Air Base, 29 June 2007
Active	1942–1944; 1944–1945; 1952–1952; 1966–1970; 1975–1993; 1993–present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Airlift
Part of	Pacific Air Forces
Garrison/HQ	Yokota Air Base
Decorations	Distinguished Unit Citation Presidential Unit Citation Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Insignia
459th Airlift Squadron emblem (approved 9 April 1945, restored 30 October 2011)
459th Airlift Squadron emblem (approved 1 June 1982)

The 459th Airlift Squadron is part of the 374th Airlift Wing at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It operates the UH-1N Iroquois and the C-12J Huron aircraft, performing passenger transport (including VIPs), aeromedical evacuation and search and rescue missions.

The 459th was originally established in mid-1942 as the 459th Bombardment Squadron 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.

The 459th Bombardment Squadron was reorganized as a Boeing 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.