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The 441st Troop Carrier Group took part in the D-Day landings, the invasion of the South of France, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine.
The 441st was one of twelve groups to join the Ninth Air Force direct from the United States in the first half of 1944.
On D-Day the group dropped paratroops from the 101st Airborne Division near Cherbourg. On 7 June it towed gliders full of reinforcements to the same area. The group was awarded a Distinguished Unit Citation for its efforts.
In July 1944 a detachment from the group was sent to Italy, where it operated regular flights between Grosseto and Rome. On 15 August the group dropped troops from the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment on the Riviera. Later on the same day it flew reinforcements into the Riviera in gliders.
In September the group moved to France. On 17 September it dropped troops from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions to Nijmegen, and on 18 and 23 September towed gliders full of reinforcements to the same area (Operation Market Garden).
In December the group towed gliders filled with supplies to Bastogne to help the isolated 101st Airborne Division.
On 24 March 1945 the group towed gliders filled with troops from the 17th Airborne Division to Wesel, during the major Allied crossing of the Rhine.
After the crossing of the Rhine the group flew fuel to the advancing Allied troops.
After the end of the war the group became part of the US Air Forces in Europe, but was disbanded on 30 September 1946.
Pending
1943-45: Douglas C-47 Skytrain
1945-46: Curtiss C-46 Commando, Douglas C-47 Skytrain , Consolidated C-109 Liberator Express
25 May 1943 | Constituted as 441st Troop Carrier Group |
1 August 1943 | Activated |
Feb-Mar 1944 | To England and Ninth Air Force |
30 Sept 1946 | Inactivated in Germany |
Col Theodore G Kershaw:
8 Aug 1943
Col William H Parkhill:
24 Nov 1944-unkn
Lt Col Roswell
Freedman: unkn-1946
Col Hoyt L Prindle:
1946
Col James E Daniel Jr: unkn-
Sep 1946
Sedalia AAFld, Mo: 1 Aug
1943
Camp Mackall, NC: 18 Jan 1944
Baer Field, Ind: 22-29 Feb 1944
Langar,
England: 17 Mar 1944
Merryfield, England:
25 Apr 1944
Villeneuve/Vetrus,
France: 8 Sep 1944
St Marceau, France:
2 Oct 1944
Dreux, France: 3 Nov 1944
Frankfurt, Germany: c. 12 Aug 1945-30
Sep 1946.
32nd: 1945-46
61st: 1945-46
99th: 1943-45
100th: 1943-45
301st: 1943-45
302nd: 1943-45
306th: 1945-46
1944-45: 50th Troop Carrier Wing; IX Troop Carrier Command; Ninth Air Force
1945-46: 51st Troop Carrier Wing