21st Troop Carrier Squadron E Flight

Constituted as 21 Transport Squadron on 7 Mar 1942. Activated on 3 Apr 1942. Redesignated as 21 Troop Carrier Squadron on 5 Jul 1942. Inactivated on 31 Jan 1946. Activated on 15 Oct 1946. Redesignated as: 21 Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 21 May 1948; 21 Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium, on 2 Feb 1951; 21 Troop Carrier Squadron, Heavy, on 1 Dec 1952; 21 Troop Carrier Squadron, Medium, on 18 Sep 1956; 21 Troop Carrier Squadron on 8 Dec 1966; 21 Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 Aug 1967; 21 Airlift Squadron on 1 Apr 1992-.

In the early 1960s the CIA expanded its C-130 work into Laos, where the Laotian Civil War had ended, but where North Vietnamese troops still occupied much of the country. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy authorized the establishment of a special flight in the 21st TCS at Naha to provide C-130s to a special office at Kadena AB then under the command of Maj. Harry Aderholt. It was called E Flight and included maintenance personnel as well as aircrew. E Flight continued supplying C-130s for CIA use until the 21st transferred to CCK in 1971.