64th Troop Carrier Squadron

The precise relationship between the almost-forgotten 64th TCS and SCAT is murky and requires further research.  The squadron may have begun contributing to SCAT missions as early as August 1943, when photographs show Marine Corps and USAAF personnel readying squadron aircraft for para-pack drops during the New Georgia Campaign, a mission also performed by SCAT aircraft (the official Army Air Forces history by Craven and Cate indicated that SCAT was responsible for all of the airdrop missions, although it also misreported the relationship of the 13th TCS to SCAT and made no mention of the 64th TCS at all).  Technically, however, the squadron was directly controlled by Marine Corps island commanders such as Commander Air Munda (ComAirMunda), Brig. Gen. Francis Mulcahy, who also commanded the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, and later by Commander Aircraft Solomon Islands (ComAirSols) and the U.S. Navy's Fleet Air Wing One.  In 1964, Air University's Aerospace Studies Institute and the Army's Chief of Military History argued that the 64th TCS "was not attached to or operating with SCAT," denying the squadron the Navy Unit Commendation awarded to SCAT despite its implied inclusion in the original citation.  This statement cannot be entirely correct, however, as evidenced by the loss of the 64th TCS crew of C-47 41-18675 on a SCAT mission, which included a hospital corpsman from MAG-25, as noted in the Missing Air Crew Report filed by the 403rd TCG (see link at right).  It seems statistically unlikely that this was an isolated SCAT mission, although the crew may have been on temporary attached duty (TAD).  It also seems unlikely that, particularly at that point in the war, missions to forward areas directed by Marine Corps island commanders would not have been coordinated to some degree with SCAT in order to avoid confusion and duplication of effort.  Indeed, the island commanders had a close working relationship with SCAT and MAG-25.  The implied inclusion of the unit in the Navy Unit Commendation, as part of the 403rd TCG, should also not be dismissed lightly.  Evidence suggests that while the 64th TCS was not permanently assigned to SCAT, its crews were assigned to SCAT missions as needed and played an important role either within or alongside the organization during key periods, particularly the New Georgia and Bougainville Campaigns.  This site will be updated to reflect my latest research findings.