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VR-7 was originally
established in April 1943 under command of the Naval Air Transport
Service at NAS Miami FL to engage in the airlift of priority cargo and
personnel between the U.S. and South America. The aircraft assigned was
the Douglas R4D. Dis-established in 1944, the squadron was re-born in
Nov. 1946 with the integration of personel from VR-10, again utilizing
the R4D. There it performed as a Headquarters squadron on Guam Island
with detachments in Manila Philippines, Shanghai China, Iwo Jima Island
and finally Tokyo Japan following the Japanese surrender. It was then
disestblished in 1948
In response to increasing military requirements for airlift support in
the Pacific, VR-7 attained its third life at Hickam AFB Hawaii with Capt.
S.M. Adams commanding, under the direction of Commander Pacific Division
of MATS. Its core of experienced personnel were from VR-8 recently
returned from the Berlin Airlift also at Hickam and supplemented by
additional personnel from throughout the fleet. Both squadrons then were
assigned the R5D Douglas Skymaster and provided additonal long range
airlift capacity to the MATS routes in the Pacific. The route included
stops at Midway, Kwajelein, Wake, Guam, Okinawa Islands and Japan and
the Philippines.
In late 1953 the squadron began the arduous
task of acquiring and training in the state of the art R7V Super
Constellation aircraft. This aircraft allowed for longer range
Trans-Pacific service, eliminating the need for frequent refueling stops
at the lesser Pacific Islands. A complement of 16 aircraft, their flight
crews and maintenance personnel and equipment was assigned.
Shortly thereafter they were chosen to establish and maintain the "Embassy
Run" which originated at Travis AFB CA and traveled westward across the
Pacific to American Embassies in Tokyo (Tachikawa AFB), Manila (Clark
AFB), Saigon Indo China (Than Son Nhut AB), Calcutta India, Bangkok
Thailand, Calcutta India, New Delhi India, Karachi Pakistan and
terminating at Dhahran Saudi Arabia. There it met the Eastern "Embassy
Run" flown by squadrons of the Atlantic Division of MATS.
In 1957 the squadron relocated to NAS Moffett Fld. CA as the operational
squadron along with VR-8 as the maintenance squadron with all 32
aircraft. In 1963 the squadrons received a new aircraft, the C-130E long
range heavy lift transport, and supplied the R7V to Air National Guard
and AF Reserve units throughout the U.S. This also changed their role to
that of combat air lift and supply. This new role entailed serious
training in formation flying, paratroop and equipment insertion and low
level radar evasion tactics.
In 1967, along with other Navy units assigened to MATS, VR-7 was
dis-established at NAS Moffett Fld. CA. During its illustrious history,
it had flown the R4D Skytrain, R5D Skymaster, the R7V Super
Constellation and the C-130E Hercules with a loss of only 3 aircraft. A
Hearty, Hail and Farewell was given to this fine squadron.
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