Airborne forces critical equipment carried in 408 gliders daylight missions code-named Operation Bluebird, phase 2, simultaneous with the beach landings, and Operation Dove, phase 3. A second daylight parachute drop, Operation Canary, dropped 736 men of the 551st PIB with nearly 100% effectiveness late on the afternoon of August 15. The airborne objective was to capture the area, destroy all enemy positions and hold the ground until the U.S. Seventh Army came ashore. Operation Market Garden of September 1944, involved 35,000 airborne troops dropped up to behind German lines in an attempt to capture a series of bridges over the Maas, Waal
2d Airborne Command and Control Squadron 2d Airborne Command and Control Squadron The United States Air Force's 2d Airborne Command and Control Squadron was an airborne command and control unit located at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. The squadron was an integral part of the United States' Post Attack Command and Control System, performing the Operation Looking Glass mission with the Boeing EC-135 aircraft. From its activation in April 1942 until it was disbanded in 1944, the 2d Ferrying Squadron received aircraft at their factory of origin and ferried them to the units to which they were assigned. The 2d Liaison Squadron provided emergency air evacuation,