in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. At the end of the war it supported Operation Grapeshot, the final advances of the Allies in northern Italy. Following V-E Day, The unit was assigned to Air Transport Command for the Green Project. It used its B-24s as transport aircraft, flying personnel from locations in France and Italy to Casablanca, French Morocco. It also engaged in transport operations from North Africa to the Azores or Dakar in French West Africa until it was inactivated on 25 July 1945. Strategic Air Command In 1959 Strategic Air Command (SAC) established the 4138th Strategic Wing at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia as part of SAC's plan to disperse its Boeing B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike. In 1962, in order to perpetuate the lineage of inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its Major Command controlled strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to replace them with Air Force controlled units, which could carry on their lineage and history. In this reorganization, the 824th was activated on 1 February 1963 to replace the 336th Bombardment Squadron, which was simultaneously inactivated and transferred its mission, personnel and B-52s to the 824th. Half of the squadron's aircraft were maintained on fifteen-minute alert, fully fueled and ready for combat to reduce their vulnerability to a Soviet missile strike. The squadron trained for strategic bombardment operations to meet the operational commitments of SAC. On 13 January 1964, a squadron B-52D bomber was returning to Turner from Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts. The plane was carrying two nuclear weapons. Near Cumberland, Maryland, the aircraft encountered severe turbulence and failed structurally. Only two crewmembers survived the crash. In April 1966, the squadron became non-operational when its personnel and B-52Ds deployed to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, where they replaced B-52Fs that SAC had been deploying to Andersen for the Vietnam War since the previous year. The squadron's planes had been modified under a program called Big Belly, which increased their bombload to 84 500lb bombs or 42 750lb bombs, from the 27 they could previously carry. The squadron's deployed elements returned to Turner on 30 September 1966, and the 824th was awarded an Air