Operation Hawk – War broke out on the Korean Peninsular on 25 June 1950. Approximately one month later it was confirmed that “Thunderbirds” would deploy to McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Washington. From there they would operate as a unit of the USAF Military Air Transport System(MATS). Six aircraft with twelve crews and 180 support personnel on board left Dorval Airport in formation over Montreal, then over the Peace Tower in Ottawa, where the body of The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon W. L. MacKenzie King was lying in state.

After over flying to Toronto, the Squadron broke formation and the aircraft proceeded individually to McChord arriving early on 26 July.

The statistics for the Squadron on the Korean airlift are impressive. In just under four years, 599 round trips were made to the Far East. This entailed a total of 34,000 flying hours without loss of cargo or a single passenger. No one was injured on flight operations which was a miracle when one considers the numerous incidents and “near misses”.