Operation Thursday: Birth of the Air Commandos

A bold, unconventional use of American airpower to support British ground troops in Burma, Operation THURSDAY marked a critical development in the history of modern warfare. OnMarch 5-6, 1944, the Allies conducted an air invasion of Burma, in an attempt to push back theJapanese in the China-Burma-India Theater andreestablish the land route between India andChina. U.S. airmen formed a special operationsunit-the 1st Air Commando Group--to transporttroops to jungle locations and resupply them, often in the line of fire. The remarkable successof this operation lives on, fifty years later, amongthe elite 1st Air Commando Group--a force committed to meeting the challenge of unconventional warfare any time, any place, anywher