"Gordon" wrote

I would think that if you sent an aircraft into combat,
that its a combat a/c.

That would seem to make sense, with the defining
words "sent into combat" (as compared to "happened
into combat accidentally.")

It's difficult to believe anyone would seriously consider
a C-47 (or whatever) on a mission to insert paratroops
in a combat zone not a "combat aircraft."

From the Air Force News Agency:

"On 6 Jun 44, [Captain Vito] Pedone and Lieutenant Colonel
Joel Crouch, led the tactical beginning for the liberation of
Europe. Their mission was to cross the enemy coast on the
west shore of the Cherbourg Peninsula, France at 0006 hours
on 6 Jun. At 0016 hours, their C-47 dropped 18 paratroopers
on Normandy beach."

Only "combat aircraft" fly tactical missions, IMO.