514th Air Mobility Wing, US Air Force: Difference between revisions

History: Established as 514 Troop Carrier Wing, Medium on 10 May 1949.  Activated in the Reserve on 26 Jun 1949.  Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951.  Inactivated on 1 Feb 1953.  Activated in the Reserve on 1 Apr 1953.  Redesignated as: 514 Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 Jul 1967; 514 Military Airlift Wing (Associate) on 25 Sep 1968; 514 Airlift Wing (Associate) on 1 Feb 1992; 514 Air Mobility Wing on 1 Oct 1994.

Operations: First trained at Birmingham, AL, as a Reserve troop carrier organization under supervision of the 2587 Air Force Reserve Training Center but moved without personnel or equipment to Mitchel AFB, NY during its first year.  At Mitchel it served under the supervision of the 2233 Air Force Reserve Training Center until it was ordered to active service in May 1951.  From then until its inactivation in Feb 1953, the wing performed troop carrier missions in tactical exercises and joint training operations.  It operated a C-46 combat crew training school from 15 Sep 1952 to 20 Jan 1953.  Activated again at Mitchel in Apr 1953, it trained under the 2233 Air Force Reserve Combat Training Center (later, 2233 Air Reserve Flying Center) to 1958, initially with C-46s but with C-119s by Aug 1954.  After 1958, the wing increasingly participated in humanitarian and other airlift missions.  By the mid-1960s, it was augmenting Military Air Transport Service (later, Military Airlift Command) airlift operations on a regular basis.  The wing trained South Vietnamese aircrews and maintenance personnel and Greek maintenance personnel in C-119 aircraft, 10 Aug to 18 Dec 1967.  In 1968, it ferried many C-119s to South Vietnam.  That same year, two of the wing’s groups began flying C-141s belonging to the 436 Military Airlift Wing at Dover AFB, DE and the 438 Military Airlift Wing at McGuire AFB, NJ.  A third C-141 group joined the wing in Sep 1969, associated with the 437 Military Airlift Wing at Charleston AFB, SC.  In 1969, the wing gained another group which flew C-9s of the 375 Aeromedical Airlift Wing.  A C-119 group remained with the wing until mid-1970.  In Jul 1973, its groups at Dover and Charleston were replaced by new Reserve wings, and the 514 Wing absorbed all of the squadrons of what had been its 903 Group at McGuire.  Continuing to use C-141 aircraft of the active wing at McGuire AFB (first the 438 and later the 305), the wing’s crews augmented Military Airlift Command units for strategic airlift missions worldwide, including contingency and humanitarian operations.  It also took part in strategic mobility exercises for training.  Among the operations in which 514 Wing crews participated were Urgent Fury to Grenada in 1983, Just Cause to Panama in 1989, and Restore Hope to Somalia in 1992.  In 1993 the wing added aerial refueling to its airlift mission and began to manage KC-10 as well as C-141 crews.  Deployed aircraft and aircrews in response to bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (1998).  Supported Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom following terrorist attacks on the US on 11 Sep 2001.  Assisted in humanitarian relief after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (2005) and after an earthquake severely damaged Haiti (2010).     

Literature: Image from Wikimedia Commons. Information from https://www.afhra.af.mil/