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514th Air Mobility Wing | |
|---|---|
 A wingC-17 Globemaster III aircraft carrying Vice PresidentJoe Biden arrives atSather Air Base, Iraq | |
| Active | 1949–1953; 1953–present |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Air Force |
| Role | Airlift |
| Part of | Air Force Reserve Command |
| Garrison/HQ | McGuire Air Force Base |
| Decorations | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Colonel Christopher C. Holland |
| Insignia | |
| 514th Air Mobility Wing emblem[a][1] |  |
| 514th Air Mobility Wing emblem[b][1] |  |
| 514th Troop Carrier Wing emblem[c][2] |  |
The514th Air Mobility Wing is awing of theUnited States Air Force based at theMcGuire AFB element ofJoint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey. The 514th is anassociate Air Force reserve unit. The wing flies aircraft assigned to the active-duty305th Air Mobility Wing, also based at McGuire. The 514th shares the responsibility of maintaining and flying theMcDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III.
The wing was organized in June 1949, whenContinental Air Command reorganized itsreserve units under thewing base organization. It wasmobilized for theKorean War, serving at its home station as part ofEighteenth Air Force, which was initially composed of reserve troop carrier units. The wing was released from active duty and inactivated in February 1953.
The wing was reactivated in April 1953. In 1968, it lost its aircraft and became an associate unit, flying and maintaining aircraft of the regular438th Military Airlift Wing, and later of the 305th Air Mobility Wing.
The wing was first activated atBirmingham Municipal Airport, Alabama in June 1949 as the514th Troop Carrier Wing, assuming the resources of the19th Air Division, while its514th Troop Carrier Group replaced the inactivating99th Bombardment Group. It trained under the supervision of the 2587th Air Force Reserve Training Center. Only four months after activation, it moved on paper toMitchel Air Force Base, New York, where it replaced the84th Fighter Wing, while the319th Bombardment Wing assumed its personnel and equipment in Birmingham.[2]
At Mitchel, the wing trained under the supervision of the 2233d Air Reserve Training Center until it was mobilized for theKorean War in May 1951. The wing was one of sixCurtiss C-46 Commando wings mobilized forTactical Air Command. These wings formed the basis for the formation ofEighteenth Air Force[3] It served on active duty at Mitchel until inactivated in February 1953.[2]
The wing was again activated in the reserves in April 1953 and, again, trained under the 2233d Center, initially with Commandos but withFairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars by August 1954. In the summer of 1956, the wing participated in Operation Sixteen Ton during its two weeks of active duty training. Sixteen Ton was performed entirely by reserve troop carrier units and movedUnited States Coast Guard equipment FromFloyd Bennett Naval Air Station toIsla Grande Airport in Puerto Rico andSan Salvador in the Bahamas. After the success of this operation, the wing began to use inactive duty training periods for Operation Swift Lift, transporting high priority cargo for the Air Force and Operation Ready Swap, transporting aircraft engines betweenAir Materiel Command's depots.[4]
In 1958, the 2233d Center was inactivated and some of its personnel were absorbed by the wing. In place of active duty support[d] for reserve units, ConAC adopted the Air Reserve Technician program, in which acadre of the unit consisted of full-time personnel who were simultaneously civilian employees of the Air Force and also held military rank as members of the reserves.[5] After 1958, the wing increasingly participated inhumanitarian and other airlift missions. By the mid-1960s, it was augmentingMilitary Air Transport Service airlift operations on a regular basis.
Starting in late 1955,Continental Air Command (ConAC) began to disperse some of its reserve flying squadrons to separate bases in order to improve recruiting and avoid public objection to entire wings of aircraft being stationed near large population centers under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept.[6] The wing's337th Troop Carrier Squadron was activated atBradley Field, Connecticut in July 1958 and its336th Troop Carrier Squadron moved toStewart Air Force Base, New York in April 1961 as part of this program.
In April 1959, the wing reorganized under the Dual Deputy system. Its514th Troop Carrier Group was inactivated[citation needed] and the335th, 336th and 337th Troop Carrier Squadrons were assigned directly to the wing.[1]
Although the dispersal of flying units was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during theBerlin Crisis of 1961 To resolve this, at the start of 1962, ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishinggroups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for theCuban Missile Crisis. The formation of troop carrier groups was delayed until January for wings that had not been mobilized.[7] The903d Troop Carrier Group at McGuire, the904th Troop Carrier Group at Stewart, and the905th Troop Carrier Group at Bradley were all assigned to the wing on 17 January.[1]
The wing trainedSouth Vietnamese aircrews and maintenance personnel and Greek maintenance personnel in C-119 aircraft, 10 August to 18 December 1967. In 1968, it ferried C-119s to South Vietnam. Also in 1968, two of the wing's groups began flyingLockheed C-141 Starlifters belonging to the436th Military Airlift Wing atDover Air Force Base, Delaware and the438th Military Airlift Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. A third C-141 group joined the wing in September 1969, associated with the437th Military Airlift Wing atCharleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. In 1969, the wing gained another group which flew theMcDonnell Douglas C-9 Nightingales of the375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing. A C-119 group remained with the wing until mid-1970.
By 1968 regular air force military airlift squadrons were operating theLockheed C-141 Starlifter, while the reserves still flew the obsoleteDouglas C-124 Globemaster II. As the Globemaster was retired,Air Force Reserve formed associate units. In this program reserve units flew and maintained aircraft owned by an associated regular unit.[8] In September 1968, the wing gave up its own aircraft and became an associate of the438th Military Airlift Wing at McGuire.[1]
In Jul 1973, its groups at Dover and Charleston were replaced by new reserve wings, and the 514th Wing absorbed all of the squadrons of what had been its 903d Group at McGuire. Continuing to use C-141 aircraft of the active wing at McGuire Air Force Base (first the 438th and later the305th Air Mobility Wing), the wing's crews augmented Military Airlift Command units forstrategic airlift missions worldwide, including contingency and humanitarian operations and took part in strategic mobility exercises for training.
Operations in which crews participated wereUrgent Fury toGrenada in 1983,Operation Just Cause to Panama in 1989, andOperation Restore Hope to Somalia in 1992. In 1993 the wing added aerial refueling to its airlift mission. Since then the wing has been a part of every major conflict including Operations Desert Storm/Shield,Operation Uphold Democracy, Southern Watch, Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Its members deployed in response toHurricanes Katrina andRita and the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Squadrons
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This article incorporatespublic domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
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