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914th Airlift Wing
914 AW
Active 15 January 1963 — present
Country United States
Branch Air Force
Type Airlift
Part of Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station
Decorations Outstanding Unit ribbon AFOUA
Vietnam gallantry cross unit award-3d RVGC w/ Palm
Commanders
Current
commander
Colonel Allan Swartzmiller

The 914th Airlift Wing (914 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station, New York.

Overview[]

The 914th Airlift Wing trains and equips reservists to perform the combat mission of aerial re-supply.

Units[]

  • 914th Operations Group (914 OG)
328th Airlift Squadron (328 AS)
  • 914th Maintenance Group (914 MXG)
  • 914th Mission Support Group (914 MSG)

History[]

C-130H New York ANG at Guantanamo 2010

A 914th AW C-130H at Guantanmo, 2010.

914th Tactical Airlift Group - Emblem

Legacy 914th Tactical Airlift Group emblem, 1967

Following the mobilizations in 1961 and 1962 for the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Continental Air Command (ConAC) realized that it was unwieldy to mobilize an entire wing unless absolutely necessary. Their original Table of Organization for each Wing was a wing headquarters, a troop carrier group, an Air Base Group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group. In 1957, the troop carrier group and maintenance and supply groups were inactivated, with their squadrons reassigned directly to the wing headquarters - despite the fact that many wings had squadrons spread out over several bases due to the Detached Squadron Concept dispersing Reserve units over centers of population. To resolve this, in late 1962 and early 1963, ConAC reorganized the structure of its reserve Troop Carrier Wings by establishing fully deployable Troop Carrier Groups and inserting them into the chain of command between the Wing and its squadrons at every base that held a ConAC troop carrier squadron. At each base, the group was composed of a material squadron, a troop carrier squadron, a tactical hospital or dispensary, and a combat support squadron. Each troop carrier wing consisted of 3 or 4 of these groups. By doing so, ConAC could facilitate the mobilization of either aircraft and aircrews alone, aircraft and minimum support personnel (one troop carrier group), or the entire troop carrier wing. This also gave ConAC the flexibility to expand each Wing by attaching additional squadrons, if necessary from other Reserve wings to the deployable groups for deployments. As a result, the 914th Troop Carrier Group was established with a mission to organize, recruit and train Air Force Reserve personnel in the tactical airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by airdrop, landing or cargo extraction systems. The group was equipped with C-119 Flying Boxcars for Tactical Air Command airlift operations.

The 914th TCG was one of three C-119 groups assigned to the 512th TCW in 1963, the others being the 912th and 913th Troop Carrier Group at Willow Grove NAS, Pennsylvania. The group trained for and participated in air transport of airborne forces, equipment and supplies with delivery by airdrop, extraction, and airlanding, as well as air evacuation within a theater of operations. It provided airlift to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War and for other contingency operations, as well as numerous humanitarian missions. Beginning in 1978 the 914th supported the U.S. Southern Command by periodically fulfilling airlift requirements throughout Latin America. Between September 1990 and April 1991 the group deployed all aircraft and numerous aircrews and support personnel to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, to provide airlift in support of the war in Southwest Asia, including a tactical resupply airdrop to troops of the XVIII Airborne Corps. A 314th crew provided the first medevac mission of the war. Other personnel deployed to Saudi Arabia and backfilled positions in the U.S. and Europe. Since the early 1990s the wing has frequently deployed personnel in support of contingency operations in Southwest Asia and the Balkans.

Following recommendations out the Base Realignment and Closure progamm, the wing's Lockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft are pooled with the 107th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard, also stationed at Niagara Falls, since 2008.[1]

Lineage[]

  • Established as 914th Troop Carrier Group, Medium, and activated, on 15 Jan 1963
Organized in the Reserve on 11 Feb 1963
Re-designated: 914th Tactical Airlift Group on 1 Jul 1967
Re-designated: 914th Airlift Group on 1 Feb 1992
Status changed from Group to Wing, 1 Oct 1994
Re-designated: 914th Airlift Wing on 1 Oct 1994

Assignments[]

Components[]

Stations[]

Aircraft[]

References[]

PD-icon This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.



All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at 914th Airlift Wing and the edit history here.
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