443d Airlift Wing

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name= 443d Airlift Wing


caption= 443d Military Airlift Wing, Training Patch
dates= 1943 - 1992
country= United States
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branch= United States Air Force
type=
role= Heavy Airlift Training
size=
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current_commander=
garrison= Air Mobility Command
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
patron=
motto=
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* World War II: Asiatic-Pacific Campaign (1944-1945)
anniversaries=The 443d Airlift Wing (443d AW) is an inactive unit of the United States Air Force. Its last assignment was with Air Mobility Command, being stationed at Altus Air Force Base, Oklaholma. It was inactivated on 1 October 1992.

History

Lineage

* Constituted as 443rd Troop Carrier Group on 25 May 1943: Activated on 1 Oct 1943: Inactivated on 26 Dec 1945
* Established as 443d Troop Carrier Wing, Medium, on 10 May 1949. : (443d Troop Carrier Group assigned as subordinate unit to wing): Activated in the Reserve on 27 Jun 1949. : Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951: Inactivated on 8 Jan 1953
* Redesignated 443d Military Airlift Wing, Training, and activated, on 27 Dec 1965: Organized on 8 Jan 1966: Redesignated 443d Airlift Wing 27 Aug 1991: Inactivated 1 Oct 1992

Assignments

* Fourth Air Force, 1 Oct 1943 - 15 Feb 1944
* Tenth Air Force, 15 Feb 1944 - Jan 1945
* Fourteenth Air Force, Jan - Dec 1945
* Tactical Air Command: Twelfth Air Force, 27 Jun 1949
* Continental Air Command: Fourteenth Air Force, 27 Jun 1949 - 1 May 1951
* Tactical Air Command, 2 May 1951: Eighteenth Air Force, 1 Jun 1951-8 Jan 1953
* Military Air Transport Service (later, Military Airlift Command), 27 Dec 1965: Twenty-Second Air Force, 1 Apr 1973 — 1 Jun 1992
* Air Mobility Command 1 Jun - 1 Oct 1992

tations

* Sedalia AAF, Missouri 1 Oct 1943
* Alliance AAF, Nebraska 19 Jan 1944-15 Feb 1944
* Sylhet, India 15 Feb 1944
* Sookerating, India 6 Jun 1944
* Dinjan, India 9 Jul 1944
* Ledo, India 8 Oct 1944
* Dinjan, India 11 May 1945
* Chihkiang, China 28 Aug 1945
* Hankow, China 25 Sep-30 Nov 1945
* Camp Anza, California 23-26 Dec 1945
* Hensley Field, Texas, 27 Jun 1949
* Donaldson AFB, South Carolina, 9 Aug 1951-8 Jan 1953
* Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, 8 Jan 1966
* Altus AFB, Oklahoma, 5 May 1969—1 Oct 1992

Aircraft Assigned

* Douglas C-47/C-53 Skytrain
* C-46 Commando, 1949-1952
* C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1952-1953
* C-124 Globemaster II, 1966-1968
* C-141 Starlifter, 1966—1992
* C-5 Galaxy, 1969—1992

Components

Groups
* 443d Troop Carrier: 27 Jun 1949-8 Jan 1953

Squadrons.
* 1st Troop Carrier 1944-1945
* 2d Troop Carrier 1944-1945
* 27th Troop Carrier 1944-1945
* 56th Military Airlift (Training): 8 Jan 1966— 1 Oct 1992 (C-124A/C 1966-68, C-5A/B 1969-92)
* 57th Military Airlift (Training): 8 Jan 1966— 1 Oct 1992 (C-141A/B)
* 309th Troop Carrier 1943-1944; 1949-1953
* 310th Troop Carrier 1943-1944; 1949-1953
* 315th Troop Carrier 1944-1945
* 343d Troop Carrier 1949-1953
* 344th Troop Carrier 1949-1951

Operational History

The 443d Troop Carrier Group was established on 25 May 1943 and activated on 1 October as a Troop Carrier unit, being equipped with the C-47/C-53 Skytrain at Sedalia AAF, Missouri. Once training was completed the group transferred to Tenth Air Force in India, in February 1944 in the China Burma India Theater.

When the 443d arrived in India Combat Cargo Groups were being organized, and the group's personnel and aircraft were assigned to the The 1st Combat Cargo Group. New squadrons were assigned and the group used C-47's and sometimes gliders to transport Allied troops, evacuate wounded personnel, and haul supplies and materiel, including gasoline, oil, signal and engineering equipment, medicine, rations, and ammunition.

The group's missions were concerned primarily with support for Allied forces that were driving southward through Burma but the 443rd also made many flights to China. When General Joseph Stilwell was ready to begin the retaking of Burma, his forces were to fight across the northern Burmese mountains to the village of Naga. From there they would head down the Hukawng Valley toward the Japanese stronghold at Mogaung, then they would head to Myitkyina. At the same time Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek, would attack Burma from China's western mountainous border. British General Orde Wingate and his "Chindits" were ready to begin their push into Burma with a goal of establishing permanent areas of occupation behind Japanese lines. British General William Slim was to bring his troops from Arakan, India into Burma. The final objective of this three pronged attack was the town Myitkyina. All these operations were to be largely supplied by air-support provided by the 443d and the 177th wing of the Royal Air Force.

It was reassigned to Fourteenth Air Force in January and moved to China in August 1945, and received a Distinguished Unit Citation for transporting a Chinese army of more than 30,000 men from Chihkiang to Nanking in Sep 1945.

Returned to the US in Dec. Inactivated on 26 Dec 1945 Trained as a Reserve troop carrier wing under supervision of the 2596th Air Force Reserve Training Center, Jun 1949—Apr 1951.

The 443d was brought to active duty at Donaldson AFB, South Carolina on 9 Aug 1951 as a training wing by Tactical Air Command. For almost two years, the 443d participated in tactical exercises in operations, training troop carrier aircrews using C-46 Commandoes for assignment to the Far East and worked closely with other troop carrier groups to test and evaluate new troop carrier doctrine and procedures. With the end of the Korean War, the 443d was inactivated on 8 Jun 1953.

In January 1966, the Military Air Transport Service reactivated the 443d at Altus AFB, Oklaholma, replacing the temporary 1707th Air Transport Wing, Heavy. The 443d became the primary USAF wing charged with training air and ground crews of C-124 Globemaster II and the new C-141 Starlifter heavy transports, while simultaneously maintaining a capability to perform airlift operations worldwide.

With the retirement of the prop-driven C-124 from active service, training diminished in 1967 and ceased in 1968, being replaced by training air and ground crews on the new C-5 Galaxy very heavy lift transport in 1969. The wing performed this training mission until 1992 when C-5 and C-141 training was consolidated after the end of the Cold War.

Air Mobility Command reorganized Air Force Airlift units in 1992 and the 443d was inactivated on 1 Oct 1992 as part of the Air Force Heritage program, where notable units were retained and reassigned after the Cold War. The new 97th Air Mobility Wing, a former Eighth Air Force World War II bombardment group and later Strategic Air Command bomb Wing absorbed the personnel, equipment and aircraft of the 443d upon its inactivation in a administrative transfer.

References

* Maurer, Maurer (1983). Air Force Combat Units Of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0892010924.
* Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947-1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0912799129.
* Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.

External links