934th Airlift Wing

934th Airlift Wing

934th Airlift Wing Lockheed C-130H Hercules on display at the Royal International Air Tattoo in 2007
Active 1963—present
Country  United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Role Airlift
Size 1,300 Personnel
Part of Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station
Nickname(s) Flying Vikings
Decorations Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Commanders
Current
commander		 Colonel Todd J. McCubbin [1]
Insignia
934th Airlift Wing emblem (approved 23 October 1964)[2]

The 934th Airlift Wing (934 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of the Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station, Minnesota.

Mission

The wing’s mission is to fly C-130 H3 cargo aircraft, both airdropping and airlanding cargo and people. Aeromedical evacuation of patients within the theater of operations is another facet of the mission. The 934th Airlift Wing supports the Air Force mission on a daily basis, providing airlift both in the United States and around the world.

Units

96th Airlift Squadron (96 AS)

History

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 934th 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 group was one of three C-119 groups assigned to the 4400th TCW in 1963, along with the 933d Troop Carrier Group, at Billy Mitchell Field, Wisconsin.

In 1970, the group was re-equipped with the C-130 Hercules. The group has provided worldwide airlift and airdrops of passengers and materiel since 1963. It has also periodically deployed to Panama, and later Puerto Rico, to fly cargo and personnel throughout Central and South America since 1979.

Upgraded to a Wing in 1994, it has deployed personnel and aircraft to participate in allied operations in the Persian Gulf area and the Balkans in 1990 and later. It has also participated in numerous joint airborne training exercises and humanitarian airlifts.

Lineage

Organized in the Reserve on 11 February 1963
Redesignated 934th Tactical Airlift Group on 1 July 1967
Redesignated 934th Airlift Group on 1 February 1992
Redesignated 934th Airlift Wing on 1 October 1994[2]

Assignments

Components

Stations

Aircraft

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.minneapolis.afrc.af.mil/library/biographies/bio.asp?id=15163
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Endicott, Judy G. (October 27, 2007). "Factsheet 934 Airlift Wing (AFRC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved November 5, 2014.

Bibliography

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

External links

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