World War II Activation and initial training The group was constituted as the
315th Transport Group on 2 February 1942 and activated at
Olmsted Field, Pennsylvania twelve days later as part of Air Service Command. Its original elements were the
33d,
34th and
35th Transport Squadrons. One month later, the
6th Transport Squadron at Camp Williams, Wisconsin was added to the group. In April, the
group became part of
I Troop Carrier Command and began training with
Douglas C-47 Skytrain and Douglas C-53 Skytrooper aircraft. In June, the 315th moved to
Bowman Field, Kentucky, an I Troop Carrier Command base. The move to Bowman was accompanied by a shuffling of assigned units. The 6th Squadron in Wisconsin was reassigned, as was the 35th, which moved to
Westover Field to prepare for an early move overseas. and the
54th Transport Squadron, which moved to Bowman a few days after its activation at
Hamilton Field. The group and its
squadrons became Troop Carrier units in July. Before the group departed for England upon completing its training in October, the 33d Squadron was detached from the group in September, with most of its elements serving in
New Caledonia, although it remained assigned to the group for two more months.
Combat in the European Theater While flying the
North Atlantic ferry route, the air echelon encountered bad winter weather, causing it to remain in Greenland for about a month. While there it searched for missing aircraft and dropped supplies to downed crews. The ground echelon arrived in England in November 1942 for service with
Eighth Air Force. After the air and ground echelons were united in December, the group began ferrying cargo in the British Isles and training with airborne troops and gliders. In May 1943 a detachment comprising almost all the group aircraft, aircrews, and most support personnel, deployed to North Africa to support
Twelfth Air Force and other
Mediterranean Theater of Operations organizations during
Operation Husky, the invasions of Sicily and
Operation Avalanche, the invasion of Italy. Although the group did not participate in the airborne phase of the invasions, it did support those operations by transporting supplies in the theater. In March 1944 the detachment returned to England and rejoined the group, which had been reassigned to the
Ninth Air Force in October 1943. On 7 February 1944, the group moved to
RAF Spanhoe. It became part of the
52d Troop Carrier Wing of
IX Troop Carrier Command. The group prepared for the
invasion of the Continent. As part of its preparation, the group was brought up to full strength for the first time since arriving in England in April 1944, when the
309th and
310th Troop Carrier Squadrons were assigned to the group shortly after arriving in theater. In April the group began formation flying training and a month later began paratroop-dropping exercises. The group continued training until 26 May. Operating alongside the
316th Troop Carrier Group for the
Normandy landings, 47 aircraft of the 315th Group dropped 844 paratroops of the
505th Parachute Infantry Regiment's Headquarters and 1st Battalion at Drop Zone O, near
Sainte-Mère-Église early on 6 June. The group earned a
Distinguished Unit Citation for its actions. The group also dropped
82d Airborne Division commander
Matthew Ridgway and his staff. During the drop, the group did not lose any planes as German anti-aircraft fire was sporadic and ineffectual. The group dropped paratroops of the 82d Airborne Division's
504th Parachute Infantry Regiment near
Overasselt on 17 September 1944, losing one plane. The mission was part of
Operation Market Garden, a series of Allied airborne attacks in the Netherlands. The group flew reinforcement missions on succeeding days. On 18 September, 27 aircraft in two serials of the group and 36 aircraft from the
314th Troop Carrier Group dropped paratroopers of the British
4th Parachute Brigade at Drop Zone Y on Ginkel Heath. Several aircraft were lost to flak. On 21 September, the 314th and 315th Groups dropped elements of the
1st Polish Parachute Brigade near
Driel, after numerous weather-caused delays. Five aircraft from the group were lost in the drop. On 23 September, the group dropped without loss the 560-strong remainder of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade on Drop Zone O near Overasselt. The group landed at
Grave on 26 September to unload paratroops and supplies. It airlifted gasoline and other critical supplies to
Antwerp and
Liège during the
Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and January 1945. For
Operation Varsity, the Allied airborne assault across the
Rhine in March 1945, the group staged out of
RAF Boreham as a result of the need for shorter flying distances. The group released British paratroops of the
5th Parachute Brigade near
Wesel on 24 March. During the operation, the group suffered its heaviest losses of the war, losing nineteen aircraft, with another 36 badly damaged. Following each airborne operation, the group resumed transport activities, hauling cargo and evacuating wounded personnel. The group moved to France in April 1945. The group transported cargo and evacuated released allied prisoners of war until after
V-E Day. It moved to Trinidad in May 1945 and transported troops returning to the US. The group was inactivated on 31 July 1945.
Cold War The group was activated at
Langley Field on 19 May 1947, but was not manned or equipped, and was inactivated again on 10 September 1948.
Korean War The group was reactivated in Japan at
Brady Air Base on 10 June 1952 after being redesignated as the 315th Troop Carrier Group, Medium. It was assigned to the
Far East Forces, for duty during the
Korean War. The group took over the
Curtiss C-46 Commando transports of the
437th Troop Carrier Group, a reserve unit that had been called up for the war and was being inactivated. The group flew troop and cargo airlift and airdrop, leaflet drops, spray missions, air evacuation, search and rescue, and other aerial missions between Japan and Korea. During US Army exercises in Japan between 1952 and 1953, it transported units. In March 1953, all
C-119s in the theater were grounded as a result of malfunctioning propellers and the group's C-46s were made responsible for moving all personnel between southern Japan and Korea up to the end of the war. The group airlifted the
187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team along with other
XVI Corps units to Korea in June and July 1953. For its actions, the group received the
Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. It remained in the Far East after the war to fly transport missions and paratroop training flights. The group flew missions in Japan, Korea,
French Indo-China, and other points until December 1954. The group was inactivated in Japan on 18 January 1955.
Vietnam War The group was organized at
Tan Son Nhut Airport, Vietnam in December 1962 as the 315th Troop Carrier Group, Assault. It replaced the Combat Cargo Group, Provisional, 6492d at Tan Son Nhut. The group was initially composed of a provisional transport squadron, an aerial port squadron and a maintenance squadron and was part of the
315th Air Division. Its flying squadron, the Tactical Air Force Transport Squadron, Provisional, 2, was the successor to
Operation Mule Train, which had been providing logistics support for US and Vietnamese military elements since January. The provisional squadron was manned primarily by deployed crews from the
464th Troop Carrier Wing's
346th Troop Carrier Squadron, from
Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina. The group exercised control over USAF airlift resources in Vietnam, primarily flying the
Fairchild C-123B Provider. It also provided combat evaluation of YC-123 aircraft between February and April 1963. By April 1963, operations had expanded to the point that the 464th Wing deployed an entire squadron, the
777th Troop Carrier Squadron, to
Da Nang Air Base, and it was attached to the 315th Group. In July 1963, operations had expanded further, and the group was assigned permanent squadrons. On the 1st, the 777th Squadron was assigned to the group and joined by a second squadron from the 464th Wing, the
778th. A week later, the 2d was discontinued, while the 777th and 778th were returned to the 464th Wing on paper, and their personnel and equipment were transferred to the newly activated 309th, 310th and
311th Troop Carrier Squadrons. The commander of the group was also the director of the Southeast Asia Airlift System and maintained an airlift control officer in
Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV)'s air operations center. The system managed "common use" airlift in both Vietnam and Thailand. Under this system, the group controlled one of the two companies of US Army
de Havilland Canada CV-2 Caribou aircraft located in Vietnam between July and December 1963. In the fall of 1963 MACV directed a reduction of 1000 personnel in Vietnam, which included the elimination of the 61st Aviation Company and its Caribous. In addition to airlift resources in Vietnam, two
Bristol 170 transports of the
Royal New Zealand Air Force, located in Thailand also fell within the system's control. In the first half of 1964, group Providers flew 239 night flare sorties. American commanders in Vietnam were requesting more airlift capability. In August,
RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam, a
Royal Australian Air Force CV-2 detachment at
Vung Tau Airport, arrived and was placed under the group's control. In September, the Army also moved an additional Caribou company into the country, but these transports remained outside the control of the group. The group had conducted inspections of its C-123s in May that disclosed that all 37 aircraft that had been in country since 1962 showed visible damage, and 11 required major repair. In December, half of the 310th Troop Carrier Squadron moved to
Nha Trang Air Base to replace C-47s that had been operating from that base. Until July 1964, the UC-123Bs of
Operation Ranch Hand, spraying defoliants, had operated with
Tactical Air Command crews on temporary duty. At that time. the three planes were transferred to the group on permanent status, becoming Detachment 1, 315th Troop Carrier Group. Shortly after the transfer, Ranch Hand began crop destruction missions in addition to the defoliation missions it had flown since 1962. The group began 1965 by airlifting the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) 1st and 3d Airborne Battalions to
Vung Tau, where ARVN forces were engaged in a battle with
Viet Cong units. Later that month, the group's Ranch Hand aircraft began a massive defoliation program in
War Zone D designed to expose a main Viet Cong base by eliminating cover over 48 square miles of forest. On 8 March, the group was redesignated the
315th Air Commando Group. The group began to operate deployed
Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports, which had more cargo capacity than the Provider, in 1965. The group was inactivated in March 1966 and its flying squadrons were transferred to the
315th Air Commando Wing, which was activated in its place. In August 1992, Air Force Reserve Command implemented the Objective Wing organization for its flying units and the group was activated as the
315th Operations Group to control the airlift operations of the 315th Wing. The group continued to operate the
Lockheed C-141 Starlifter until around 2000, flying contingency operation, humanitarian airlift missions, and exercises worldwide. ==Lineage==