:
For related history, see 442nd Operations Group Initial activation and Korean War mobilization The wing was first activated as the
442d Troop Carrier Wing at
Fairfax Field, Kansas in June 1949, The 442d was mobilized for the
Korean War, This action was effective on 10 March 1951. Along with other
Tenth Air Force units, it was activated in the second wave of reserve units being called up. Its personnel were distributed as fillers to other organizations, with
Strategic Air Command getting first pick of these mobilizees. The unit's aircraft were distributed to other organizations as well, and the wing was inactivated two days after its call-up. In 1955, the Air Force reserve presence at Olathe ended when the wing moved to
Grandview Air Force Base, Missouri, which had opened as an
Air Defense Command base, with the first active duty units moving there in 1954. The wing move occurred in the same year that the Air Force began detaching Air Force Reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages: communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. As it finally evolved in the spring of 1955, the Continental Air Command's plan called for placing Air Force Reserve units at fifty-nine installations located throughout the United States. The wing was not impacted by this reorganization until November 1957. At that time, its
305th Troop Carrier Squadron, which had been inactivated in June 1955, was activated at
Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma to replace the
69th Troop Carrier Squadron, which had moved there earlier. At the same time, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff had been pressuring the Air Force to provide more wartime airlift and about 150
Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars became available from the active force. Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed Continental Air Command to convert three fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission, while cuts in the budget in 1957 led to a reduction in the number of reserve squadrons from 55 to 45. This included the inactivation of reserve fighter bomber units. The wing gained the
65th Troop Carrier Squadron at
Davis Field, when it was activated to replace the
713th Fighter-Bomber Squadron in November 1957. 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 moved
United States Coast Guard equipment From
Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station to
Isla Grande Airport in Puerto Rico and
San Salvador in the Bahamas. After the success of Operation Sixteen Ton, 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, between
Air Materiel Command's depots. By the mid-1950s, it participated regularly in
airdrops,
airlift and
exercises. The transition to the program was completed in 1959. all flying and maintenance squadrons were directly assigned to the wing.
Activation of groups under the wing Although the dispersal of flying units under the Detached Squadron Concept 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 the
Berlin Crisis of 1961. The wing was called to active service for this crisis in October 1961 and continued to remain on active duty until August 1962, during which time the wing completed conversion to the
Douglas C-124 Globemaster II. To resolve the mobilization problem, at the start of 1962 ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing
groups 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 the
Cuban Missile Crisis. The formation of troop carrier groups was delayed until January for wings that had not been mobilized. On 2 November 2019, Lt. Col. Tony "Crack" Roe and Maj. John "Sapper" Tice, pilots with the 442nd's
303rd Fighter Squadron received the
Distinguished Flying Cross for heroic actions that helped to save the lives of many U.S. servicemen in their respective close air support missions in
Afghanistan.
War on Terror On 21 April 2018 the wing returned from a 90-day deployment to
Kandahar Air Base,
Afghanistan, where the wing flew close air support missions for U.S. and Afghan forces. This marked the unit's sixth deployment to Afghanistan since the
9/11 terrorist attacks.
A-10 Divestment The wing is expected to retire its A-10s in 2027; the future of the wing after that date has yet to be confirmed. ==Lineage==