Replacement of reserve wing The wing was constituted as the
464th Troop Carrier Wing and activated at
Lawson Air Force Base, Georgia on 1 February 1953, where it was assigned to
Eighteenth Air Force. The wing replaced the
434th Troop Carrier Wing, a reserve unit that had been called to active duty for the
Korean War. The 434th Wing was in the process of transitioning from the
Curtiss C-46 Commando to the
Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar when the wing took over the personnel and aircraft of the 434th. In September 1954, the
wing moved to
Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina where it was colocated with the Army's
82d Airborne Division at
Fort Bragg. A month after the inactivation of the 310th, the
347th Troop Carrier Squadron was activated at Pope, flying
Fairchild C-123 Providers and attached to the wing.
Project Mule Train provided airlift support in Vietnam early in the United states' involvement, and was supported by deployed C-123s. In June 1962, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff directed the Air Force to double its commitment to this project. TAC deployed the wing's 777th Troop Carrier Squadron with sixteen aircraft and their crews. Four of the planes were stationed in Thailand, while the remainder were stationed at
Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam, where they were attached to the
6492d Combat Cargo Group. In July 1963, the Air Force decided to make its airlift in Vietnam regular, and on 1 July, the 777th (on its second deployment and located at
Tan Son Nhut Airport and the 776th Squadrons were reassigned to the
315th Troop Carrier Group, which had replaced the 6492d in December 1962. Their crews and planes located in Vietnam were transferred to the newly-activated
310th and
311th Troop Carrier Squadrons on 1 July, and they were returned to the 464th Wing on 8 July as paper units. The two attached Provider squadrons moved to
Dyess Air Force Base, Texas to form the
516th Troop Carrier Wing and the wing's three squadrons were ready for conversion to the
Lockheed C-130 Hercules.
C-130 Hercules operations In 1963, the first C-130 Hercules arrived, appropriately named
The North Carolina. The wing added a fourth squadron, the
779th to its roster, but the 777th Squadron remained non-operational until September, when it could begin transitioning into the new airlifter. where it was assigned to the
1st Air Commando Wing. In July, the squadron was inactivated at Hurlburt and replaced by the
317th Air Commando Squadron. In 1964, the
Simba rebellion began in the Congo and rebels gained control of large areas of the eastern part of the country, including
Stanleyville and the United States
consulate there, taking several
State Department employees and others captive. The United States set up a Joint Task Force, which included four C-130s of the 464th Wing to rescue State Department employees in Stanleyville. The Wing's commitment increased to 14 aircraft with the development of an expanded rescue plan called
Operation Dragon Rouge. These aircraft, from the 776th and 777th Squadrons, were on rotation duty with the
322d Air Division at
Evreux Air Base, France and were conveniently located to airlift Belgian forces. The wing dropped Belgian paratroops into Stanleyville, and after the runways were cleared, landed additional troops at
Simi-Simi Airport. Once the city was secured, The C-130s began shuttling refugees out of the city, under fire as they departed, and with 100 passengers on each plane. Five aircraft were damaged as 2,000 refugees were evacuated. An additional 500–1000 were evacuated from
Paulis in a follow-on operation, although not all hostages could be rescued and a number were executed by the Simba rebels. The 464th received the
Mackay Trophy for this operation. The 46 aircraft dispatched to San Isidro so overcrowded the field that many were unable to unload and some had to be diverted to
Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico. The following day, "an air bridge was established between Pope and San Isidro . . . with a transport . . . landing on an average . . . once every five minutes." In late May, the operation in the Dominican Republic came under the aegis of the
Organization of American States and American planes flew in the first Latin American troops. American forces began to withdraw, and by December only a few detachments remained. The wing's support continued until the termination of the Inter-American Peace Force in September 1966. Along with TAC's other troop carrier organizations, the 464th was redesignated
464th Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 May 1967. The wing was inactivated on 31 August 1971, when it was replaced by the
317th Tactical Airlift Wing, which moved to Pope on paper from
Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio, which was being transferred from TAC to
Strategic Air Command. ==Lineage==