Korean War The wing was activated at
Ashiya Air Base, Japan as the
483rd Troop Carrier Wing on 1 January 1953 and replaced the
403rd Troop Carrier Wing, Medium and absorbed the 403rd's mission, personnel and equipment. This was the largest mass movement of personnel in the history of combat cargo to that time. Its transition was complete by 1959. It performed theater transport duties and participated in joint
exercises with
Army units
Vietnam War In August 1966, the Air Force and the
Army began implementing Project Red Leaf, which would transfer responsibility for the
de Havilland Canada C-7 Caribou from the Army to the Air Force following the
Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966. Air Force personnel began being assigned to the Army aviation companies flying the Caribou. Starting in late October personnel to form the
cadre for the
483rd Troop Carrier Wing began to arrive at
Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Viet Nam. The cadre began planning to move squadron level operations from the small Army camps they were operating from to permanent sites when the Air Force units were activated. Although removal of Caribous from the
Mekong Delta and
An Khe was particularly controversial, the
Department of Defense ordered that the wing's squadrons be located on Air Force installations, not Army posts. On 1 January 1967, the wing was organized and took over Caribou operations. Two squadrons each were located at Cam Ranh Bay,
Vung Tau Air Base, and
Phu Cat Air Base, although detachments were maintained at an additional six locations. In December 1967, a
Viet Cong mortar attack on
Can Tho Airfield damaged two wing C-7s. As a result wing planes were no longer stationed at Can Tho,
Nha Trang Air Base, or
Pleiku Air Base. The 483rd was assigned the mission of providing intra-theater airlift in support of United States military civic actions, combat support and civic assistance throughout the Republic of Vietnam. Initially, the wing's
537th Troop Carrier Squadron was dedicated to supporting the
1st Cavalry Division. This arrangement continued until late 1968, when the division moved to the southern provinces and was more efficiently supported by the squadrons at Cam Ranh Bay and Vung Tau. The C-7s provided the light load-short haul transport to rough landing strips in South Vietnam. The unique capabilities of the C-7 for short landing and takeoff made Caribou transports vital to the war effort. On many occasions the C-7A's flew emergency airlift missions to airstrips and combat areas that no other aircraft could reach. Most notable were those in support of special forces camps in the
Central Highlands. In June 1968 the wing flew a record 2,420 combat troops in three days between
Dak Pek,
Ben Het and
Dak To. In August 1968 pinpoint night airdrops were accomplished at Duc Lap, Ha Thanh and
Tonle Cham special forces camps. Ammunition and medical supplies were parachuted into 75-foot-square drop zones while the camps were under attack. In June 1969 during the siege of Ben Het more than 200 tons of ammunition, POL, rations, water and medical supplies were airdropped into a 100 x 200-foot zone with every load on target and 100 per cent recovered. In March 1969, a provisional group was established at
Vung Tau Airfield to exercise command and control over the wing's units located there. In June 1970, the group was discontinued With the inactivation of the
459th Tactical Airlift Squadron that month, all but one C-7 squadron was located with the wing. In March 1970, when the
12th Tactical Fighter Wing moved to
Phu Cat Air Base, the 483rd Wing became the host wing at Cam Ranh Bay. As a corollary to assuming the support mission for the base, support organizations assigned to the wing carried out a number of civic actions, including construction of housing, providing support for orphanages and educational institutions and improvement of water supply systems. In April 1970, the wing, designated the
483rd Tactical Airlift Wing since August 1967, The wing flew 100 air-drop sorties under heavy hostile fire in ten days delivering some 400,000 pounds of vital supplies. On 31 August 1971 the remaining unit at Phu Cat Air Base, the 537th Tactical Airlift Squadron, inactivated, followed shortly thereafter by the
536th Tactical Airlift Squadron. During their five years' flying for the 483rd, the C-7A Caribous carried more than 4.7 million passengers, averaging more than one million a year during 1967–1969. At the same time the wing averaged more than 100,000 tons of cargo each year. On 31 August 1971, three
electronic warfare squadrons from the inactivating
460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, stationed at various bases in Viet Nam, were assigned to the 483rd TAW. The following day, two
special operations squadrons were transferred from the inactivating
14th Special Operations Wing. The electronic warfare squadrons were inactivated or assigned to other wings within six months. The three remaining C-7 squadrons inactivated in early 1972 (
535th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 24 January,
458th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 1 March, and
457th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 30 April). Most of the C-7 Caribous were transferred to the VNAF.
No. 35 Squadron RAAF at Vung Tau flew its last mission on 13 February 1972 and departed South Vietnam for
RAAF Base Richmond in Australia on 19 February 1972; it was the last RAAF unit to leave following the decision to withdraw. The mixture of reassigned squadrons from other wings were all inactivated or reassigned by the end of May. The 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing was inactivated on 31 May 1972. For its service in Vietnam, the 483rd was awarded two
Presidential Unit Citations, three
Air Force Outstanding Unit Awards with
Combat "V" Device and three
Republic of Viet Nam Gallantry Crosses with Palm. ==Lineage==