63rd Air Expeditionary Wing

Related history at 63d Operations Group Air Force Reserve The wing was first activated in June 1949 as the 63d Troop Carrier Wing, when Continental Air Command reorganized its flying units under the wing base organization system. Although the wing was a new unit, the 91st Air Division and 66th Reconnaissance Group at Newark Municipal Airport and the 320th Bombardment Group at Mitchel Air Force Base, all reserve units in the New York City area, were simultaneously inactivated. The new wing was manned at only 25% of normal strength but its 63d Troop Carrier Group was authorized four squadrons rather than the three of active duty units. It trained in the Air Force Reserve until 1951, initially with trainer aircraft. From the middle of 1950 until it was ordered into active service, the wing performed limited troop carrier operations with Douglas C-47 Skytrains. In May 1951 the wing was ordered into active service, as were all reserve combat wings. Its personnel were used as fillers and its aircraft distributed to other units. The unit was inactivated only a few days after its mobilization. Troop carrier operations The wing was activated again as a component of Tactical Air Command (TAC) in 1953. Its tactical components underwent Douglas C-124 Globemaster II training from June through October 1953. When the wing began global airlift missions, including humanitarian missions, using its C-124s as primary carriers. In November 1953, the group moved to Toul-Rosières Air Base and was reassigned. Another C-119 unit at Donaldson, the 64th Troop Carrier Wing was also attached to the 63d Wing in October. and its flying mission was transferred entirely to its 64th Troop Carrier Group, which was also attached to the 63d Wing. In August 1954, TAC increased its C-124 operations on the east coast, moving the 61st Troop Carrier Group from Larson Air Force Base, Washington to Donaldson and attaching it to the wing. When TAC transferred its heavy troop carrier units to MATS, MATS assigned the 61st Group to the wing until the group was inactivated on 8 October 1959. The wing flew airlift missions to the Far East and Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War between 1967 and 1973. In March 1968, the 944th Military Airlift Group moved to Norton from March Air Force Base without personnel or equipment and was attached to the wing, flying the regular unit's Starlifters. In July 1973, the associate program was expanded and the 445th Military Airlift Wing replaced the 944th as the reserve associate unit at Norton. The 445th remained an associate of the 63d until 1993, when it was assigned its own aircraft. These missions included the evacuation of former American prisoners of war from North Vietnam during Operation Homecoming in early 1973. It also supported the airlift of Vietnamese refugees to the United States in Operation New Life during 1975. From 1976 until it inactivated in 1994, the wing commanded airlift and supporting units to airlift troops, cargo, equipment, passengers, mail and aeromedical evacuation/airlift to and from areas around the world. ==Lineage==