Air Transport Wing 61 was established on 24 August 1957 by order of the then Federal Minister of Defence
Franz-Josef Strauss. It consisted of two squadrons and was first based on
Erding Air Base, sharing the base with the
United States Air Force. Initially the wing flew C-47 Dakota aircraft. Later in 1957 Nord Noratlas aircraft were introduced, eventually replacing all DC-3. In 1958, the wing relocated to
Neubiberg Air Base,
Munich. In March 1960, Air Transport Wing 61 flew its first mission when it was employed together with
Air Transport Wing 62 to fly supplies to
Morocco in the wake of the
Agadir earthquake during the first foreign mission of the newly founded German Armed Forces. In August 1966 relief flights were carried out following the
Varto earthquake in Eastern
Turkey as well as to
Lisbon,
Portugal after the
flash floods of 1967. In 1976, Air Transport Wing 61 took part in two relief operations following natural disasters. In May it provided emergency aid after
Friuli earthquake in
Italy, and in November it flew relief missions to Turkey after the
Çaldıran–Muradiye earthquake. In 1980, it provided aid following earthquakes in Italy, the
Irpinia earthquake affecting the regions of
Campania and
Basilicata, and to northern
Algeria after the
El Asnam earthquake. During the
1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, the wing was employed to carry out numerous relief fights and was also an important component of the
airbridge during the
siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996. and transferred to a newly established task force led by the
German Army Aviation Corps. Subsequently, all helicopters were relocated from Landsberg-Lech Air Base to
Niederstetten Air Base and were incorporated into Transport Helicopter Regiment 30. In support of the
French military operation in
Mali,
Operation Serval, part of the
Northern Mali conflict, aircraft of Air Transport Wing 61 were deployed to
West Africa. In recognition of this a Transall aircraft of the wing was invited to take part in the celebration of
Bastille Day of that year. In 2015, two aircraft of Air Transport Wing 61 took part in Exercise Trident Juncture 2015, one of the largest
NATO-led military exercise since the end of the
Cold War. The aircraft were stationed at
Beja Airbase in
Portugal where, incidentally, in the early 1970s crews from Landsberg-Lech Air Base were re-trained to fly C-160 Transall aircraft. The German Air Force intends to replace the C-160 Transall with the
Airbus A400M Atlas, a considerably larger aircraft. Since an extension of Landsberg-Lech Air Base is restricted by the river
Lech to the west, and the
municipality of
Penzing to the east, the air base represented no practical option for basing the larger aircraft there. Consequently, it was decided to concentrate all A400M at
Wunstorf Air Base and disbanding Air Transport Wing 61 altogether. The fly-out occurred at the end of September 2017. The final roll call took place on 14 December 2017 under the eyes of
Major General Günter Katz. Air Transport Wing 61 disbanded on 31 December 2017. All remaining aircraft were handed over to
Air Transport Wing 63, based at
Hohn Air Base. == Accidents and incidents ==