514th Air Mobility Wing

514th Air Mobility Wing
Active 5 October 1944—present
Country United States
Branch Air Force
Type Airlift
Aerial Refueling
Part of Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ McGuire Air Force Base
Decorations AFOUA
RVGC w/ Palm
Commanders
Current
commander		 Colonel Michael J. Underkofler

The 514th Air Mobility Wing (514 AMW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Mission

The 514th AMW is an associate Air Force Reserve wing located at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. The wing flies aircraft assigned to the active-duty 305th Air Mobility Wing, also based at McGuire. The 514th AMW shares the responsibility of maintaining and flying the KC-10A Extender and the C-17 Globemaster III.

Units

76th and 78th Air Refueling Squadrons
732d Airlift Squadron
514th and 714th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadrons

History

From April 1953 until 1958, it trained under the 2233d Air Force Reserve Combat Training Center (later, 2233d Air Reserve Flying Center), initially with C-46s but with C-119s by August 1954. After 1958, the wing increasingly participated in humanitarian and other airlift missions. By the mid-1960s, it was augmenting Military Air Transport Service (later, Military Airlift Command) airlift operations on a regular basis.

The wing trained South Vietnamese aircrews and maintenance personnel and Greek maintenance personnel in C-119 aircraft, 10 August to 18 December 1967. In 1968, it ferried C-119s to South Vietnam. Also in 1968, two of the wing's groups began flying C-141s belonging to the 436th Military Airlift Wing at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware and the 438th Military Airlift Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. A third C-141 group joined the wing in September 1969, associated with the 437th Military Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. In 1969, the wing gained another group which flew C-9s of the 375th Aeromedical Airlift Wing. A C-119 group remained with the wing until mid-1970.

In Jul 1973, its groups at Dover and Charleston were replaced by new Reserve wings, and the 514th Wing absorbed all of the squadrons of what had been its 903d Group at McGuire. Continuing to use C-141 aircraft of the active wing at McGuire Air Force Base (first the 438th and later the 305th), the wing's crews augmented Military Airlift Command units for strategic airlift missions worldwide, including contingency and humanitarian operations and took part in strategic mobility exercises for training.

Operations in which crews participated were Urgent Fury to Grenada in 1983, Just Cause to Panama in 1989, and Restore Hope to Somalia in 1992. In 1993 the wing added aerial refueling to its airlift mission. Since then the wing has been a part of every major conflict including Operations Desert Storm/Shield, Uphold Democracy, Southern Watch, Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Its members deployed in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Lineage

Activated in the Reserve on 26 Jun 1949
Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951
Inactivated on 1 Feb 1953
Re-designated: 514th Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 Jul 1967
Re-designated: 514th Military Airlift Wing (Associate) on 25 Sep 1968
Re-designated: 514th Airlift Wing (Associate) on 1 Feb 1992
Re-designated: 514th Air Mobility Wing on 1 Oct 1994.

Assignments

Components

Groups

Squadrons

Stations

Aircraft

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.

    External links

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