89th Airlift Wing

89th Airlift Wing

Active 10 May 1949–present
Country United States
Branch  United States Air Force
Type Special Air Mission Airlift
Part of  Air Mobility Command
Garrison/HQ Joint Base Andrews, Maryland
Motto(s) Experto crede ... "Believe one who has had experience in the matter"
Commanders
Current
commander		 Colonel Casey D. Eaton[1]
Notable
commanders		 Arthur Lichte
Insignia
89th Airlift Wing Emblem

The 89th Airlift Wing (89 AW) of the United States Air Force is based at Joint Base Andrews and has an operational force of over 1,000 personnel. The 89 AW provides global Special Air Mission (SAM) airlift, logistics, aerial port and communications for the President, Vice President, Combat Commanders, senior leaders and the global mobility system as tasked by the White House, Chief of Staff of the Air Force, and Air Mobility Command.

Mission

"Transporting our nation's senior civilian and military leaders to locations around the globe...during peace, crisis, and conflict... and providing combat ready forces to theater combatant commanders."

Units

1st Airlift Squadron – C-32, C-40
99th Airlift Squadron – C-20, C-37
89th Aerial Port Squadron (89 APS)
89th Communications Squadron (89 CS)

History

The 89th provided transition training for pilots from 1942 to 1944. It trained replacement crews in March–April 1944. The wing trained in the Reserve for troop carrier operations from June 1949 to May 1951. It was briefly called into active service in May 1951 to provide personnel to other units during the Korean War.

The 89th again trained in the Reserve for fighter-bomber operations from June 1952 to November 1957. From January 1966, it served as a special mission airlift wing charged with providing worldwide airlift for the Executive Department and high-ranking dignitaries of the U.S. Government and of foreign governments, as directed. (In taking over the special airlift mission, it replaced the 1254th Air Transport Wing, which had previously undertaken the task at Andrews from 1 October 1948 to 1966.)[2] It assumed an additional mission of controlling all T-39 administrative airlift within the United States from 1975 to 1978 and continued maintenance support to 1984. It gained a helicopter squadron in July 1976 and added rescue and medical evacuation (in the Washington, D.C. area) to its mission. In October 1976, the wing began training C-12 pilots for units in Alaska and Germany, and for duty with defense attaché offices and military assistance units.

The 89th was reduced in size in 1977 through transfer of many aircraft and inactivation of units, and became a group on 30 September 1977. The 89th was redesignated in 1980 as a selectively manned wing. In addition to primary mission of airlifting the President, Vice-President, cabinet members, other high U.S. government officials, and foreign dignitaries, the wing frequently participated in humanitarian missions in the U.S. and abroad. It provided transport for personnel and supplies to Southwest Asia from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, the 89th airlifted home 20 former prisoners of war from Iraqi captivity. It became host wing of Andrews Air Force Base in July 1991 and subsequently relinquished that responsibility to the 316th Wing in 2006.

Lineage

Activated in the Reserve on 27 June 1949
Ordered to active service on 1 May 1951
Inactivated on 10 May 1951
Activated in the Reserve on 14 June 1952
Inactivated on 16 November 1957
Organized on 8 January 1966, assuming personnel and equipment of 1254th Air Transport Wing (Inactivated)
Status changed from Wing to Group, 30 September 1977
Re-designated as: 89th Military Airlift Group on 30 September 1977
Status changed from Group to Wing, 15 December 1980
Re-designated as: 89th Military Airlift Wing on 15 December 1980
Re-designated as: 89th Airlift Wing on 12 July 1991.

Assignments

Components

Groups

Squadrons

Stations

Aircraft

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. ↑ "Joint Base Andrews Leadership". Andrews Air Force Base. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  2. ↑ Globalsecurity.org, 89th Airlift Wing, accessed June 2009
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