The 463rd was a unit with over 1,200 Airmen. The unit employed 30 C-130 aircraft that perform airlift missions worldwide. It provided direct support to warfighting combatant commanders with theater combat aerial delivery of personnel and their resupply worldwide.
Units
The unit comprised eight squadrons: five flying, two maintenance, and one support.
When active, the 463rd Airlift Group is entitled to display the awards earned by the 463rd Bombardment Group prior to 16 January 1953, unless that group is assigned to another headquarters.[1]
Cold War
Two C-130 Hercules aircraft of the 463rd get airborne as the remaining 16 aircraft wait on the runway during a Minimum Interval Takeoff at the start of a mass airdrop exercise at Dyess
The group was first constituted as the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, Medium and activated at Memphis Airport, Tennessee, on 16 January 1953, when it assumed the mission, equipment and personnel of the 516th Troop Carrier Wing, a reserve unit called to active duty for the Korean War, which was simultaneously inactivated. Assigned to Tactical Air Command (TAC) and equipped with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars. On 1 September, the wing moved to Ardmore Air Force Base, Oklahoma. In December 1957, it began replacing its C-119s with the new Lockheed C-130A Hercules turboprop transport. In 1959 Ardmore closed and the 463rd transferred to Sewart Air Force Base, Tennessee, to join the 314th TCW, making Sewart the only US C-130 troop carrier base. The wing moved again in 1964, this time to Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, where it replaced a TAC refueling wing that was being discontinued.
The 463rd airlifted and airdropped troops and cargo to support operations and exercises worldwide, supporting deployments during the following crises: Lebanon (July 1958), Taiwan (August 1958), Berlin (September 1961), Cuba (October–November 1962), the Gulf of Tonkin (August–December 1964), Southeast Asia (February and April–November 1965), and the Dominican Republic (April–September 1965).
The wing moved to Pacific Air Forces in November 1965 and was assigned to the 315th Air Division. Wing headquarters was at Mactan Air Base in Mactan Island in the Philippines and two squadrons were based at Clark until November 1968 when the wing and the two Mactan squadrons transferred to Clark. In PACAF, the wing initially provided airlift in Thailand then provided airplanes and crews to a 315th Air Division detachment at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. In December 1965, began furnishing aircraft and crews to fly missions in Southeast Asia. The Tan Son Nhut operation was part of 315th Air Division until October 1966 when 834th Air Division activated. The 463rd was one of three C-130 wings that provided airplanes and crews to 834th Air Division detachments. In the spring of 1969 the 463rd detachment transferred from Tan Son Nhut to Cam Ranh Air Base, where it remained until the wing ceased aircraft operations in Southeast Asia on 25 October 1971. Redesignated as the 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing in August 1967. On 31 December 1971 the 463rd was inactivated.
Reactivated at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in June 1972, the 463rd began participating in operations and exercises worldwide for TAC. In 1974, all tactical airlift was transferred to Military Airlift Command, then to Air Mobility Command (AMC) in 1992 when MAC was inactivated. The wing's tactical components deployed frequently to Europe, the Pacific, and the Canal Zone to provide air transportation as needed. On 1 November 1991, the wing implemented the Objective Wing organization and was redesignated as the 463rd Airlift Wing.
Post Cold War
The wing was inactivated on 1 October 1993 and most of its personnel and equipment was absorbed by the incoming 7th Wing at Dyess. The 7th was a composite wing which incorporated Dyess' C-130s, which were transferred from Air Mobility Command to Air Combat Command (ACC).
When the US-based C-130 force was realigned in 1997 from ACC back to AMC, the 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base was split into two pieces. The wing and training units went to Air Education and Training Command. AMC reactivated the 463rd as the 463rd Airlift Group on 1 April 1997 to control the two operational C-130 squadrons.
From Little Rock, the 463rd provided worldwide airlift, delivering combat, humanitarian, and other supplies. On 1 October 2008, the 463rd Airlift Group was inactivated and its personnel and equipment transferred to the 19th Airlift Wing.
Lineage
Established as the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, Medium on 1 December 1952.
Activated on 16 January 1953
Redesignated 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, Assault on 1 October 1962
Redesignated 463rd Troop Carrier Wing, Medium on 15 May 1965
Redesignated 463rd Troop Carrier Wing on 8 December 1965
Redesignated 463rd Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 August 1967
Inactivated on 31 December 1971
Activated on 1 June 1972
Redesignated 463rd Airlift Wing on 1 November 1991
Inactivated on 1 October 1993
Redesignated 463rd Airlift Group on 31 March 1997
Activated 1 April 1997[2]
Inactivated on 1 October 2008
Assignments
Components
Wings
456th Troop Carrier: attached 10 March – 9 July 1956 (not operational).
772nd Bombardment Squadron (later 772nd Tactical Airlift Squadron): 25 September 1957 – 23 November 1965; 7 February 1966 – 15 June 1971 (not operational 1–15 June 1971); 1 June 1972 – 1 November 1991 (detached 9 July – 15 September 1972; 10 November 1972 – 10 January 1973; 6 May – 4 June 1973; 5 February – 8 April 1974; 5 January – 15 March 1975; 30 November 1975 – 15 January 1976; 3 August – 15 October 1976; 3 November 1977 – 7 January 1978; 3 April – 5 June 1979; 3 August – 5 October 1980; 3 December 1981 – 13 February 1982; 4 April – 7 June 1983; 10 October – 7 December 1985; 5 June – 12 August 1987; 1 August – 13 October 1988; 1 October – 14 December 1989)
773rd Troop Carrier Squadron (later 773rd Tactical Airlift Squadron): 25 September 1957 – 31 October 1971 (detached 15 November 1954 – 19 May 1955 and 3 January – 6 March 1961; not operational 15–31 October 1971); 1 June 1972 – 1 November 1991 (detached 1 June – 8 July 1972; 16 September – 16 November 1972; 23 February – 12 May 1973; 3 July – 16 September 1973; 5 May – 17 July 1974; 3 May – 16 July 1975; 3 February – 9 April 1976; 7 November 1976 – 15 January 1977; 3 August – 5 October 1977; 19 September – 1 December 1978; 3 February – 5 April 1980; 3 June – 14 August 1981; 3 October – 7 December 1982; 8 February – 10 April 1984; 6 April – 4 June 1985; 9 December 1986 – 3 February 1987; 1 February – 16 April 1988; 1 April – 14 June 1989; 2 June – 14 August 1990).
774th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 774th Tactical Airlift Squadron): 25 September 1957 – 31 December 1971 (detached 21 March – 19 June 1961; not operational 26 December 1962 – 1 April 1963); 1 August 1973 – 1 October 1986 (detached 3 October – 16 December 1973; 3 September – 16 November 1974; 4 August – 15 October 1975; 3 May – 7 July 1976; 3 June – 5 August 1977; 3 March – 5 May 1978; 28 September – 5 December 1979; 3 February – 7 April 1981; 5 April – 15 June 1982; 4 August – 10 October 1983; 5 June – 4 August 1984; 3 December 1984 – 9 February 1985; 5 April – 12 June 1986)
Troop Carrier Squadron Provisional, 4480th: attached 3 January – 1 April 1963
6485th Operations: 1 September – 1 December 1968[2]
Stations
Memphis Municipal Airport, Tennessee, 16 January 1953
Ardmore Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1 September 1953
^ a bBailey, Carl E. (28 December 2007). "Factsheet 463 Airlift Group (AMC)". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
^ a b c d e fLineage, including assignments, components, stations and aircraft through 2007 in Bailey, Factsheet 463 Airlift Group except as indicated
Bibliography
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency
Endicott, Judy G. (1998). Active Air Force Wings as of 1 October 1995 and USAF Active Flying, Space, and Missile Squadrons as of 1 October 1995 (PDF). Air Force History and Museums Program. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ASIN B000113MB2. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1983) [1961]. Air Force Combat Units of World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-02-1. LCCN 61060979.
Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
Rogers, Brian. (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, UK: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.
External links
Little Rock AFB Official Website
Joe's USAF Blue Book
463rd Bomb Group Historical Society Website
"C-130 Dyess timeline". Abilene Reporter News. 23 April 2011. Archived from the original on 12 August 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency