60th AMW boasts storied history

The 60th Air Mobility Wing’s predecessor, the 60th Troop Carrier Group, has the unique distinction of making the first American combat paratroop drop in the history of the Army.

It was activated in November 1940 as the 60th Transport Group, outfitted with C-47s and shipped to England, where it was re-designated the 60th Troop Car rier Group.

Its first combat mission was part of Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa, on Nov. 8, 1942. The 60th’s part of the plan was to drop the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment near Oran and capture two airfields. Bad weather and the extreme range of the flight scattered the aircraft and forced most of them to land on a dry lake, but the airfields were captured.

The 60th stayed in the Mediterranean, supporting the invasion of Sicily in July 1943 a nd an airdrop over Greece in October 1944. When the Italians surrendered in September 1943, it dropped supplies to POWs who escaped from camps.

2014: An Air Force Reserve aircrew closes in for a refueling maneuver with a KC-10 Extender during the 349th Air Mobility Wing’s Focus on the Family event, Oct. 25. The event included an orientation flight for spouses on either the KC-10, C-5 Galaxy, or C-17 Globemaster III, briefings and informative sessions on the benefits of being an Air Force Reserve spouse and a barbecue lunch to bring together all as part of the “349th Family.”

Its aircraft were extensively involved in supporting Yugoslavian partisans in 1944, flying everything from jeeps and ammunition to medical supplies and mules to small, poorly built airfields behind German lines.

Inactivated in July 1945, after the war, the 60th returned to active duty at Kauferbeuren Air Base, West G ermany, in July 1948, and flew missions for Operation Vittles, more famously known as the Berlin Airlift. This summer marks the 75th anniversary of that reactivation.

Initially flying the C-47, and later the C-54, the 60th was shifted to Fassburg Royal Air Force Station, where it primarily carried coal into the besieged city. During January 1949 a lone, the 60th flew 39,459 tons of coal and 29 tons of food into Berlin, with aircraft taking off from Fassburg every 17 m inutes.

After the blockade ended, the 60th provided aerial logistic support of the Allies in West Germany before it was moved to France in 1955 a nd was inactivated in 1958.

On Jan. 6, 1966, it was activated as the 60th Military Airlift Wing as part of a major reorganization of the Military Air Transport Services, which later became Military Airlift Command. The 60th took command of all the active duty flying and support units on Travis to mainly support American forces in the Pacific and Asia.

It was redesignated as the 60th Air Mobility Wing in October 1994 a nd has since been involved in nearly every U.S. military and humanitarian operation around the globe.