934th Airlift Wing

934th Airlift Wing
934th Airlift Wing Lockheed C-130H Hercules on display at the Royal International Air Tattoo in 2007
Active	1963—present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Airlift
Size	1,300 Personnel
Part of	Air Force Reserve Command
Garrison/HQ	Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station
Nickname(s)	Flying Vikings
Decorations	Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm
Commanders
Current commander	Colonel Todd J. McCubbin
Insignia
934th Airlift Wing emblem (approved 23 October 1964)

The 934th Airlift Wing (934 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force based out of the Minneapolis-St Paul Joint Air Reserve Station, Minnesota.

Mission

The wing’s mission is to fly C-130 H3 cargo aircraft, both airdropping and airlanding cargo and people. Aeromedical evacuation of patients within the theater of operations is another facet of the mission. The 934th Airlift Wing supports the Air Force mission on a daily basis, providing airlift both in the United States and around the world.

Units

• 934th Operations Group (934 OG)

96th Airlift Squadron (96 AS)

• 934th Maintenance Group (934 MXG)
• 934th Mission Support Group (934 MSG)
• 934th Aeromedical Staging Squadron (934 ASTS)

History

Following the mobilizations in 1961 and 1962 for the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Continental Air Command (ConAC) realized that it was unwieldy to mobilize an entire wing unless absolutely necessary. Their original Table of Organization for each Wing was a wing headquarters, a troop carrier group, an Air Base Group, a maintenance and supply group, and a medical group. In 1957, the troop carrier group and maintenance and supply groups were inactivated, with their squadrons reassigned directly to the wing headquarters - despite the fact that many wings had squadrons spread out over several bases due to the Detached Squadron Concept dispersing Reserve units over centers of population.

To resolve this, in late 1962 and early 1963, ConAC reorganized the structure of its reserve Troop Carrier Wings by establishing fully deployable Troop Carrier Groups and inserting them into the chain of command between the Wing and its squadrons at every base that held a ConAC troop carrier squadron. At each base, the group was composed of a material squadron, a troop carrier squadron, a tactical hospital or dispensary, and a combat support squadron. Each troop carrier wing consisted of 3 or 4 of these groups. By doing so, ConAC could facilitate the mobilization of either aircraft and aircrews alone, aircraft and minimum support personnel (one troop carrier group), or the entire troop carrier wing. This also gave ConAC the flexibility to expand each Wing by attaching additional squadrons, if necessary from other Reserve wings to the deployable groups for deployments.

As a result, the 934th Troop Carrier Group was established with a mission to organize, recruit and train Air Force Reserve personnel in the tactical airlift of airborne forces, their equipment and supplies and delivery of these forces and materials by airdrop, landing or cargo extraction systems. The group was equipped with C-119 Flying Boxcars for Tactical Air Command airlift operations.

The group was one of three C-119 groups assigned to the 4400th TCW in 1963, along with the 933d Troop Carrier Group, at Billy Mitchell Field, Wisconsin.

In 1970, the group was re-equipped with the C-130 Hercules. The group has provided worldwide airlift and airdrops of passengers and materiel since 1963. It has also periodically deployed to Panama, and later Puerto Rico, to fly cargo and personnel throughout Central and South America since 1979.

Upgraded to a Wing in 1994, it has deployed personnel and aircraft to participate in allied operations in the Persian Gulf area and the Balkans in 1990 and later. It has also participated in numerous joint airborne training exercises and humanitarian airlifts.

Lineage

• Established as the 934th Troop Carrier Group, Medium and activated on 15 January 1963 (not organized)

Organized in the Reserve on 11 February 1963

Redesignated 934th Tactical Airlift Group on 1 July 1967

Redesignated 934th Airlift Group on 1 February 1992

Redesignated 934th Airlift Wing on 1 October 1994

Assignments

• Continental Air Command, 15 Jan 1963
• 440th Troop Carrier (later, 440th Tactical Airlift) Wing, 11 Feb 1963
• 442d Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 Apr 1978
• 433d Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 Oct 1981
• 302d Tactical Airlift Wing, 1 Apr 1985
• 403d Tactical Airlift Wing (later 403d Airlift Wing), 31 Dec 1987
• 302d Airlift Wing, 1 Aug 1992
• Tenth Air Force, 1 Oct 1994
• Twenty-Second Air Force, 1 Apr 1997 – Present

Components

• 934th Operations Group: 1 Aug 1992 – Present
• 96th Tactical Airlift Squadron: 11 Feb 1963 - 1 Aug 1992

Stations

• Minneapolis-St Paul Intl Aprt (later, Minneapolis-St Paul IAP-Air Reserve Station), Minnesota, 11 Feb 1963 – Present

Aircraft

• C-119 Flying Boxcar (1963–1970)
• C-130 Hercules (1970 – Present)

References

Bibliography

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

External links

• Minneapolis-St. Paul Air Reserve Station Home Page
• Air Force Historical Research Agency