The Wing was first organized as the 483rd Troop Carrier Wing during the Korean War, as an airlift organization assigned to Far East Air Forces (later Pacific Air Forces).
History
Korean War
C-119B 49–109 of the wing's 314th Troop Carrier Group
The wing was equipped with Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars and performed troop carrier and air transport operations in the Far East, including landing of troops and cargo in forward areas of the combat zone, air transportation of airborne troops and equipment, and air evacuation of casualties.[1] In June 1953, as the Korean war neared an armistice, all wing C-119s airlifted the entire 187th Regimental Combat Team (Airborne) from Kyushu, Japan to Seoul and Chunch'on, South Korea, to preclude enemy breakthroughs.[2] This was the largest mass movement of personnel in the history of combat cargo to that time.[1] For is actions in the Korean War, the wing received the Korean Presidential Unit Citation.
C-130A similar to planes assigned to wing
Between April 1953 and September 1954, the wing aided the French Air Force in Indochina by training aircrews, evacuating wounded, and maintaining aircraft.[1] For these actions, the wing became one of the first units in the Air Force to receive the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award. In 1958, the wing began to reequip with Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.[3] Its transition was complete by 1959. It performed theater transport duties and participated in joint exercises with Army units[2] until inactivated in Japan on 23 June 1960. Its squadrons were transferred to the direct control of the 315th Air Division and relocated to Naha Air Base and Tachikawa Air Base, Japan as Ashiya closed.[4][5]
Vietnam War
In August 1966, the Air Force and the Army began implementing Project Red Leaf, which would transfer responsibility for the de Havilland Canada C-7 Caribou from the Army to the Air Force following the Johnson-McConnell agreement of 1966. Air Force personnel began being assigned to the Army aviation companies flying the Caribou. Starting in late October personnel to form the cadre for the 483rd Troop Carrier Wing began to arrive at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Viet Nam. The cadre began planning to move squadron level operations from the small Army camps they were operating from to permanent sites when the Air Force units were activated. Although removal of Caribous from the Mekong Delta and An Khe was particularly controversial, the Department of Defense ordered that the wing's squadrons be located on Air Force installations, not Army posts. On 1 January 1967, the wing was organized and took over Caribou operations. Two squadrons each were located at Cam Ranh Bay, Vung Tau Air Base, and Phu Cat Air Base,[1][6][7] although detachments were maintained at an additional six locations.[lower-alpha 2] In December 1967, a Viet Cong mortar attack on Can Tho Airfield damaged two wing C-7s. As a result wing planes were no longer stationed at Can Tho, Nha Trang Air Base, or Pleiku Air Base.[8]
The 483rd was assigned the mission of providing intra-theater airlift in support of United States military civic actions, combat support and civic assistance throughout the Republic of Vietnam.[9][1] The wing's Caribou proved especially valuable in resupplying special forces camps, and largely supplanted the Fairchild C-123 Providers in performing this mission.[10] Initially, the wing's 537th Troop Carrier Squadron was dedicated to supporting the 1st Cavalry Division. This arrangement continued until late 1968, when the division moved to the southern provinces and was more efficiently supported by the squadrons at Cam Ranh Bay and Vung Tau.[11]
The C-7s provided the light load-short haul transport to rough landing strips in South Vietnam. The unique capabilities of the C-7 for short landing and takeoff made Caribou transports vital to the war effort. On many occasions the C-7A's flew emergency airlift missions to airstrips and combat areas that no other aircraft could reach. Most notable were those in support of special forces camps in the Central Highlands.
In June 1968 the wing flew a record 2,420 combat troops in three days between Dak Pek, Ben Het and Dak To. In August 1968 pinpoint night airdrops were accomplished at Duc Lap, Ha Thanh and Tonle Cham special forces camps. Ammunition and medical supplies were parachuted into 75-foot-square drop zones while the camps were under attack. In June 1969 during the siege of Ben Het more than 200 tons of ammunition, POL, rations, water and medical supplies were airdropped into a 100 x 200-foot zone with every load on target and 100 per cent recovered.
In March 1969, a provisional group was established at Vung Tau Airfield to exercise command and control over the wing's units located there.[12] In June 1970, the group was discontinued[1] when the Caribou squadrons at Vung Tau moved to Cam Ranh Bay.[13] With the inactivation of the 459th Tactical Airlift Squadron that month, all but one C-7 squadron was located with the wing.
In March 1970, when the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing moved to Phu Cat Air Base,[14] the 483rd Wing became the host wing at Cam Ranh Bay. As a corollary to assuming the support mission for the base, support organizations assigned to the wing carried out a number of civic actions, including construction of housing, providing support for orphanages and educational institutions and improvement of water supply systems.[15]
In April 1970, the wing, designated the 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing since August 1967,[1] helped break the siege of Dak Seang Special Forces Camp.[15] North Vietnamese forces had surrounded the camp, and learning from the success of air resupply during their 1969 attack on the Ben Het Camp, also established anti-aircraft artillery positions along likely air resupply corridors. On the first day of the siege, two wing C-7s were diverted from their scheduled missions and staged out of Pleiku to make the first airdrops to the camp. The following day, a C-7 was lost shortly after releasing its load. Resupply of the camp was so urgent that all drop-qualified crews of the wing were ordered to Pleiku to support the operation and eleven sorties were flown that day with cover from Douglas A-1 Skyraiders. Crews approached the camp from the north or south to use terrain to mask their approaches from enemy flak. Loss of the third Caribou in five days prompted a move to resupply the camp with night drops, with cover and illumination provided by Fairchild AC-119 Stinger gunships. The majority of the missions were flown by the 537th Squadron, although all wing squadrons participated[16] The wing flew 100 air-drop sorties under heavy hostile fire in ten days delivering some 400,000 pounds of vital supplies.[15] The wing earned a second Presidential Unit Citation for this action, evacuation of over 2000 refugees from Cambodia, and transportation of the Presidential Southeast Asia Investigation Team to various remote locations in South Vietnam.[17]
On 31 August 1971 the remaining unit at Phu Cat Air Base, the 537th Tactical Airlift Squadron, inactivated, followed shortly thereafter by the 536th Tactical Airlift Squadron. During their five years' flying for the 483rd, the C-7A Caribous carried more than 4.7million passengers, averaging more than one million a year during 1967–1969. At the same time the wing averaged more than 100,000 tons of cargo each year.[citation needed]
6461st Troop Carrier Squadron (later 6461st Air Transport Squadron): 1 January 1953 – 24 June 1955 (Attached)[1]
Vietnam War
Airlift units (1967-1972)
457th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 457th Tactical Airlift) Squadron): 1 January 1967 – 30 April 1972[1][lower-alpha 3]
458th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 458th Tactical Airlift) Squadron): 1 January 1967 – 1 March 1972[27][lower-alpha 4]
459th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 459th Tactical Airlift Squadron): 1 January 1967 – 1 June 1970[28][lower-alpha 5] (Phu Cat Air Base, Viet Nam)
535th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 535th Tactical Airlift Squadron): 1 January 1967 – 24 January 1972[29][lower-alpha 6] (attached to Tactical Group, Provisional, 6483rd, 15 March 1969 – 30 June 1970) (Vung Tau Airfield until 21 June 1970)
536th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 536th Tactical Airlift) Squadron: 1 January 1967 – 15 October 1971[1][lower-alpha 7] (attached to Tactical Group, Provisional, 6483rd, 15 March 1969 – 30 June 1970) (Vung Tau Airfield until c. 1 July 1970)
537th Troop Carrier (later 537th Tactical Airlift) Squadron: 1 January 1967 – 31 August 1971[30][lower-alpha 8] (Phu Cat Air Base, Viet Nam)
Royal Australian Air Force, Transport Flight Vietnam (later 35 Squadron RAAF[lower-alpha 9] January 1967 – Feb 1972 (Vung Tau Air Base, Viet Nam)
483rd Field Maintenance Squadron (later 483rd Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, 483rd Field Maintenance Squadron): 8 March 1958 – 25 June 1960, 1 January 1967 – 13 May 1972[20]
483rd Flight Line Maintenance Squadron: 8 March 1958 – 18 December 1959[33]
483rd Periodic Maintenance Squadron (later 483rd Organizational Maintenance Squadron): 8 March 1958 – 25 June 1960, 10 December 1970 – 30 April 1972[20]
483rd Munitions Maintenance Squadron, 15 July 1971 – 30 April 1972[20]
6483rd Flight Line Maintenance Squadron: 22 August 1957 – 8 March 1958[34]
6483rd Periodic Maintenance Squadron: 22 August 1957 – 8 March 1958[34]
Stations
Ashiya Air Base, Japan, 1 January 1953 – 25 June 1960
Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, South Vietnam, 15 October 1966 – 31 May 1972[1]
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↑ Robertson, Patsy (16 March 2015). "Factsheet 37 Airlift Squadron". Air Force Historical Research Agency. Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2016. AFHRA Factsheet, 37th Airlift Squadron] (accessed 27 Oct 2012)
1 2 No byline. "Abstract, History 483d Troop Carrier Wing, Aug–Dec 1957". Air Force History Index. Retrieved 28 October 2012. Abstract, History of 483d Troop Carrier Wing, Aug–Dec 1957|publisher=Air Force History Index|access-date=October 28, 2012}})
Bowers, Ray L. (1999) [1983]. Tactical Airlift(PDF). The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ASINB00DJU4SGA. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
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