903d Military Airlift Group

903d Military Airlift Group
	C-141 Starlifter from McGuire Air Force Base
Active	1962–1973
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force
Role	Airlift
Part of	Air Force Reserve
Insignia
903d Military Airlift Group emblem

Last updated March 05, 2019

The 903d Military Airlift Group is an inactive United States Air Force Reserve unit. It was last active with the 514th Military Airlift Wing at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, where it was inactivated on 1 July 1973.

McGuire AFB/McGuire, the common name of the McGuire unit of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Air Force base located in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, approximately 16.1 miles (25.9 km) south-southeast of Trenton. McGuire is under the jurisdiction of the Air Mobility Command. It was consolidated with two adjoining US Army and Navy facilities to become part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on 1 October 2009. The McGuire Air Force Base census-designated place (CDP) is located in portions of both New Hanover Township and North Hanover Township.

History

Need for reserve troop carrier groups

During the first half of 1955, the Air Force began detaching Air Force Reserve squadrons from their parent wing locations to separate sites. The concept offered several advantages. Communities were more likely to accept the smaller squadrons than the large wings and the location of separate squadrons in smaller population centers would facilitate recruiting and manning. Continental Air Command (ConAC)'s plan called for placing Air Force Reserve units at fifty-nine installations located throughout the United States. When these relocations were completed in 1959, reserve wing headquarters and wing support elements would typically be on one base, along with one (or in some cases two) of the wing's flying squadrons, while the remaining flying squadrons were spread over thirty-five Air Force, Navy and civilian airfields under what was called the Detached Squadron Concept.^[1]

A squadron in air force, army aviation, or naval aviation is a unit comprising a number of military aircraft and their aircrews, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force. Land based squadrons equipped with heavier type aircraft such as long-range bombers, or cargo aircraft, or air refueling tankers have around 12 aircraft as a typical authorization, while most land-based fighter equipped units have an authorized number of 18 to 24 aircraft.

In military aviation, a wing is a unit of command. In most military aviation services, a wing is a relatively large formation of planes. In Commonwealth countries a wing usually comprises three squadrons, with several wings forming a group. Each squadron will contain around 20 planes.

Continental Air Command (ConAC) (1948–1968) was a Major Command of the United States Air Force (USAF) responsible primarily for administering the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve.

Although this dispersal was not a problem when the entire wing was called to active service, mobilizing a single flying squadron and elements to support it proved difficult. This weakness was demonstrated in the partial mobilization of reserve units during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 To resolve this, at the start of 1962, Continental Air Command, (ConAC) determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons. This reorganization would facilitate mobilization of elements of wings in various combinations when needed. However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization occurred for the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the units being released on 22 November 1962. The formation of troop carrier groups occurred in January 1963 for units that had not been mobilized, but was delayed until February for those that had been.^[2]

The Berlin Crisis of 1961 occurred between 4 June – 9 November 1961, and was the last major politic-military European incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post–World War II Germany. The Berlin Crisis started when the USSR launched an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of all armed forces from Berlin, including the Western armed forces in West Berlin. The crisis culminated in the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall.

A group is a military aviation unit, a component of military organization and a military formation. The terms group and wing differ significantly from one country to another, as well as between different branches of a national defence force.

The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis of 1962, the Caribbean Crisis, or the Missile Scare, was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union initiated by American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation is often considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

Activation of 903d Troop Carrier Group

As a result, the 903d Troop Carrier Group was established at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey on 17 January 1963, as the headquarters for the 335th Troop Carrier Squadron, which had been stationed there since March 1961. Along with group headquarters, a Combat Support Squadron, Materiel Squadron and a Tactical Infirmary were organized to support the 335th.

The group mission was 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.

Tactical Air Command (TAC) is an inactive United States Air Force organization. It was a Major Command of the United States Air Force, established on 21 March 1946 and headquartered at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. It was inactivated on 1 June 1992 and its personnel and equipment absorbed by Air Combat Command (ACC).

The 903d was one of three C-119 groups assigned to the 514th TCW in 1963, the others being the 904th Troop Carrier Group at Stewart AFB, New York and 905th Troop Carrier Group at Bradley Field, Connecticut.

Bradley International Airport is a civil/military airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Owned and operated by the Connecticut Airport Authority, it is the second-largest airport in New England.

In 1970, was re-aligned to Military Airlift Command, becoming reserve C-141 Starlifter intercontinental heavy-lift transport group along with the assigned 943d Troop Carrier Group at Dover AFB, Delaware. Inactivated in 1973 as part of the drawdown of forces after the Vietnam War.

Lineage

Established as 903d Troop Carrier Group, Medium and activated on 28 December 1962 (not organized)

Organized in the Reserve on 17 January 1963

Redesignated 903d Tactical Airlift Group on 1 July 1967

Redesignated 903d Military Airlift Group (Associate) on 25 September 1968

Inactivated on 1 July 1973

Assignments

Continental Air Command, 28 December 1963 (not organized)
514th Troop Carrier Wing (later 514th Tactical Airlift Wing, 514th Military Airlift Wing), 17 January 1963 – 1 July 1973

Components

335th Troop Carrier Squadron (later 335th Tactical Airlift Squadron Military Airlift Squadron), 17 January 1963 – 1 April 1970
732d Military Airlift Squadron, 1 April 1970 – 1 July 1973

Stations

McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, 17 January 1963 – 1 July 1973

Aircraft

Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, 1963–1970
Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, 1970–1973

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References

Notes

↑ Cantwell, pp. 156, 169
↑ Cantwell, pp. 189–191

Bibliography

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

Mueller, Robert (1989). Air Force Bases, Vol. I, Active Air Force Bases Within the United States of America on 17 September 1982 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-53-6.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings, Lineage & Honors Histories 1947–1977 (PDF). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-912799-12-9.
Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN 1-85780-197-0.

External links

AFHRA search 903d Airlift Group

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[1] Cantwell, pp. 156, 169

[2] Cantwell, pp. 189–191