135th Airlift Squadron The 135th Airlift Squadron ( 135 AS ) is a unit of the Maryland Air National Guard 135th Airlift Group located at Warfield Air National Guard Base , Middle River , Maryland . The 135th is equipped with the C - 27J Spartan . Mission . Operates combat - ready aircrew and aircraft to mobilize , deploy and provide intra - theater C - 27J aircraft in support of U . S . interests worldwide . Supports theater commanders ’ requirements for combat delivery capability through tactical airland / airdrop operations and humanitarian aeromedical evacuations . Heraldry . Symbolism : Ultramarine blue and golden yellow are the Air Force colors and symbolize that the unit is a part of the Air Force . The escutcheon portrays the coat of arms of the State of Maryland and signifies the home location of the unit . The crossed jousting lances reflect the military preparedness of the squadron and allude the Maryland state sport . Background : Designed by Lt Col Ronald James and approved for the 135th Tactical Airlift Squadron on 3 October 1990 . Re - designated for the 135th Airlift Squadron in 1992 . The motto , " Baltimore ' s Best " was suggested by Master Sgt . Lee Cherry and arose from the unit having been recognized by the Baltimore Is Best Committee on 18 February 1987 . This insignia superseded one approved by the Air Force for the squadron in October 1960 . History . Special operations . The Maryland Air National Guard ' s introduction to the world of special operations began when Air Force leaders decided to phase out active duty air commando units in 1954 . Despite the decision , there was still a need to maintain a limited number of crews and aircraft to support unconventional warfare missions . After lengthy deliberations , the Air Force decided in 1955 to establish four special air warfare units within the Air National Guard : the 129th Air Resupply Group in California , the 130th in West Virginia , the 143d in Rhode Island , and the 135th in Maryland . The 135th Air Resupply Squadron was established in September 1955 as a new Maryland Air National Guard unit with no previous United States Air Force history or lineage by the National Guard Bureau . Activated on 10 September at Harbor Field , Baltimore , Maryland , the squadron was assigned to the 135th Air Resupply Group . Allocated to Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) , and equipped with C - 46D Commando transports . The 135th was designated at the time as a " Psychological Warfare " unit which supported USAF unconventional warfare ( guerrilla warfare ) , direct action ( commando - type raids ) , strategic reconnaissance ( intelligence gathering ) , and PSYWAR operations . The C - 46 was supplemented by SA - 16 Albatross amphibious aircraft beginning in 1956 . The SA - 16 ( later redesignated HU - 16 ) completely replaced the C - 46s in late 1958 . Training for water landings with the SA - 16 was extremely hazardous . To make matters worse , doctrine required pilots to land their aircraft on water at night , with no landing lights . Night water landings were practiced at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in southern Maryland . Three crewmen were killed when their plane crashed while attempting a water landing in May 1956 . Ultimately , the 135th ' s mission included counterinsurgency , military civic action , psychological operations , tactical air operations , and unconventional warfare . In addition to blacked - out water landings , the SA - 16 crews practiced pulling personnel from the ground by means of the Fulton Recovery System , which retired Col . Richard T . Lynch , a former 135th commander , described as being " like bungee jumping in reverse . " Exercise Swamp Rat followed a fairly typical training scenario . In October 1959 , nine Maryland SA - 16s flew to Fort Bragg , North Carolina , to work with soldiers of the 77th Special Forces Group . The paratroopers and their equipment were loaded aboard the SA - 16s and dropped near the swamps of Fort Stewart , Georgia . 135th crews then flew resupply missions for the troops and extracted them when their mission was complete . In 1960 , it relocated to the south side of the Martin Company Airport ( now the Martin State Airport ) in Middle River Maryland . Reassigned to Tactical Air Command in 1962 and re - designated as Air Commando unit , following the revival of an active duty air commando unit at Hurlburt Field , Florida in line with President John F . Kennedy ' s initiative to bolster the United States military special forces during the early involvement in the Vietnam War . In 1963 , the 135th added U - 10 Super Couriers to its inventory . The U - 10s were used for infiltration , extraction and psychological operations . These aircraft were temporarily replaced by U - 6 Beavers from 1965 to 1967 due to a need for U - 10s in Vietnam . In 1963 , the 135th participated in Exercise Swift Strike III , one of the largest military maneuvers since World War II . During the exercise , the unit not only flew a variety of special air warfare missions , but received an operational readiness inspection from Tactical Air Command to boot . The 135th also worked with U . S . intelligence agencies . A common mission was to pick up agents in training , fly a zig - zag course to make sure they didn ' t know where they were headed , then have them parachute out over western Maryland . The trainees then had to make their way to Patuxent with only the resources they carried — sometimes taking as much as six weeks to do so . The 135th would then fly down to " extract " the trainees and bring them home . The unit ' s loudspeaker - equipped U - 10s were used to broadcast orders to student protesters at the University of Maryland during demonstrations in 1971 , their only actual operational use by the 135th . It remained a special operations - type unit until 1971 , when it was reorganized as a tactical air support unit . In this role , it was tasked with providing Forward Air Controllers to direct air strikes in support of troops on the ground . Tactical AIrlift . In 1977 it was again reorganized , this time as a tactical airlift unit as part of a general program to upgrade Air National Guard units . Was assigned the C - 7A Caribou light transport , the aircraft being Vietnam War veterans . In 1980 , the unit converted to the C - 130B Hercules . In 1981 , it moved across the field to join other Maryland Air National Guard units based on the north side of the field . The military facilities are named Warfield Air National Guard Base . During the early 1990s , the 135th participated in humanitarian relief efforts in Somalia , peacekeeping and humanitarian relief in Bosnia , the U . S . intervention in Haiti and the enforcement of U . N . sanctions against Iraq during the 1990s . In mid - 1996 , the Air Force , in response to budget cuts , and changing world situations , began experimenting with Air Expeditionary organizations . The Air Expeditionary Force ( AEF ) concept was developed that would mix Active - Duty , Reserve and Air National Guard elements into a combined force . Instead of entire permanent units deploying as " Provisional " as in the 1991 Gulf War , Expeditionary units are composed of " aviation packages " from several wings , including active - duty Air Force , the Air Force Reserve Command and the Air National Guard , would be married together to carry out the assigned deployment rotation . In 1999 it dedicated its first C - 130J , the latest and most advanced version of the venerable transport . The 135th had played a major role in the test and evaluation of the aircraft and its procedures and was the first fully equipped C - 130J unit in the U . S . Air Force . In February 2000 the 135th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron ( 135th EAS ) was first formed from 135th personnel and aircraft and deployed to Lambarene Airport , Gabon , for exercise " Gabon 2000 " with the objective of increasing the capacity of ECCAS states in the field of peacekeeping and conflict prevention and management . This exercise represented a direct application of the French RECAMP - concept ( reinforcement of African peacekeeping capacities ) . BRAC 2005 saw the C - 130J aircraft of the squadron being transferred to the 146th Airlift Wing ( ANG ) , Channel Islands AGS , CA ( four aircraft ) , and 143d Airlift Wing ( ANG ) , Quonset State Airport AGS , RI ( four aircraft ) . In 2011 , the first C - 27J Spartan light transport was received . The squadron will obtain four of the C - 27Js . Operation Enduring Freedom . Beginning in July 2011 , the 135th AS along with the Ohio Air National Guard 164th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron began rotational deployments for joint operations of the C - 27J from Kandahar Airfield , Afghanistan as the 702d Expeditionary Airlift Squadron . The 702d EAS flew the two aircraft on 3 , 200 missions , moved 1 , 400 tons of cargo , transported 25 , 000 passengers and executed 71 airdrops , according to Air Force data . In June 2012 , operations of the 702d EAS were suspended by the Air Force and returned to the United States . Originally , C - 27J aircraft were supposed to remain in theater through 2014 , but the Air Force decided to bring all of the aircraft back to the U . S . before the end of July after it submitted its 2013 budget proposal , which recommends terminating the C - 27J and retiring the aircraft . L - 3 Communications , which has maintained the aircraft in Afghanistan , is shutting down its operations in the country and is having its equipment withdrawn as well , an Air Force official said . The Air Force decided to bring the aircraft back to the U . S . ahead of schedule because the maintenance contract with L - 3 will expire this summer , the service official said . Keeping the aircraft in theater would mean spending an additional $ 20 million to $ 25 million in maintenance costs , the official said . The end of the C - 27J program " . . . would leave the Maryland Air Guard without the airlift capability it has used to deliver troops , equipment and supplies to isolated terrain in combat overseas and disasters in the United States . " It also would leave the 250 pilots , loadmasters , maintenance workers and other personnel of the 135th Airlift Group without an assignment . It is unclear what will become of the group . "