1701st Air Transport Wing The 1701st Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the Western Transport Air Force , Military Air Transport Service , stationed at Brookley Air Force Base , Alabama . It was inactivated on 18 June 1957 . History . Formed in mid - 1944 by Air Transport Command after Great Falls Army Airfield , Montana was taken over from II Bomber Command . Mission of the unit was to coordinate Lend - Lease shipments of equipment including P - 39 , C - 47 , B - 25 , and A - 20 aircraft . B - 25 Mitchell Bombers arrived by rail and were assembled on base , others were flown in by both military and Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASPs ) . These aircraft were later flown by U . S . pilots by way of the Northwest Staging Route through Canada , to Fairbanks , Alaska , and transferred to Russian pilots who in turn flew them into Siberia via the Alaskan - Siberian Route ( ALSIB ) . A total of 1 , 717 , 712 pounds of cargo containing aircraft parts , tools miscellaneous equipment , explosives and medical supplies were shipped through Great Falls Army Air Base to Russia . Aircraft shipments to the Soviet Union stopped in September 1945 , when World War II ended , with approximately 8 , 000 aircraft having been processed in a 21 - month period . Following the war , the unit assumed a support mission for military personnel assigned to Alaskan military installations . On June 25 , 1948 Operation Vittles , the strategic airlift of supplies to Berlin ' s 2 , 000 , 000 inhabitants , was initiated . The 547th ( later 1701st ) ATW played a critical role in assuring the success of this vital operation . Officials selected Great Falls AFB as the only replacement aircrew training site for Berlin Airlift - bound C - 54s , officially activating the 517th Air Transport Wing . Using radio beacons , Great Falls AFB was transformed to resemble Tempelhof Airport in Berlin , Germany . Hundreds of pilots and Flight Engineers many of whom were recalled to active duty , were qualified on the C - 54 aircraft and on flight procedures to and from Berlin by practicing on ground mock - ups and flying simulated airlift missions . Later , the 517th Air Transport Wing was redesginated the 1701st Air Transport Wing . This wing ’ s primary mission was the routing and scheduling of flights throughout the Pacific Ocean region and in support of allied forces in the Korean War . The Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) reopened the C - 54 Flight Training School as the 1272d Medium Transition Training Unit in May 1950 , one month before the Korean War began . The 1701st ATW was later replaced by the 1300th Air Base Wing was moved to Brookley AFB , Alabama in a name - only transfer , assuming control of the 1703d Air Transport Group supporting the Mobile Air Material facilities . At Brookley , the 1703d was redesignated as a Heavy Transport Wing , controlling a C - 124 Globemaster II strategic airlift squadron as well as the United States Air Force C - 74 Globemaster fleet of very heavy lift aircraft . Throughout the 1950 and 1960s the 1701 ATW flew strategic airlift missions on a worldwide scale with its C - 124 fleet after the retirement of the C - 74 until 1957 when Brookley AFB was reassigned to Air Material Command . Components . Groups Squadrons