1607th Air Transport Wing The 1607th Air Transport Wing is an inactive United States Air Force unit . Its last was assigned to the Eastern Transport Air Force , Military Air Transport Service , stationed at Dover Air Force Base , Delaware . It was inactivated on 8 January 1966 . With the disestablishment of MATS , the assets of the Wing were reassigned to the 436th Military Airlift Wing , Military Airlift Command . History . Following World War II , Dover Air Force Base was reactivated on 1 February 1951 and assigned under the jurisdiction of the Air Defense Command ( ADC ) . At this time the 148th Fighter Interceptor Squadron ( FIS ) of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard ( ANG ) was recalled to active duty from Reading Air Force Base and assigned to Dover . On 1 February 1952 , the 80th Air Base Squadron was activated at Dover to provide housekeeping duties for the four tenant units that had arrived on the base by that date . They were the 148th Fighter Interceptor Squadron , the 1737th Ferrying Squadron , Detachment 1909 - 6 Airways and Communications Services and Detachment 4 , 9th Weather Group . On 1 April 1952 , the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) assumed command jurisdiction of the base . Concurrent with this action , the 80th Air Base Squadron was relieved of assignment to ADC and assigned to MATS , with further assignment to the Atlantic Division ( MATS ) , headquartered at Westover AFB , Massachusetts ; which in 1958 , was re - designated as the Eastern Transport Air Force ( EASTAF ) and moved to McGuire Air Force Base , New Jersey . In addition , Congress appropriated $ 25 million to expand and transform Dover Air Force Base into a supplemental east coast port of embarkation for MATS and as a Foreign Clearing Base for ferrying flights headed to Europe , the Caribbean , and to the countries of the north . On 1 August 1953 , the 80th Air Base Squadron was inactivated and reverted to the control of the Department of the Air Force . Concurrent with this action , four units of the Atlantic Division were organized at Dover , the 1607th Air Base Group ( ABG ) , the 1607th Air Base Squadron , the 1607th Maintenance and Supply Squadron and the 1607th Medical Squadron . On 18 November 1953 , the first two transport squadrons , the 1st Air Transport Squadron ( ATS ) and the 21st Air Transport Squadron ( ATS ) , “ Medium ” , which flew the Douglas C - 54 G , were reconstituted , re - designated and assigned to the 1607th Air Base Group . This would be the nucleus of the 1607th Air Transport Wing ( ATW ) . On 22 December 1953 , the Secretary of the Air Force designated Dover Air Force Base as a permanent military installation . On 1 January 1954 , the 1607th Air Transport Wing was designated , assigned to Atlantic Division MATS , and organized at Dover Air Force Base . By the same orders the 1607th Air Transport Group ( ATG ) was designated and organized in preparation for the start of transport mission operations from the base . On 15 February 1954 , the 39th , and the 45th Air Transport Squadrons , were reconstituted and assigned to the 1607th Air Transport Group . The 39th Air Transport Squadron was subsequently designated “ Medium ” and the 45th Air Transport Squadron was designated as a “ Heavy ” squadron , indicating the type of aircraft that was and would be assigned to these units . The initial transport mission of the newly activated Air Transport Group was accomplished when a C - 54 operated by the 1st Air Transport Squadron ( Medium ) delivered a 9 , 000 pound radio mast to Harmon Field , Newfoundland . On 8 March 1954 , the 40th Air Transport Squadron ( Heavy ) was reconstituted and assigned to the Wing . On 1 May 1954 , the first Douglas C - 124 Globemaster II arrived at Dover and on 12 June the 45th Air Transport Squadron flew the first C - 124 “ heavy ” transport mission , airlifting five engines to Harmon Field , Newfoundland and a 12 , 000 pound spool of cable to Torbay Air Base , Newfoundland . On 8 September 1954 , the 1st and 21st Air Transport Squadrons where re - designated from “ Medium ” to “ Heavy ” transport units , respectively as the C - 54s assigned to these units were replaced with the C - 124 . On 20 September 1954 , the 1607th Air Transport Wing and its headquarters were re - designated the 1607th Air Transport Wing ( Heavy ) . The same order added “ Heavy ” to the designation of the 1607th Air Transport Group . Throughout the years there were many changes to the organizations under the 1607th Air Transport Wing . In 1955 , C - 124 units such as the 15th , the 20th and the 31st Air Transport Squadrons were relocated from Westover Air Force Base , Massachusetts when MATS closed its facilities there . Along with the relocation of these units both the 21st and 45th Air Transport Squadrons were inactivated . The 40th was inactivated in December 1960 and its personnel were absorbed into the other units . With the arrival of the Douglas C - 133 Cargomaster in 1957 , the 39th Air Transport Squadron was re - designated a C - 133 unit with the 1st Air Transport Squadron to follow in 1960 . The most significant reorganization occurred on 18 January 1963 , when the wing was reorganized under the MATS dual deputy concept of operations . This reorganization resulted in the discontinuance of the 1607th Air Transport Group ( Heavy ) and the 1607th Maintenance Group , transferring their responsibilities to a Deputy Commander for Operations ( DCO ) , a Deputy Commander for Material ( DCM ) and the 1607th Air Base Group ( ABG ) . In November 1964 , the Secretary of Defense announced that eighty Department of Defense activities within the United States would be reduced or discontinued and that a troop carrier squadron would be transferred to Dover Air Force Base . Thus , in January 1965 , the 15th Air Transport Squadron would inactivate along with the activation of the 9th Troop Carrier Squadron . Both the 20th and the 31st Air Transport Squadrons followed suit and were re - designated as troop carrier squadrons . This designation would be temporary for the 20th , as it would revert to its previous designation as a transport squadron . On 1 February 1965 , MATS announced that Dover was selected as one of four bases where the Lockheed C - 141 Starlifter would be tested under a program called “ Lead the Force ” . The first C - 141 arrived at Dover Air Force Base on 18 August 1965 and was assigned to the 20th Air Transport Squadron . The initial mission of the 1607th Air Transport Wing ( Heavy ) was “ to command , operate , administer and maintain Dover Air Force Base and such organizations , installations and facilities as may be assigned by proper authority for the purpose of transporting by air , personnel , material , mail , strategic materials and other cargoes for all agencies of the Department of Defense ( DOD ) and as authorized for other government agencies of the United States , subject to priorities and policies established by higher headquarters . ” The mission responsibilities of the Wing were later expanded considerably . In the following years , the 1607th Air Transport Wing assumed the additional responsibility for logistical airlift operations including unit deployment , airdrop supply , air landed supply , scheduled and nonscheduled airlift , as well as joint airborne operations and training to include the capability for airdrop of personnel and cargo . As a unit of the Military Air Transport Service , the 1607th Air Transport Wing had its share of responsibilities in major joint mobility exercises and global operations conducted during the “ Cold War . ” Examples include : Big Slam / Puerto Pine , March 1960 , was an exercise that deployed 22 , 000 combat Army troops and 12 , 000 tons of gear from stateside bases to Ramey AFB and Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station , Puerto Rico ; Check Mate II , September 1961 , involved the deployment of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell , Kentucky to bases in Europe ; Southern Express , October 1962 , a NATO exercise which involved airlifting troops from central Europe to northern Greece ; Big Lift , October 1963 , the deployment of a full Army division from Texas to West Germany ; The Cuban Missile Crisis , October 1962 . In support of President John F . Kennedy ’ s decision to blockade Cuba , Dover Air Force Base was called upon to support the build - up of forces in the southeastern United States . The Wing and its aircrews worked at peak capacity airlifting troops and supplies from bases throughout the country to Florida and Guantanamo Bay . History shows that we were within 36 hours of a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union ; the Congo Airlift , also known as Operation “ New Tape , ” was , at the time , history ’ s longest lasting operational airlift , lasting 3 1 / 2 years , from 1960 to 1964 ; Operation Good Hope , September 1957 , the airlift of arms support to Jordan . Forty vehicles equipped with 109 mm weapons were carried in five C - 124s that flew in formation from Dhahran , Saudi Arabia to Amman , Jordan ; Project ICE CUBE , May 1955 , supported the construction of the Distant Early Warning Line in northern Canada ; Polar Strike , January 1965 , was conducted to evaluate U . S . STRICOM ’ s ability to reinforce the Alaskan Command . During the years what seemed impossible to many was considered routine day - to - day operations to the aircrews of the 1607th Air Transport Wing . In December 1958 , a Dover AFB C - 133 airlifted the heaviest load in the history of aviation when it carried 118 , 000 pounds of cargo to an altitude of 10 , 000 feet , breaking the former world record held by a Soviet Tupolev Tu - 104 “ Camel ” ; on 7 February 1960 , a Dover C - 124 with a 15th Air Transport Squadron aircrew flew a record breaking non - stop flight from Hickam AFB , Hawaii to Dover AFB in eighteen hours and forty minutes ; a C - 124 of the 1st Air Transport Squadron was assigned temporary duty to the 54th Air Rescue Squadron at Goose Bay , Labrador to aid in the rescue of 26 passengers and 8 crew members of a Norwegian vessel ice bound off the coast of Greenland ; in March 1956 , 22 , 000 pounds of emergency polio equipment and supplies were airlifted to Buenos Aires to help combat a polio outbreak ; the AMIGO Airlift , mercy missions to Santiago , Chile in May 1960 , when an earthquake literally re - made parts of that country ; in 1962 , the four month round the world tour of John Glenn ’ s space capsule Friendship 7 ; many re - supply missions from Thule Air Base , Greenland to the northern most weather outposts at Nord , Greenland and Alert , both within just some 500 miles of the North Pole ; the delivery of a telepectograph to Ascension Island in support of the space project FIRE . It was the first time such an instrument was airlifted as a complete unit ; the airlift of supplies and emergency equipment to Alaska after an earthquake struck that state in March 1964 ; the presidential support mission of John F . Kennedy , in July 1963 , when he spoke the famous words “ Ich Bin Ein Berliner , ” at the Berlin Wall . These are but a few of the approximate 75 significant events added to the normal day to day global airlift operations , of which the 1607th Air Transport Wing was involved . During its twelve - year history at Dover , the 1607th ATW accumulated 1 , 076 , 483 transport flying hours or an approximate equivalent distance of 235 million nautical miles . The 1607th Air Transport Wing ( Heavy ) was assigned to the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) throughout its history and , on 8 January 1966 , the 1607th was discontinued and the 436th Military Airlift Wing was activated when the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) was replaced by the Military Airlift Command ( MAC ) . The 1st , 20th , and 39th Air Transport Squadrons “ Heavy ” and the 9th and 31st Troop Carrier Squadrons “ Heavy ” were all re - designated as Military Airlift Squadrons . There were 70 heavy transport aircraft assigned , on 8 January 1966 , with over 8 , 000 military and civilian personnel . Its C - 124 Globemaster s , C - 133 Cargomaster s and the newly acquired C - 141 Starlifter s maintained a D - Day state of readiness to airlift men and material for the United States and allied military forces whenever and wherever needed . In addition , the Wing ’ s mercy airlifts to nations suffering natural disasters , and its United Nations airlift effort in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other areas of the world , bolstered US national policy in the Cold War .