440th Airlift Wing The 440th Airlift Wing is a United States Air Force Reserve unit assigned to Twenty - Second Air Force . It is stationed at Pope Field , part of Fort Bragg in North Carolina . The 440th Airlift Wing ' s mission in peacetime is to maintain readiness for its wartime mission of personnel and cargo movement and of combat formation airdrop of cargo and personnel . The unit is very active with Operation Iraqi Freedom , with its mission extending to the Middle East into Europe and the Pacific . Often its Airmen are deployed throughout the world to support Air Mobility Command ' s global reach mission . It works with the 43rd Airlift Group in this capacity . Units . The 440th has one senior officer in charge of the wing and three group commanders ( operations , maintenance and mission support ) and 1 medical squadron commander who oversee the 19 units that make up the 440th . The units that make up the 440th are manned by about 1 , 400 reservists and civilians . About 220 of the civilians employed by the 440th are " ARTs " , or Air Reserve Technicians . An ART ' s civilian job requires the man or woman to be a member of the Reserve . The majority of Reserve training is completed during unit training assemblies or " UTA " weekends . Each reservist must complete one weekend a month of training each year . Besides two days of training each month Reservists must schedule and complete a minimum of 15 days of training during a calendar year . Reservists may also opt for additional training to attend schools , maintain flying proficiency or to support special projects . Major components of the wing are : History . The wing was activated as a Reserve Flying Training Group in 1947 at Minneapolis , Minn . Two years later , the unit ’ s mission changed and it was renamed the 440th Troop Carrier Wing . The wing ’ s remained in Minneapolis until November 1957 when it was transferred to the new Air Reserve Station in Milwaukee . After the move to Milwaukee , the 440th Troop Carrier Wing had the Fairchild C - 119 Flying Boxcar aircraft assigned to the wing . The 440th Troop Carrier Wing was called to active duty for one month ( October – November 1962 ) during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 . Milwaukee was a temporary home to some deployed nuclear capable B - 47 Stratojets in during the crisis . Volunteer aircrews also supported military operations in the Dominican Republic in May 1965 . Tragedy struck the wing on 5 June 1965 when a C - 119 ( Flight Number 680 ) under the command of Maj . Louis Giuntoli was lost without a trace in the infamous Bermuda Triangle area . Nine other wing members were on the plane . Milwaukee reservists flew emergency supplies to snowbound Indian reservations in the western U . S . in December 1967 . The 440th Troop Carrier Wing went through another name change in 1967 when it became the reserve 440th Tactical Airlift Wing . Wing personnel also flew equipment and supplies to Gulfport , Miss . , in August 1969 , after Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast . Wisconsin reservists efforts did not go unnoticed . The Air Force Association named the 440th as its Outstanding Reserve unit in 1963 , 1964 , 1966 and 1968 . The 440th in the 1970s The decade began with a new unit being assigned to the 440th , the 928th Tactical Airlift Group in 1970 . The relatively new name ( Tactical Airlift Wing ) and new unit ( 928th ) were followed up with some more up - to - date equipment . The wing ’ s C - 119s were replaced with C - 130A Hercules transport planes in 1971 . Weather emergencies along the eastern U . S . coastline brought the 440th into action in February 1978 . The wing flew more than 145 tons of equipment and supplies into several areas after severe blizzards brought life on the coast to a standstill . The Air Force Reserve took on a new mission in 1979 . In January of that year the 440th started a regular rotation with other Reserve and National Guard units that took them to Panama to support the operations of the U . S . Southern Command . Rotations to the Central American country lasted 2 – 3 weeks at a time . The low point of the 1980s occurred on 22 January 1985 when C - 130A ( # 56501 ) commanded by Maj . Mike Durante crashed in the sea off the northern coast of Honduras while trying to land at Trujillo , Honduras . The plane carried a seven - man crew and 14 passengers . There were no survivors . The highlight of the 1980s was the arrival of factory fresh C - 130H Hercules aircraft . The local Reserve Officers Association , the 440th Community Council and numerous civic leaders led the efforts to convince Washington authorities to equip the 440th with eight new C - 130s . The appropriation was approved and the aircraft were delivered in 1989 . The C - 130As the wing had been flying were apparently not just old , but unique . One of the 440th ’ s C - 130s was flown to Washington , D . C . and is now part of the Smithsonian ’ s aircraft collection . The first C - 130H was dubbed “ The Spirit of Wisconsin . ” The wing ’ s continuing record of outstanding performance was recognized in 1987 with the award of the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award . The 95th TAS began the decade with honors when it was named the Best in AFRES with the award of the Grover Loening Trophy in 1990 . Elements of the 440th were part of Operations Desert Shield in 1990 and Desert Storm in 1991 . Aircraft , flight crews , maintenance specialists and a variety of support specialists deployed to operating locations in several Persian Gulf States where they provided airlift support to U . S . and coalition military forces . The aircraft and personnel were drawn from the wing ’ s units at Selfridge ANGB , Mich . ( 927th TAG ) , General Mitchell IAP - ARS ( 95th TAS ) and O ’ Hare IAP , Chicago ( 928th TAG ) . The 927th performed the wing ’ s first tactical re - supply mission as part of Operation Desert Storm . The 440th Medical Squadron was activated in January 1991 and was deployed to Germany in anticipation of large numbers of casualties , which thankfully never occurred . Post Cold War . The 440th Airlift Wing was one of many Reserve and Guard C - 130 units that provided airlift support to NATO and U . S . operations in the Balkan region as part of Operation Provide Promise in 1993 . The 440th swept almost all the C - 130 honors at the 1993 Air Mobility Command rodeo . The wing was recognized as the Best of the Best in the competition . The next two years were a busy operational period for the wing . The 440th took part in Operation Uphold Democracy ( Haiti ) and Operation Safe Borders ( support of U . S . Army forces in Honduras while preparing a defense of the unit before the congressionally mandated Base Realignment and Closure Commission ) . Operation Joint Endeavor took elements of the unit back to the Balkans in 1995 and 1996 . Wing aircrews flew people and supplies into and out of embattled Bosnia . The . Aircraft Maintenance Shop ( building 222 ) was also finished in 1996 . Tragedy came to the wing again in 1997 when a 440th C - 130H ( AF Ser . No . 88 - 4408 ) crashed while attempting to land at Tegucigalpa Airport in Honduras . Three members of the wing were killed in the accident . The post Vietnam War reorganization of the armed services brought more change to the 440th . Tactical Air Command came to an end and the 440th became an Air Mobility Command gained unit on 1 April 1997 . Tragedies and operational changes did not dull the unit ’ s sharp operational edge . The 440th went through an operation readiness inspection at the Savannah Ga . , Combat Readiness Training Center , and received the highest score of any Reserve unit in the previous two years . The wing went on to show off its operational capabilities in the real during the next calendar year ( 1999 ) when the 440th provided 13 percent of the total Reserve and Air National Guard tactical airlift that flew relief supplies into Kosovo as part of Operation Shining Hope . The wing Balkan efforts were complemented by continued support of the Coronet Oak mission throughout 1999 – 2000 . Flying operations had been moved from Panama to Puerto Rico but the mission continued . The 11 September 2001 assault on America hurt the 440th as much as it did the rest of the country . The 440th Security Forces Squadron recalled almost the entire unit and was the first wing unit to deploy members on anti - terror operations . Security Forces Ravens were the first to deploy , but other members of the unit helped conduct prisoner transports from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Naval Station Cuba after Taliban resistance collapsed in Afghanistan . Security specialists were also heavily involved in providing base and personal security measures and anti - terror measures in Afghanistan and Iraq . On 26 November 2003 , two days before Thanksgiving , the wing received a mobilization order for more than 300 aircrew members , aircraft maintenance specialists and general support specialists . By 15 December , the wing had six aircraft and about 200 people in Kuwait with more than a dozen operation missions accomplished by that date . The Flying Badgers are still on the job in the Central Command area providing airlift support , superb aircraft maintenance and security training and support from the Horn of Africa to the high desert of Afghanistan . Since 2001 , the 440th has deployed aircraft , crew and support personnel in support of Operations Noble Eagle , Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom . In 2005 , the 440th Airlift Wing was based at General Mitchell Air Reserve Station located at General Mitchell International Airport . Pursuant to a BRAC 2005 decision , General Mitchell ARS was realigned as General Mitchell Air National Guard Station , leaving the Wisconsin Air National Guard ' s 128th Air Refueling Wing and their KC - 135 aircraft in place , and moving the 440th Airlift Wing and its C - 130 aircraft to Pope Air Force Base , North Carolina . The wing started operations at Pope Air Force Base in 2006 and completed the move to Pope by October 2007 . The first unit assembly at the new location was 1 October 2007 . At the start of 2010 the 440th Airlift Wing has 16 C - 130H models supporting world wide missions and providing training missions for the XVIII Airborne Corps and 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg . BRAC made the 440th Airlift Wing the first active associate unit in Air Force history . The Regular Air Force ' s 2nd Airlift Squadron and elements of the 43rd Airlift Wing ' s maintenance units , also based at Pope , are receiving operational direction from the 440th while flying and helping maintain the 16 C - 130H2 Air Force Reserve Hercules aircraft . Components . Groups Squadrons References . Much of this text in an early version of this article was taken from pages on the 440th Airlift Wing website , which as a work of the U . S . Government is presumed to be a public domain resource . That information was supplemented by :