317th Troop Carrier Group The 317th Troop Carrier Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit . It was last assigned to the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing , stationed at Pope Air Force Base , North Carolina . It was inactivated on 1 April 1980 . During World War II the group operated primarily in the Southwest Pacific Theater transporting such things as gasoline , ammunition , medicine , rations , communications equipment , construction materials and evacuating wounded personnel during numerous campaigns . Participated in two airborne operations during the 1944 – 1945 Philippines Campaign . On 3 and 4 February 1945 it dropped paratroops south of Manila to seize highway routes to the city , and on 16 and 17 February dropped the 503rd Infantry Regiment on Corregidor to open Manila Bay to US shipping ; received a United States Distinguished Unit Citation for the latter operation , performed at low altitude over small drop zones in a heavily defended area . In addition , the group completed two unusual missions on 12 and 15 April 1945 when the group bombed Carabao Island with drums of Napalm . Dropped part of 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment near Aparri on 23 June 1945 to split Japanese forces in the Cagayen Valley and prevent a retreat to the hills in northern Luzon . The group remained active in Japan after the war as an occupation unit transporting personnel and supplies within the occupied areas . It was reassigned to Germany during the Berlin Airlift in 1948 using C - 54 ' s to transport coal , food , and other supplies to the blockaded city . Later during the 1950s , the group provided intra - theater airlift for USAFE until being inactivated in 1957 and its squadrons being assigned directly to the 317th TCW . History . World War II . The group ' s beginning occurred on 22 February 1942 at Duncan Field near San Antonio , Texas . Eighteen enlisted men and one Captain formed the entire unit . However it wouldn ' t be long before the 317th tenant squadrons would acquire the venerable Douglas C - 47 Skytrain and the familiar drone of rotating props would become forever synonymous with the 317th . In July 1942 , the Army redesignated the unit the 317th Troop Carrier Group . After receiving several months of training in and around the southern United States , the group had grown into a viable component of America ' s defense machine . In December of that same year , they departed for Australia in support of General Douglas MacArthur ' s Southwest Pacific campaigns against the Japanese . The Army Air Forces quickly stripped the 317th of their new C - 47s upon arrival in the theater , and in turn gave them the battered aircraft of the veteran 347th Troop Carrier Group . With an assortment of damaged C - 47s , C - 60s , and cargo versions of the B - 17 , the 317th set about their mission . As the Japanese pounded the airdrome at Wau , New Guinea , the 317th endured monsoon conditions , flying low level supply drops to the Australian Army engaged on the airfield in hand - to - hand combat . This mission cost the 317th three aircraft and several men , and for their actions the group received their first Distinguished Unit Citation ( DUC ) . Spearheading a combined airborne - glider offensive in June 1945 , the 317th dropped allied paratroopers over northern Luzon in the Philippine Islands . Enemy anti - aircraft fire was intense , forcing the group to make repeated passes over the drop zone . Soon the Japanese forces were weakened to the point of defeat . Once again the 317th was awarded the DUC for their outstanding performance . Cold War . In 1948 with the war finally at an end , the 317th participated in one of the most widely known humanitarian efforts in history , the Berlin Airlift . From May through July the group air - dropped food supplies to the citizens of the Soviet blockaded city . Once the blockade had been lifted and their mission was complete , the 317th inactivated at Rhein Main Air Base , Germany in September . In July 1952 , the Air Force reactivated the 317th at Rhein Main as the 317th Troop Carrier Wing . It became the first Air Force unit assigned to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) . Now flying C - 119 " Boxcars " , the 317th relocated to Neubiberg Air Base near Munich in 1953 . Shortly after their arrival at the Bavarian base , newer C - 123 transports arrived to compliment the C - 119s . The 317th continued to fly many humanitarian missions and support NATO airborne units throughout Europe . They airlifted life rafts , tents , and emergency food supplies to flood victims in the Netherlands , and aided thousands of earthquake victims in Italy , Greece , Pakistan and Yugoslavia among many others . Post Vietnam era . Trained aircrews in adverse weather delivery system AWADS equipment for a C - 130 squadron in Europe 1978 – 1980 .