463d Airlift Group The United States Air Force ' s 463d Airlift Group ( 463AG ) was a tactical airlift unit headquartered in Little Rock AFB , Arkansas . During World War II as the 463d Bombardment Unit , it was one of the last B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber groups deployed to Southern Italy as part of the Fifteenth Air Force in March 1944 . Mission . The 463d was a direct reporting unit of over 1 , 200 Airmen . The unit employed 30 C - 130 aircraft that perform airlift missions worldwide . It provided direct support to warfighting combatant commanders with theater combat aerial delivery of personnel and their resupply worldwide . Units . The unit comprised eight squadrons : five flying , two maintenance , and one support . History . World War II . Constituted as 463d Bombardment Group ( Heavy ) on 19 May 1943 . Activated on 1 August 1943 . Trained with Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortresses for duty overseas . Moved to Italy , February – March 1944 , and assigned to Fifteenth Air Force . Operational squadrons were the 772d , 773d , 774th and 775th Bombardment Squadrons . Entered combat on 30 March 1944 and operated chiefly against strategic objectives . Attacked such targets as marshaling yards , oil refineries , and aircraft factories in Italy , Germany , Austria , Czechoslovakia , Romania , Yugoslavia , and Greece . The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation for bombing oil refineries in Ploesti on 18 May 1944 : when clouds limited visibility to such an extent that other groups turned back , the 463d proceeded to Ploesti and , though crippled by opposition from interceptors and flak , rendered destructive blows to both the target and the enemy fighters . Received a second Distinguished Unit Citation for leading the wing through three damaging enemy attacks to bomb tank factories in Berlin on 24 March 1945 . Also engaged interdiction and support missions . Bombed bridges during May and June 1944 in the campaign for the liberation of Rome . Participated in the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 by striking bridges , gun positions , and other targets . Hit communications such as railroad bridges , marshalling yards , and airdromes in the Balkans . Operated primarily against communications in northern Italy during March and April 1945 . The " Swoose " Group was commanded by Col . Frank Kurtz , a pre - war Olympic swimmer and pilot of the famed B - 17 " The Swoose " in the Pacific during 1941 – 42 . After V - E Day , transported personnel from Italy to Casablanca for return to the US . Inactivated in Italy on 25 September 1945 . Flew 222 combat missions ; 91 aircraft lost . Cold War . Redesignated 463d Troop Carrier Group ( Medium ) . Activated at Memphis Airport , Tennessee on 16 January 1953 . Assigned to Tactical Air Command and equipped with C - 119 ' s . On 1 September , the group was reassigned to Ardmore AFB , Oklahoma . The 463d Group ( later 463d Troop Carrier Wing ) airlifted and airdropped troops and cargo to support operations and exercises worldwide , supporting deployments during the following crises : Lebanon ( July 1958 ) , Taiwan ( August 1958 ) , Berlin ( September 1961 ) , Cuba ( October – November 1962 ) , the Gulf of Tonkin ( August – December 1964 ) , Southeast Asia ( February and April – November 1965 ) , and the Dominican Republic ( April – September 1965 ) . The wing moved to Pacific Air Forces in November 1965 , being assigned to the 315th Air Division . In PACAF , the wing was responsible for operating a C - 130 combat airlift support unit at Tan Son Nhut Air Base , South Vietnam and a detachment at Clark AB , Philippines , through November 1968 which flew transport and aeromedical evacuation missions . In December 1965 , began furnishing aircraft and crews to fly missions in Southeast Asia under operational control of the 315th Air Division ( to October 1966 ) and 834th Air Division ( October 1966 – October 1971 ) . Redesignated as the 463d Tactical Airlift Wing in August 1967 . The wing ceased aircraft operations in Southeast Asia on 25 October 1971 . Returning to Dyess AFB , Texas in June 1972 , the 463d began participating in operations and exercises worldwide for Tactical Air Command ( 1972 – 1974 ) . In 1974 , all tactical airlift was transferred to Military Airlift Command , then to Air Mobility Command ( AMC ) in 1992 when MAC was inactivated . The wing ' s tactical components deployed frequently to Europe , the Pacific , and the Canal Zone to provide air transportation as needed . On 1 November 1991 , the wing implemented the Objective Wing organization and was redesignated as the 463d Airlift Wing . Post Cold War . The wing was inactivated on 1 October 1993 and its personnel and equipment was absorbed by the incoming 7th Wing at Dyess . The 7th was a composite wing which incorporated Dyess ' C - 130s , which were transferred from Air Mobility Command to Air Combat Command ( ACC ) . When the US - based C - 130 force was realigned in 1997 from ACC back to AMC , the 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock AFB was split into two pieces . The wing and training units went to Air Education and Training Command ( AETC ) . AMC reactivated the unit as the 463d Airlift Group on 1 April 1997 to control the two operational C - 130 squadrons . From Little Rock , the 463d has provided worldwide airlift , delivering combat , humanitarian , and other supplies . On 1 October 2008 , the 463d Airlift Group was inactivated and in it place the 19th Airlift Wing was activated . Components . Wings Groups Squadrons Bases Assigned . United States Air Force United States Army Air Forces