62d Operations Group The 62d Operations Group ( 62 OG ) is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 62d Airlift Wing . It is stationed at Joint Base Lewis - McChord , Washington . Established prior to World War II , its predecessor unit , the 62nd Transport ( later Troop Carrier ) Group engaged in combat operations , first with the Eighth Air Force and primarily with Twelfth Air Force during the war . Overview . The 62d Operations Group is the flying component of the 62 AW . The group provides a large part of Air Mobility Command ' s Global Reach airlift capability . This adaptable and reactive air mobility promotes stability in regions by keeping America ' s competency and character highly visible . The group ' s tasking requirements range from supplying humanitarian airlift relief to victims of disasters , to airdropping troops into the heart of contingency operations in hostile areas . Components . The flying squadrons of the 62d Operations Group all fly the C - 17 Globemaster III , with " McChord " in white on a green tail flash . They are among the oldest airlift squadrons in the Air Force . History . World War II . First constituted as the 62nd Transport Group on 20 November 1940 , the Group activated on 11 December at McClellan Field , California , bringing together three of the oldest , most experienced airlift squadrons in history . The 7th and 8th Transport Squadrons , constituted on 1 October 1933 , and the 4th Transport Squadron on 1 March 1935 existed only on paper until the 4th was activated on 8 July 1935 , the 7th on 14 October 1939 , and the 8th on 1 February 1940 . Redesignated 62nd Troop Carrier Group in July 1942 . After intensive training for the Atlantic crossing , the redesignated 62nd Troop Carrier Group ( TCG ) , now composed of the 4th , 7th , 8th , and 51st Troop Carrier Squadrons , arrived at its temporary home , Keevil , England , on 3 October 1942 ( their support personnel followed , arriving in country via the luxury ocean liner Queen Elizabeth ) and assigned to VIII Air Support Command for further training . Reassigned to Twelfth Air Force , it moved to North Africa on 15 November 1942 to support Allied ground forces in the campaign to wrest Tunisia from Axis control . After resupplying troops for a couple of weeks , the 62nd got its first taste of combat when , on 29 November 1942 , it joined the 64th Troop Carrier Group for a combat airdrop of 530 British airborne troops on German held airfields at Depienne , Pont - du - Fahs , and Oudna , Tunisia in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Tunis when German resistance to the advance of the British First Army appeared to be crumbling . Trained with gliders for several months , then towed gliders to Syracuse and also dropped paratroops behind enemy lines at Catania during the Allied invasion of Sicily . On the night of 9 July 1943 , a total of 51 C - 47s and C - 53s towed the first of these gliders into combat over Sicily . Their key objective was to capture a bridge south of Syracuse , and keep it open for use by allied forces . It took the huge formation 40 minutes to take off . They flew 500 feet above the Mediterranean Sea , at 120 miles per hour . An unforeseen headwind sent some Group planes off course , whereby some gliders were released up to 30 minutes late . Battling against bad weather , darkness , friendly naval fire , flak , and inexperience , the 62nd crews did their best to keep their gliders on target . In the end , 36 gliders went down at sea , 12 made land , 2 were unaccounted for , and 2 never cast off over their landing zones . Operated from bases in Sicily and Italy from September 1943 until after the war . Dropped paratroops in northern Italy in June 1944 to harass the retreating enemy and to prevent the Germans from destroying bridges over which their forces had withdrawn . Flew two missions in connection with the invasion of Southern France in August 1944 , releasing gliders and paratroops in the battle area . Transported paratroops and towed gliders to Greece during the Allied assault in October 1944 . In addition to the airborne operations , the group transported men and supplies in the Mediterranean theater and to the front lines during the campaigns for Tunisia , Italy , and southern France . Also evacuated wounded personnel and flew missions behind enemy lines in Italy and the Balkans to haul guns , ammunition , food , clothing , medical supplies , and other materials to the partisans and to drop propaganda leaflets . Aided in the redeployment of personnel after the war and also hauled freight and mail . After the end of the war in Europe , in May 1945 , the 62nd shuttled troops , supplies , wounded , and prisoners in the Mediterranean area . Inactivated in Italy on 14 November 1945 . Cold War . On 7 September 1946 , Congress activated the 62nd , minus the 51st TCS , at Bergstrom Field , Texas . The Group now flew the C - 46 Commando , quickly replaced by the C - 82 Boxcar . In April 1947 , in what would be the first of many humanitarian and disaster relief missions , the 62nd flew to aid victims of an explosion in Texas City , Texas . On 16 June 1947 , the Group moved to McChord Field , Washington . Headquarters Army Air Forces directed each Army Air Force have a tactical group assigned to establish a Wing headquarters . Thus , the 62nd Troop Carrier Wing ( TCW ) , constituted on 28 July 1947 , and activated at McChord Field on 15 August , was assigned to 12th Air Force , Tactical Air Command , while the 62nd Troop Carrier Group became one of the Wing ' s subordinate units ; its flying arm . After overcoming shortages of personnel and aircraft parts , the 62nd began flying in earnest in January 1948 during Project Yukon . One infantry company with full field equipment was airlifted from McChord to Big Delta , Alaska . From Big Delta , the 62nd ' s C - 82s flew to Elmendorf Field , Alaska , for the return of another Army unit to McChord . A relatively simple task today , such deployments and redeployments were quite a feat then , as the piston - engine - powered C - 82s required numerous stops for refueling . During the first half of 1948 , the 62nd flew flood relief supplies to several locations in Washington and Oregon . McChord crews flew 100 tons of burlap bags , later to be filled with sand , to flood workers . By Fall , 62nd TCW assets were tapped to support the now famous Berlin Airlift . More than 100 men , primarily mechanics , aerial engineers , and truck drivers were identified for a 90 - day temporary tour of duty in Europe , to bolster airlift resources . In the unusually cruel winter of ' 48 - ' 49 , the 62nd attracted national attention as it airdropped tons of hay to livestock stranded by extreme blizzards in several western States . Operation Hayride brought all available 62nd assets to Naval Air Station ( NAS ) Fallon , Nevada . From there the 62nd reached cattle in Nevada , Arizona , Utah , Colorado , Wyoming , Kansas , and Nebraska . With the operation well under way , President Truman called in additional C - 82s from other units to assist in the endeavor . In the end , as much as 80 percent of the livestock in these states were saved as a result of the airdrop . On 6 October 1949 , the 62nd received its first four - engine Douglas C - 54 Skymaster transport . By Thanksgiving of that same year , the Wing was equipped entirely with C - 54s , and its designation was changed from 62nd Troop Carrier Wing ( Medium ) , to ( Heavy ) . On 1 June 1950 , the Wing was inactivated . The Group , together with the 7th and 8th Troop Carrier Squadrons , moved for a short time to Kelly Air Force Base ( AFB ) , Texas , while the 4th TCS was temporarily transferred to Japan . On 17 September 1951 , the Wing was once again activated at McChord AFB . Shortly thereafter , the Group and its three flying squadrons , the 4th , 7th , and 8th , again assigned to the Wing , returned to McChord . Not two years had passed , however , before the Wing was once again on the move . Now flying the Douglas C - 124 Globemaster II , which the 62nd had just proven as a viable platform for live paratroop drops , the Wing took command of Larson AFB , at Moses Lake , in central Washington , on 1 April 1952 . On 20 December 1952 , one of the 62nd ' s C - 124s took off from Larson on a routine airlift mission . Immediately after takeoff , about one half mile from the runway , the Globemaster II crashed and burned , killing 87 , including servicemen on leave , going home for the holidays . At the time , it was the worst air disaster in history . During 1952 and 1953 , the 62nd airlifted troops , blood plasma , aircraft parts , ammunition , medical supplies , and much more , to the Far East , in support of the war in Korea . In May 1953 , the 7th TCS , using only 11 C - 124s , set a new standard in airdrop , delivering simultaneously 1 , 008 men , and equipment of the 82nd Airborne Division at Ft . Bragg , North Carolina . In April 1954 , the 62nd transported a replacement French garrison to Dien Bien Phu , French Indochina . Operation Bali Hai saw the Globemasters fly around the world in a period of 8 to 10 days . The C - 124s departed the desert of Moses Lake for Germany and France , where French troops were onloaded for a flight through Tunisia , Libya , Egypt , Saudi Arabia , Pakistan , Ceylon ( now Sri Lanka ) , Thailand , and , finally , Vietnam , where the French joined their comrades in the defense of Dien Bien Phu . Not longer after the second and final wave of Globemasters had delivered their French troops , the aircrews learned Dien Bien Phu had fallen to the communists . The mission of the 62nd , however , was complete , and they flew eastward , through the Philippines , Japan , Guam , Kwajelein , Hawaii , and California , before reaching Larson again . By 1955 the Cold War was well under way , and the North American Defense Command ( NORAD ) set out to build a chain of radar stations on the northernmost reaches of the continent . This chain of radars , known as the Distant Early Warning ( DEW ) Line , was to detect incoming Soviet missiles and bombers , and give the U . S forces enough warning to launch a counter attack , and get the National Command Authorities to safety . Between 1955 and 1957 , the 62nd began to fly missions to the Alaskan arctic regions , carrying 13 million pounds of supplies and equipment to build the DEW Line . The resupply of the DEW Line stations kept the Wing occupied until 1969 . The 62nd Troop Carrier Wing ( Heavy ) joined the Continental Division of the Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) on 1 July 1957 . On 31 December 1959 , the Wing relinquished command of Larson AFB and MATS turned that base over toStrategic Air Command ( SAC ) . Meanwhile , the Air Force reorganized the structure of its wings , and the 62nd Troop Carrier Group , was inactivated 8 January 1960 when squadrons were assigned directly to the wing as part of the Air Force tri - deputate reorganization . Modern era . From 1991 , its squadrons flew a variety of exercises and training missions and provided airlift for worldwide contingencies and humanitarian relief efforts . Flew resupply missions for Operation Deep Freeze , Antarctica , 1997 – . Group elements conducted aerial delivery of rations to Afghan towns and villages during Global War on Terrorism contingency operations in 2001 . By the time Operation Iraqi Freedom was launched in mid - March 2003 , nearly 1 , 000 McChord Airmen were heavily involved in defending America . At the end of March , McChord ' s C - 17s and aircrews made history when they nighttime airdropped 1 , 000 " Sky Soldiers " from the 173rd Airborne Brigade behind enemy lines into Northern Iraq . It was the largest combat airdrop since the invasion of Panama in December 1989 and a first for the C - 17 . In 2005 , McChord Airmen assisted in bringing relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina . McChord brought over 135 , 000 pounds of food and water into the region and brought more than 1 , 000 residents of the area out to safety . Aircrew from the 62nd also participated in the largest noncombatant evacuation operation since Vietnam . In July 2006 , they moved 12 , 703 U . S . citizens from Cyprus and Turkey where they had previously fled to escape fighting in Lebanon . In addition to aiding in the evacuation of people , McChord ' s Airmen delivered food , water and equipment to Cyprus to support stranded citizens awaiting evacuation . In December 2006 , a C - 17 from McChord made its debut airdrop to the South Pole , Antarctica , showcasing the aircraft ' s reliability and versatility . Finally , on 18 December 2007 , the Air Force marked the 104th anniversary of powered flight with the first transcontinental flight of an aircraft using a blend of regular aviation and synthetic fuel . The transcontinental flight followed other successful synthetic fuel tests in C - 17s and paved the way to certify the fuel blend for all C - 17s .