63rd Operations Group


The 63d Troop Carrier Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 63d Troop Carrier Wing, Eastern Transport Air Force, stationed at Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia. It was inactivated on 18 January 1963.

History

Activated in 1940 as a training organization for transport crews. During World War II continued training mission for troop carrier aircraft, being associated with I Troop Carrier Command. Inactivated in April 1944.
On 10 May 1949 the group was reconstituted as an Air Force Reserve group as part of Tactical Air Command It was equipped with C-54 Skymasters and assigned to Floyd Bennett Field, New York. It was activated to Federal Service on 1 May 1951, and its personnel and equipment were sent to Japan to be used in the Korean War with the 61st Troop Carrier Group. With its personnel and equipment deployed, the group was inactivated on 9 May 1951.
Reactivated in 1953 under Eighteenth Air Force, Tactical Air Command flying C-119 Flying Boxcars. Transported personnel and supplies, and participated in exercises and maneuvers with Army airborne troops. Upgraded to C-124 Globemaster II heavy strategic transports in 1954 and participated in maneuvers, exercises and the airlift of personnel and cargo to many points throughout the world.
Parent 63d Troop Carrier Wing became part of Military Air Transport Service on 1 July 1957 however retained troop carrier identity and were remained dedicated to support TAC on troop deployments. Under MATS, performed global airlift missions, including occasional humanitarian or mercy missions, using C-124s as its primary aircraft in the 1958 Lebanon crisis; the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis when group assisted intercontinental transport of a complete operational Air Force squadron being airlifted in a single-package operation; the Congo Crisis of 1962 and to Southeast Asia where C-124s transported Thai and United States Marines to locations near the Mekong River in Thailand to deter communist aggression in 1962.
Inactivated in 1963 when parent wing moved to Hunter AFB and squadrons were assigned directly to the wing under the Tri-Deputate organization.

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