TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. —
The 349th Air Mobility Wing celebrates its 81st Birthday on Oct. 23, at Travis Air Force Base, California. The wing’s predecessor unit the 349th Troop Carrier Group was established on Oct. 23, 1943, at Sedalia Army Airfield, Missouri. In 1969, the wing moved to its current location at Travis AFB.
The Air Force was established by the National Security Act in 1947 and the Air Force Reserve in 1948, making the wing older than its superior organizations.
The 349th AMW or its predecessor units have participated in every military operation and humanitarian crisis since World War II. The wing deployed to Europe in March of 1945 to provide transport services in the European Theater. It carried troops into battle on D-Day. Upon the German surrender, members of the wing airlifted the British 1st Airborne Division to Denmark and Norway to take the surrender to German Forces in those two countries.
Following the war in Europe, the 349th mobilized in full for the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, where 90 percent of the wing’s Airmen were present for duty within six hours of call up. In 1968, members of the wing prepared for a potential war in North Korea after the USS Pueblo was captured by the North Koreans. In 1973, the Arab-Israeli War began. Several of the wing’s C-5 aircrews took part in resupply efforts during the war. In August 1990, Iraq occupied Kuwait. This led to a prolonged buildup of U.S forces in Saudi Arabia, imploring operation DESERT SHIELD.
In 1994, the wing was re-designated the 349th Air Mobility Wing. The high tempo of operations continued through the ‘90’s, then expanded after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
In the following years, the wing supported both operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. In additional to supporting ongoing operations in the Middle East, the 349th AMW flew missions in support of operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, the NATO-led mission to protect civilians in Libya in 2011. The wing also supported humanitarian operations in Sudan in 2009, Haiti in 2010 and the response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
During the 2020 COVID outbreak, members of the 349th Medical Group deployed aboard a KC-10 to support Operation Allies Refuge in New York City to assist in battling COVID-19.
The wing continues to evolve. In 2024, the new KC-46 Pegasus aircraft joined the 349th flying mission – replacing the KC-10. Today, the 349th Air Mobility Wing remains the largest associate wing in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. It is now the only Air Force Reserve unit that flies three major weapons systems (KC-46, C-5 and C-17) and has an aeromedical mission.
