The 436th Airlift Wing is descended from the 436th Troop Carrier Group of World War II fame. Activated on April 1st, 1943, the unit flew the C-47 Skytrain or "Gooney Bird" and was sent to 9th Air Force at RAF Bottesford, England, in January 1944. The group earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for its first missions of 6-7 June—the Normandy Invasion. On subsequent missions the 436th dropped troops and supplies and inserted gliders into Southern France and Holland. In March 1945, the unit was a part of the Allied push across the Rhine and into Germany’s heartland. Following the war, the 436th evacuated patients and prisoners of war until it was inactivated in November 1945.

On May 10th, 1949, the 436th Troop Carrier Wing, Medium was established and later activated in the Reserve on June 27th, 1949 at Goodman Air Force Base, KY. From there and eventually Standiford Municipal Airport, Ky., the wing flew C-45’s, C-47’s T-7’s and T-11’s training as a reserve troop carrier wing under supervision of the 2236th Air Force Reserve Training Center until its deactivation April 16th, 1951.

Again activated in the Reserve on May 18th, 1955 at New York Naval Air Station, N.Y., the unit resumed its training mission, this time with the 2230th Air Reserve Flying Center flying T-28’s, T-33’s, C-45’s, C-46’s, and C-119’s before its deactivation May 15th 1958. In between the training periods the unit was ordered to active service and inactivated almost immediately, with its personnel serving as fliers for other Air Force units. The Troop Carrier Wing was redesignated the 436th Military Airlift Wing and activated on December 27th, 1965. On January 8th, 1966 it replaced the 1607th Air Transport Wing as the Military Airlift Command host wing at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The wing initially flew C-124, C-133, and C-141 aircraft, but gradually replaced C-124 and C-133 types with C-5’s. The first C-5 Galaxy was assigned to the wing in April 1971. By August 1st, 1973 the wing had become the Air Force’s only all C-5 wing.

Operations from Delaware have included participation in joint training with Army forces, including troop and cargo drops and landings; taking part in numerous tactical exercises in the United States and overseas, particularly in support of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; aeromedical evacuation, humanitarian, and mercy missions, special assignment airlift, and worldwide airlift of personnel, cargo, and mail. During the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the wing flew numerous missions to Southeast Asia, although primary wing routes served Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Through the 1970’s, 1980’s, and now the 1990’s the wing has provided strategic global airlift capability for the worldwide support of contingency and emergency war plans required to support Department of Defense objectives. This has most recently been demonstrated by its support in airlifting troops, equipment and supplies to Panama in December 1989, and the massive airlift undertaken by Military Airlift Command to move U.S. troops to the Middle East following Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. The wing was also heavily involved in the Somolian relief effort.

On 2 December 1991, the wing was redesignated the 436th Airlift Wing as part of an Air Force-wide reorganization and on 1 June 1992, the 436 Airlift Wing became part of the Air Mobility Command as part of that same reorganization.

This years Airshow was held on May 15-16th 2004 and had a nice variety of Old and New Airplanes, as the static display and the museum were next to eachother the Public could get a good impression of the History of Dover and the history of aviation in general. And The Mighty A-10 Thunderbolt and the Legendary F86 Sabre flying together in formation for a heritage flight made everything complete for the day.

The Airshow was closed by a magnificent Air Display of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds with a lot of famous Diamond formations and a impressive Mirror and Solo Display.

RDAVP thanks Jessica Murphy, Lt Col Jon Anderson, allison Tedesco and the whole PAO team for the Great Hospitality on the 2004 Celebration of Freedom Airshow at Dover, Delaware.

Text by 436th AW and RDAVP