436th Airlift Wing Organization The 436th Airlift Wing is the senior military organization at Dover Air Force Base, Del. The "Eagle Wing" is a subordinate unit of Headquarters 18th Air Force located at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Dover is one of 12 operational wings in Air Mobility Command. The wing is organized under the objective wing structure with group commanders for maintenance, operations, mission support and medical. The wing consists of a wing staff, four groups, 18 squadrons, 14 divisions and 32 tenant units. The wing is authorized about 6,000 active duty military people and Department of Defense civilians. The Operations Group consists of two flying squadrons, the 3rd and 9th Airlift Squadrons, and the Operations Support Squadron. The Maintenance, Maintenance Operations, 436th and 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons all make up the 436th Maintenance Group. The 436th Mission Support Group consists of the Logistics Readiness, Aerial Port, Contracting, Security Forces, Civil Engineer, Mission Support, Services and Communications Squadrons. The 436th Medical Group consists of the Medical Support, Medical Operations, Aerospace Medicine and Dental Squadrons. The medical group houses an outpatient clinic to include family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, women's health, psychiatry, aerospace medicine, and optometry with excellent clinical laboratory, radiology, pharmacy and physical therapy support. Our dental services include general dentistry, oral surgery, periodontics and prosthodontics. The 436th Airlift Wing serves as host to several tenant organizations that provide support from field training to manpower assessment. The largest tenant organization on base is the 512th Airlift Wing, the "Liberty Wing," Air Force Reserve (Associate). The 512th is assigned to Headquarters 22nd Air Force at Dobbins Air Force Base, Ga. The 512th Airlift Wing has an infrastructure similar to the Eagle Wing as it shares the global mobility mission with the 436th AW. Mission The 436th Airlift Wing's mission is to safely fix and fly aircraft, prepare and deploy people, move cargo and return America's fallen heroes with dignity, honor and respect. Aircraft The 436th Airlift Wing flies, maintains and trains on its 18 assigned Lockheed C-5 Galaxy aircraft, known as "the free world's largest airlifter," and two Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. Together with the 512th Airlift Wing, aircrews fly an air fleet that comprises one-quarter of the nation's strategic airlift capability. History The 436th Airlift Wing is descended from the 436th Troop Carrier Group of World War II fame. Activated April 1, 1943, the unit flew the C-47 Skytrain or "Gooney Bird" and was sent to 9th Air Force at Royal Air Force Bottesford, England, in January 1944. The group earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for its first missions June 6-7, 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-45s, C-47s T-7s and T-11s 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-28s, T-33s, C-45s, C-46s, and C-119s 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 the C-124 and C-133 with C-5s. The first C-5 Galaxy was assigned to the wing in April 1971. By August 1, 1973, the wing had become the Air Force's only all C-5 wing. The 436th remained the Air Force's only all C-5 wing for nearly 24 years, until Dover Air Force Base welcomed it's first assigned C-17 June 4, 2007. 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 1960s and early 1970s, the wing flew numerous missions to Southeast Asia, although primary wing routes served Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The wing also demonstrated its support in Panama in December 1989, 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, and with heavy involvement in the Somalian relief effort. On Dec. 2, 1991, the wing was redesignated the 436th Airlift Wing as part of an Air Force-wide reorganization and on June 1, 1992, the 436th Airlift Wing became part of the Air Mobility Command as part of that same reorganization. Through the 21st century 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 was expertly demonstrated by its support in airlifting troops, equipment and supplies in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The 436th Airlift Wing functions as the "big horses" in the logistics chain for the war on terrorism and is currently playing a major role in aerial resupply for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. More about Dover Air Force Base history Location Dover Air Force Base is located in the "First State," and the center of the Delmarva -- Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia -- peninsula. Dover AFB is home to the 436th Airlift Wing, known as the "Eagle Wing" and the 512th Airlift Wing, our Air Force Reserve associate--referred to as the "Liberty Wing." Together, these two wings make up the "Dover Team." Dover AFB is located two miles south of the city of Dover -- the capital of Delaware. The base covers more than 3,900 acres, has two runways, and 1,700 buildings. Capital assets and aircraft-related equipment add $5.8 billion to the value of America's defense resources assigned here. The base supports 18 tenant units both on and off-base. It has an economic impact of more than $470 million on the local economy and ranks as Delaware's third largest industry.