436th Operations Group | |
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Emblem of the 436th Operations Group
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Country | United States |
Branch | United States Air Force Reserve |
The 436th Operations Group is an active United States Air Force unit. It is the flying component of the Eighteenth Air Force 436th Airlift Wing, stationed at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.
The unit's World War II predecessor unit, the 436th Troop Carrier Group was a C-47 Skytrain transport unit assigned to Ninth Air Force in Western Europe. The group earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for its first missions 6–7 June, the Normandy Invasion. On subsequent missions the 436th dropped troops and supplies and inserted gliders into Southern France and the Netherlands. 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.
The 436OG consists of two flying squadrons, the 3d and 9th Airlift Squadrons, and the 436th Operations Support Squadron. It 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.
The 436th trained for duty in Europe with the Ninth Air Force during 1943. It continued training in England from January–May 1944. The group began combat operations in June 1944 and participated in five major airborne operations by May 1945.