439th Operations Group

439th Operations Group
Emblem of the 439th Operations Group
Active	1943–1946; 1949–1951; 1952–1957; 1965–1968; 1992—present
Country	United States
Branch	United States Air Force Reserve

The 439th Operations Group is an active United States Air Force Reserve unit. It is the flying component of the Twenty-Second Air Force 439th Airlift Wing, stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base, Massachusetts.

The unit's World War II predecessor unit, the 439th Troop Carrier Group was a C-47 Skytrain transport unit assigned to Ninth Air Force in Western Europe. During Operation Overlord, two serials of aircraft, one of 45 and the other of 36 from the 439th TCG were dispatched late in the evening of 5 June to drop the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the first hour of the invasion behind Utah Beach.

Difficult weather conditions and heavy anti-aircraft fire were encountered and three aircraft failed to return. A reinforcement mission with gliders was flown on the following day, with 50 C-47s towing 30 Horsa and 20 CG-4 Wacos. The 439th later received a Distinguished Unit Citation for its work during these two days.

The group operates 16 C-5s, flown by the 337th Airlift Squadron. The 16 C-5 Galaxies represent five percent of all America's total airlift. The peacetime mission includes recruiting, training and supervision of personnel to assure mission readiness.

The 439th Operations Group is capable of providing worldwide air movement of troops, supplies, equipment and medical patients. Airlift also involves airdrop and combat offloading operations.

The 439th Operations Group consists of the following units:

Trained in the U.S. with C-47s, 1943-Jan1944. Moved to England, February–March 1944, for duty with Ninth Air Force.

The group began operations by dropping paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division in Normandy on D-Day (6 June 1944) and releasing gliders with reinforcements on the following day. The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation and a French citation for these missions. After the Normandy invasion the group ferried supplies in the United Kingdom until the air echelon was sent to Italy in July to transport cargo to Rome and evacuate wounded personnel. The detachment dropped paratroops of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment along the Riviera in support of the invasion of Southern France on 15 August, and later towed gliders to provide reinforcements; for these missions the group earned another citation from the French government. After the air echelon returned to England on 25 August the group resumed its cargo missions.