305th Air Mobility Wing
military unit
The 305th Air Mobility Wing is a United States Air Force strategic airlift and air refueling wing under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command. It generates, mobilizes and deploys Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aircraft. The 305th AMW is a tenant unit at mostly the McGuire Air Force Base component of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in central New Jersey. It also controls one of the Air Force's busiest aerial ports, and the air operations at both McGuire Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Lakehurst.
The wing's motto is "Can Do," a description formulated in World War II when its predecessor unit, the 305th Bombardment Group, earned its reputation as courageous, innovative warriors. The legendary 305th Bomb Group was first commanded by then-Colonel Curtis E. LeMay. The wing is the only Air Force unit with two Medal of Honor recipients – Lieutenants William Lawley and Edward Michael, who earned them on separate B-17 missions during World War II.
History
305th Bombardment Wing
MacDill Air Force Base operations
The 305th Bombardment Wing was established on 20 December 1950 and activated on 2 January 1951 at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. The wing took charge of the 305th Bombardment Group's former flying squadrons when the Air Force reorganized its wings into the tri-deputate system. Initially training with the Boeing B-29 and B-50 Superfortress, the 305th received its first Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighter later that year. Following this, the group began training heavily in its new dual mission of strategic bombardment and aerial refueling.
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This entry incorporates text from “305th Air Mobility Wing” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.