The 62nd Airlift Wing, sometimes written as 62d Airlift Wing, (62 AW) is a wing of the United States Air Force stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington. It is assigned to the Eighteenth Air Force of Air Mobility Command and is active duty host wing on McChord. The wing is composed of more than 2,200 active duty military and civilian personnel. It is tasked with supporting worldwide combat and humanitarian airlift contingencies. Aircraft of the 62nd fly worldwide, conducting airdrop training; it also carries out the Antarctic resupply missions. Units 62d Operations Group (62 OG) 4th Airlift Squadron (4 AS) 7th Airlift Squadron (7 AS) 8th Airlift Squadron (8 AS) 62d Operations Support Squadron (62 OSS) 62d Maintenance Group (62 MXG) 627th Air Base Group (627 ABG) ) 62d Medical Squadron (62 MDS) 62d Comptroller Squadron (62 CPTS) History The 62d Airlift Wing was first constituted as the 62nd Troop Carrier Wing on 28 July 1947, at McChord Field, Washington. It owes its numerical designation, and its first seven years of history prior to 1947, to the present day 62d Operations Group. Cold War After the wing was established in 1947 it conducted troop carrier operations, tactical exercises, and humanitarian missions. The wing operated from McChord Air Force Base, Washington until late 1951 when it moved to Larson Air Force Base. From Larson the wing routinely performed troop carrier, air transport, and humanitarian missions on a global scale: flying mail to Japan for U.S. troops in Korea in 1952; bringing medical supplies to the flooded areas of Pakistan in 1954; and transporting French troops and equipment from France to Indochina as part of Operation Bali-Hai from April–May 1954. The wing airlifted radar equipment and supplies to help construct the Distant Early Warning Line in northern Alaska and Canada from 1955–1956, and thereafter periodically resupplied DEW Line stations. During the International Geophysical Year 1957–1958, and subsequently through 1962 the wing supported scientific stations in the Arctic Ocean by airlanding and airdropping supplies on the drifting ice. It helped transport United Nations troops and supplies to the Congo in 1960 ("Operation New Tape"). In 1963 the wing assumed responsibility for worldwide airlift of nuclear weapons and associated equipment, continuing this mission through early 1971. It also assumed airlift of Minuteman missiles from depots to operating sites in April 1971. In 1972 it supported Presidential trips to China and the Soviet Union. From