USAF Patch Rescue c 403 RWRW Rescue Weather Reconnaissance Wing CH 3 Jolly Green HC 130 WC 130 a

USAF 403 Rescue Wing Patch Reserve 403 RWRW Rescue and Weather Reconnaissance Wing  HH 1 Huey HH 3 CH 3 Jolly Green Giant WC 130 HC 130 Hercules CSAR 1977 Selfridge AFB Michigan Embroidered on twill cut edge 99mm by 72mm three and seven eighth inches by two and thirteen sixteenth inches.

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History

403 Troop Carrier Wing was activated in the Reserve at Portland Airport on 27 June 1949 equipped with C 46 Commando aircraft tasked with troop airlift.

403 TCW was mobilized from the reserve on 1 April 1951 for the Korean War establishing itself at Ashiya Air Base Japan on 14 April 1951 and began training on C 119 Flying Boxcars. With the attachment of 314 Troop Carrier Group and the 21 Troop Carrier Squadron 403 TCW was increased to nine Squadrons and tasked as the dedicated airlift of the US Armys 187 Regimental Combat Team undertaking training and a number of combat airlifts with 187 RCT. 403 Troop Carrier Wing was inactivated on 1 January 1953 with its mission personnel and equipment transferred to the newly formed 483 Troop Carrier Wing.

403 TCW was reactivated in the Reserve at Portland Airport on 1 January 1953 on the renaming of 454 Troop Carrier Wing equipped with C 46 Commando aircraft. The Wing undertook airlift training for the Reserve airdrop training with the US Army ferrying aircraft and humanitarian missions.

With the directive to increase the number of regular Troop Carrier Wings and the reduction in the number of reserve wings 403 Troop Carrier Wing moved to Selfridge AFB Michigan on 16 November 1957 without personnel replacing 439 Fighter Bomber Wing which was inactivated. The Wing took over responsibility for the C 119 Flying Boxcars equipped 63 Troop Carrier Squadron at Selfridge AFB 64 TCS at Niagara Falls Municipal Airport and 65 TCS at Davis Field Oklahoma under 403 Troop Carrier Group. 64 TCS relocated to OHare International Airport Illinois in March 1958. In further reorganisation 403 TCG was inactivated on 14 April 1959 with the Wing taking direct control of the Squadrons.

Parts of the Wing were mobilized for active service for a month in October 1962 for the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Wing reactivated Groups to provide support to each of the Squadrons with the assignment on 11 February 1962 of 927 Troop Carrier Group at Selfridge AFB 928 TCG at OHare and 929 TCG at Davis Field.  403 Troop Carrier Wing continued operations including airlifting US Arrmy units to the Dominican Republic and Christmas gifts for US servicemen in Vietnam.

403 Troop Carrier Wing was redesignated 403 Tactical Airlift Wing on 1 July 1967. 403 TAW was redesignated 403 Composite Wing on 31 December 1969 adding a variety of liaison courier and other missions. The Wing lost its C 119 Flying Boxcars in 1970 and on 1 June 1970 was assigned 930 Special Operations Group with 71 Special Operations Squadron and 931 Tactical Air Support Group with 72 Tactical Air Support Squadron tasked with Forward Air Control and Close Air Support tasking with U 3 Blue Canoe O 2 Skymaster and A 37 Dragonfly aircraft. 930 SOG and 931 TASG were reassigned to 434 Special Operations Wing on 15 January 1971.

403 Composite Wing was reequipped with C 130 Hercules when it was Redesignated 403d Tactical Airlift Wing on 29 July 1971 for tactical airlift operations including delivering aircraft equipment and supplies to Vietnam and the Far East as well as tactical exercise and humanitarian airlift operations.

403 TAW was retasked with search and rescue aeromedical evacuation and weather reconnaissance operations and redesignated 403 Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Wing on 15 March 1976. 403 ARRW was assigned 301 303 304 and 305 Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadrons equipped with HH 1 Huey HH 3 CH 3 Jolly Green Giant C 130 Hercules and HC 130 rescue aircraft. 403 ARRW was redesignated 403 Rescue and Weather Reconnaissance Wing and was assigned 920 Weather Reconnaissance Group with its 815 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron equipped with WC 130 aircraft on 1 January 1977. 403 RWRW missions included the recovery of bodies of US citizens following the 1978 mass suicide at Jonestown Guyana rescue support for Space Shuttle missions SAR following the Mount St Helens eruption in 1980 as well as collecting data by flying into major storms and hurricanes. rescue missions supporting the space shuttle program.

The Wing relocated to Keesler AFB Mississippi losing 920 Weather Reconnaissance Group but retaining 815 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron on 1 November 1983. The Wing activated 939 Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group on 1 April 1985.

403 RWRW was redesignated 403 Tactical Airlift Wing on 31 December 1987 reverting to its airlift tasking with its assignment of 934 Tactical Airlift Group with its 96 TAS and redesignating 815 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron to 815 Tactical Airlift Squadron. The Wing participated with airlift for Operation Just Cause Panama 1989 Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm Southwest Asia 1990 1991 and Operation Provide Comfort Iraq 1991

403 TAW was redesignated 403 Airlift Wing on 1 February 1992 taking part in Operation Provide Promise Bosnia and Herzegovina commencing July 1992 till 1996 and Operation Provide Relief Somalia famine August December 1992. 403 AW was assigned 53 Weather Reconnaissance Squadron on 1 November 1993 to continue weather recon missions for the Wing.

403 AW was redesignated 403 Wing on 1 July 1994. Worldwide missions continued with Operation Uphold Democracy Haiti 1994. The Wing assisted with Operation Joint Forge Bosnia Herzegovina commencing 20 December 1996 and has deployed elements to Iraq Afghanistan the Middle East and Southwest Asia in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom since the 9 11 2001 terror attacks on the US.

The regular service 345 Airlift Squadron of 19 Operations Group at Little Rock AFB was placed under the operational control of 403 Wing when it was relocated to Keesler AFB on 6 August 2010. 345 AS was inactivated in June 2014.

36 Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron was reassigned from the inactivating 440 Wing at Pope Field North Carolina to 403 Wing at Keesler AFB in February 2016. while the 12th Operational Weather flight was also re-assigned to the 403rd in October 2017.

This patch dates from 1977.