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In 1949, the 443d Troop Carrier Wing, Medium was established and trained as a Reserve troop-carrier wing under supervision of the 2596th Air Force Reserve Training Center, June 1949 – April 1951.
The 443d was brought to active duty at Donaldson AFB, South Carolina on August 9, 1951, as a training wing by Tactical Air Command. For almost two years, the 443d participated in tactical exercises in operations, training troop-carrier aircrews using C-46 Commandos for assignment to the Far East, and worked closely with other troop-carrier groups to test and evaluate new troop-carrier doctrine and procedures. With the nearing end of the Korean War, the 443d was inactivated on January 8, 1953.
With the retirement of the prop-driven C-124 Globemaster II from active service, training diminished in 1967 and ceased in 1968, being replaced by training air and ground crews on the new C-5 Galaxy, a very heavy-lift transport, in 1969. The wing moved from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma to Altus AFB, Oklahoma, in 1969. The wing performed this training mission until 1992 when C-5 and C-141 training was consolidated after the end of the Cold War.
Air Mobility Command reorganized Air Force Airlift units in 1992, and the 443d was inactivated on October 1, 1992, as part of the Air Force Heritage program, where notable units were retained and reassigned after the Cold War.
This occurred after the BRAC decision to close Eaker Air Force BaseinBlytheville, Arkansas. Eaker AFB's former wing was the 97th Bombardment Wing under SAC, and later ACC.
Ravenstein, Charles A. (1984). Air Force Combat Wings Lineage and Honors Histories 1947–1977. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History. ISBN0-912799-12-9.
Rogers, Brian (2005). United States Air Force Unit Designations Since 1978. Hinkley, England: Midland Publications. ISBN1-85780-197-0.