The 167th Airlift Squadron (167 AS) is a unit of the West Virginia Air National Guard 167th Airlift Wing located at Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base, Martinsburg, West Virginia.

Entered combat in Spring 1944, supported the invasion of Normandy during June 1944 by patrolling the English Channel, escorting bombardment formations to the French coast, and dive-bombing and strafing bridges, locomotives, and rail lines near the battle area.

After D-Day, engaged chiefly in escorting bombers to oil refineries, marshalling yards, and other targets in such cities as Ludwigshafen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Berlin, Merseburg, and Brux.

The name, mission, size and even the site changed over the next 60 years, but the numbers "167" have remained constant with the West Virginia Air National Guard.

Other seasoned (experienced) pilots transferred to Far East Air Force for combat duty in the Korean War.

Released from active duty on 9 July 1952, the 167th Fighter Interceptor Squadron returned to Charleston, West Virginia and the F-51 Mustang aircraft.

Because of limitations at Kanawha Airport at that time, that could not accommodate jet aircraft, a search for a new home in West Virginia began.

Shortly thereafter, equipment moved to the new site and active recruiting commenced to achieve full authorized personnel strength.

Overseas missions flown to Puerto Rico, the Azores, France, England, West Germany, Spain and Bermuda were not uncommon.

During 1966, the Super Constellations made 103 overseas flights, including 26 to South Vietnam and 77 to other outpost such as Thailand, Australia, Japan and the Philippines, carrying 1198 tons of military cargo and 1390 passengers.

In March 2002, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd announced that the unit would transition to the C-5 Galaxy aircraft.

After a brief stop at Dover Air Force Base, the aircraft continued on to Camp Lemonier, Djibouti, Africa, delivering two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters (used for humanitarian assistance, personnel and equipment movement, and noncombatant casualty evacuations) and more than 60 marines supporting Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa.

Recently, the 167th Airlift Wing was tasked to provide transportation for NASA's Ares I-X Crew Module, Launch Abort System Simulator, and related equipment.

On 27 January 2009 the unit launched a C-5 aircraft to the Shuttle Landing Facility located at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia.

These projects include site prep, an air control tower, a flight simulator facility, ramp and hydrant upgrades, a corrosion control hangar, a fuel cell hangar, runway upgrades and extensions, a fire station, a supply warehouse, apron and jet fuel storage, taxiway upgrades, and a new squadron operations facility is in progress.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency