Sixteen Ton was performed entirely by reserve troop carrier units and moved United States Coast Guard equipment From Naval Air Station New York / Floyd Bennett Field to Isla Grande Airport in Puerto Rico and San Salvador in the Bahamas.

However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization, which included the 302d Wing, occurred for the Cuban Missile Crisis.

[2] By the mid-1960s, wing aircraft and crews performed worldwide airlift missions and participated in numerous tactical exercises.

From April 1968 to March 1973 the wing provided AC-119 gunship training for pilots, navigators, flight engineers, and mechanics of USAF active units and personnel from Jordan, Morocco, Ethiopia, and South Vietnam.

The wing assumed a rotational airlift task in support of USAF Southern Command from April 1973 through January 1976.

Beginning in April 1985, the wing trained to airlift and airdrop troops, equipment, and supplies in a tactical theater.

[15] The 302d also provides training, crews, and aircraft in cooperation with the US Forest Service to operate Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped C-130s to combat wildfires.

[16] Two of the unit's C-130H3 are on standby with the Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System installed and have another two empty C-130H3 aircraft are in reserve.

On 13 May 1995, aircraft 62-1838, callsign "Sumit 38", with six people aboard, caught fire approximately 45 miles east of Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, after ferrying firefighters to Gowen Field.

[19] The six crew members of SUMIT38 were: Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Bob" Buckout, Aircraft Commander First Lieutenant Lance Dougherty, Pilot Captain Geoff Boyd, Navigator Chief Master Sergeant Jimmie Vail, Flight Engineer Master Sergeant Jay Kemp, Loadmaster Staff Sergeant Michael Lynn Scheideman, Loadmaster A memorial at Peterson AFB, Colorado, was dedicated to the crew on the 10th anniversary of the crash in May 2005.

[19][20] Groups Squadrons This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency