The 315th Group controls all operational McDonnell Douglas C-17 Globemaster III flying squadrons of the 315th Airlift Wing.

[9] While flying the North Atlantic ferry route, the air echelon encountered bad winter weather, causing it to remain in Greenland for about a month.

[1] After the air and ground echelons were united in December, the group began ferrying cargo in the British Isles and training with airborne troops and gliders.

In March 1944 the detachment returned to England and rejoined the group, which had been reassigned to the Ninth Air Force in October 1943.

[14] The group dropped paratroops of the 82d Airborne Division's 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment near Overasselt on 17 September 1944, losing one plane.

[16] On 21 September, the 314th and 315th Groups dropped elements of the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade near Driel, after numerous weather-caused delays.

[1] For Operation Varsity, the Allied airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945, the group staged out of RAF Boreham as a result of the need for shorter flying distances.

During the operation, the group suffered its heaviest losses of the war, losing nineteen aircraft, with another 36 badly damaged.

[23] Following each airborne operation, the group resumed transport activities, hauling cargo and evacuating wounded personnel.

In March 1953, all C-119s in the theater were grounded as a result of malfunctioning propellers and the group's C-46s were made responsible for moving all personnel between southern Japan and Korea up to the end of the war.

The group airlifted the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team along with other XVI Corps units to Korea in June and July 1953.

[29][30] The group exercised control over USAF airlift resources in Vietnam, primarily flying the Fairchild C-123B Provider.

A week later, the 2d was discontinued, while the 777th and 778th were returned to the 464th Wing on paper, and their personnel and equipment were transferred to the newly activated 309th, 310th and 311th Troop Carrier Squadrons.

[33] Under this system, the group controlled one of the two companies of US Army de Havilland Canada CV-2 Caribou aircraft located in Vietnam between July and December 1963.

[note 3] In the fall of 1963 MACV directed a reduction of 1000 personnel in Vietnam, which included the elimination of the 61st Aviation Company and its Caribous.

[34] In addition to airlift resources in Vietnam, two Bristol 170 transports of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, located in Thailand also fell within the system's control.

In August, RAAF Transport Flight Vietnam, a Royal Australian Air Force CV-2 detachment at Vung Tau Airport, arrived and was placed under the group's control.

[36] In September, the Army also moved an additional Caribou company into the country, but these transports remained outside the control of the group.

The group had conducted inspections of its C-123s in May that disclosed that all 37 aircraft that had been in country since 1962 showed visible damage, and 11 required major repair.

[40] Later that month, the group's Ranch Hand aircraft began a massive defoliation program in War Zone D designed to expose a main Viet Cong base by eliminating cover over 48 square miles of forest.

The group began to operate deployed Lockheed C-130 Hercules transports, which had more cargo capacity than the Provider, in 1965.

[42] The group was inactivated in March 1966 and its flying squadrons were transferred to the 315th Air Commando Wing, which was activated in its place.