It is assigned to Charlotte Air National Guard Base, North Carolina and is equipped with the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft.

Deployed to England aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth and served in combat as part of VIII Fighter Command from October 1943 to May 1945, participating in operations that prepared for the invasion of the Continent, and supporting the landings in Normandy and the subsequent Allied drive across France and Germany.

From October 1943 until January 1944, operated as escort for B-17 Flying Fortress/B-24 Liberator bombers that attacked such objectives as industrial areas, missile sites, airfields, and communications.

Fighters from the 461st engaged primarily in bombing and strafing missions after 3 January 1944, with its targets including U-boat installations, barges, shipyards, aerodromes, hangars, marshalling yards, locomotives, trucks, oil facilities, flak towers, and radar stations.

Bombed and strafed in the Arnhem, Netherlands area on 17, 18, and 23 September 1944 to neutralize enemy gun emplacements providing support to Allied ground forces during Operation Market-Garden.

In England, the unit provided fighter escorts for SAC's rotational B-50 Superfortress bombardment wings which operated from several USAF-controlled bases in the UK.

Other awards won were the 1986 Volant Rodeo competition as world's best airlift crew and plane and 1987 Spaatz Trophy for best flying unit in the Air National Guard.

During the 1991 Persian Gulf Conflict, the squadron's 56th Aeromedical Evacuation Flight was activated and deployed to Saudi Arabia, participating in Operation Desert Storm.

Was reassigned to Air Mobility Command in 1992. and helped evacuate hospital patients in South Florida after Hurricane Andrew in late August.

After Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the squadron flew 33,000 cases of food rations in 3 C-130s to flood victims and erected a tent city for 80 people near Wilmington's airport.