It was last stationed at Pope Army Airfield, part of Fort Bragg in North Carolina.

The unit supported Operation Iraqi Freedom, with its mission extending to the Middle East into Europe and the Pacific.

Airmen were deployed throughout the world to support Air Mobility Command's global reach mission.

Reservists also opted for additional training to attend schools, maintain flying proficiency or to support special projects.

[3] The wing was equipped with Curtiss C-46 Commandos, but also flew trainer aircraft under the supervision of the 2465th Air Force Reserve Training Center.

[1] Although the 440th was manned at only 25% of normal strength, its combat group was authorized four squadrons rather than the three of active duty units.

[9] A few months after activation, the wing moved from Snelling to adjacent Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport.

As a fighter unit, the wing initially flew World War II era North American F-51 Mustangs, but received jet powered Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars in 1954.

Consequently, in November 1956 the Air Force directed ConAC to convert three fighter bomber wings to the troop carrier mission by September 1957.

[11] The reductions included the elimination of all reserve flying units at Minneapolis-St Paul, with the exception of the 96th Troop Carrier Squadron.

[1][13] The wing began to use inactive duty training periods for Operation Swift Lift, transporting high priority cargo for the air force and Operation Ready Swap, transporting aircraft engines, between Air Materiel Command's depots.

[note 1] The 440th Troop Carrier Group was inactivated and all flying squadrons were directly assigned to the wing.

[20] To resolve the mobilization problem, at the start of 1962 ConAC determined to reorganize its reserve wings by establishing groups with support elements for each of its troop carrier squadrons.

However, as this plan was entering its implementation phase, another partial mobilization, which included the 440th Wing, occurred for the Cuban Missile Crisis, with the units being released on 28 November 1962.

Tragedy struck the wing on 5 June 1965 when a C-119 (Flight Number 680) under the command of Maj. Louis Giuntoli was lost without a trace in the infamous Bermuda Triangle area.

Milwaukee reservists flew emergency supplies to snowbound Indian reservations in the western U.S. in December 1967.

Wing personnel also flew equipment and supplies to Gulfport, Mississippi in August 1969, after Hurricane Camille devastated the Gulf Coast.

The local Reserve Officers Association, the 440th Community Council and numerous civic leaders led the efforts to convince Washington authorities to equip the 440th with eight new C-130s.

The 927th Group performed the wing's first tactical resupply mission as part of Operation Desert Storm.

The 440th Medical Squadron was activated in January 1991 and was deployed to Germany in anticipation of large numbers of casualties, which thankfully never occurred.

The post Cold War reorganization of the armed services brought still more change to the 440th when ACC transferred responsibility for all stateside, combat-coded, active duty C-130 airlift units to AMC, resulting in a realignment of all C-130 airlift units in the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard, to include the ANG C-130 airlift wing in Puerto Rico, to AMC as their gaining command.

By 15 December, the wing had six aircraft and about 200 people in Kuwait with more than a dozen operation missions accomplished by that date.

BRAC made the 440th Airlift Wing the first active associate unit in Air Force history.

The Regular Air Force's 2d Airlift Squadron and elements of the 43d Airlift Wing's maintenance units, that were also based at Pope, were receiving operational direction from the 440th while flying and helping maintain the 16 C-130H2 Hercules Air Force Reserve aircraft.

An article in the 6 March 2014 issue of the Fayetteville Observer noted that the Air Force has proposed the wing's inactivation and the retirement of its 12 C-130H aircraft.

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