Although the wing's main task was tactical and strategic air transport, it was also employed in various humanitarian aid missions from 1960 onwards.

Air Transport Wing 61 was established on 24 August 1957 by order of the then Federal Minister of Defence Franz-Josef Strauss.

[2] In August 1966 relief flights were carried out following the Varto earthquake in Eastern Turkey as well as to Lisbon, Portugal after the flash floods of 1967.

3 Squadron later relocated to Nörvenich Air Base in order to carry out SAR tasks and disbanded in 2006.

During the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, the wing was employed to carry out numerous relief fights and was also an important component of the airbridge during the siege of Sarajevo between 1992 and 1996.

2 Squadron, flying helicopters, had been disbanded[4] and transferred to a newly established task force led by the German Army Aviation Corps.

In recognition of this a Transall aircraft of the wing was invited to take part in the celebration of Bastille Day of that year.

[6][7] The German Air Force intends to replace the C-160 Transall with the Airbus A400M Atlas, a considerably larger aircraft.

[8] The final roll call took place on 14 December 2017 under the eyes of Major General Günter Katz.