317th Operations Group

rdf:langString 317th Operations Group

rdf:langString center|60px

rdf:langString 317th Operations Group

rdf:langString Jungle Skippers (World War II)

rdf:langString AF OUA

rdf:langString AF PUC

rdf:langString PPUC

rdf:langString Distinguished Unit Citation

rdf:langString Papua New Guinea 317th Troop Carrier Group

rdf:langString Philippines 317th Troop Carrier Group

rdf:langString I Gain By Hazard

rdf:langString Jungle Skippers

rdf:langString The 317th Operations Group is an inactive United States Air Force unit, last stationed at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina as part of Air Mobility Command. It was activated in 1992 during the Air Force's Objective Wing reorganization, and inactivated the following year when all Air Force units at Pope were assigned to the 23d Wing. The group was first activated as the 317th Transport Group in February 1942, becoming the 317th Troop Carrier Group in July. The 317th took part in nearly all the airlift operations in the Pacific Theater of Operations, including the Battle of Wau, New Guinea, and Operation Topside, parachute drops on Corregidor in 1945. For each of these operations the 317th was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation. Following the war, the 317th served as part of the occupation forces in Japan. In September 1948, the group (now equipped with the Douglas C-54 Skymaster) moved to Germany to augment the Berlin Airlift forces and flew missions from Celle RAF Station until the end of the Airlift in 1949. It was inactivated in September 1949 as part of the Air Force's reduction of the number of combat groups required by President Truman's 1949 defense budget. The group returned to Germany in June 1952 as a theater airlift unit flying Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars. Its squadrons were attached to its parent 317th Troop Carrier Wing in 1955 and the group was inactivated in March 1957. The group has been active twice since then, as the 317th Tactical Airlift Group from 1978 to 1980 and as the 317th Operations Group from 1992 to 1993. Forces deployed from the group participated in Operation Desert Storm in 1992.