86th Operations Group

The 86th Operations Group (86 OG) is the flying operational component of the 86th Airlift Wing, United States Air Force. The group is stationed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. The mission of the 86 OG (Tail Code: RS) is to conduct airlift, airdrop and aeromedical evacuation as well as VIP transport operations flying the C-21A, C-37A, and C-130J aircraft. As the 86th Airlift Wing's main operational component, the group provides theater airlift, distinguished visitor transport and aeromedical evacuation capability by maintaining readiness to deploy and employ all assets across the spectrum of air combat support missions. Its subordinate squadrons maintain and fly C-21A, C-37A and C-130J type aircraft. 37th Airlift Squadron (C-130J) 76th Airlift Squadron (C-21A, C-37A) 86th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron 86th Operational Support Squadron 424th Air Base Squadron Stationed at: Chièvres Air Base, Belgium For additional history and lineage, see 86th Airlift Wing and 86th Air Division Activated on 10 February 1942, as the 86th Fighter Group at Will Rogers Field, near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a cadre of five officers and 163 enlisted men. The unit made several moves before settling at Key Field in Meridian, Mississippi, where it began training on A-20 and DB-7 Havoc. In September 1942, the 86th was redesignated a dive-bomber unit and received A-24 Banshee, the Army Air Forces version of the US Navy's highly successful SBD Dauntless, and A-31 Vengeance aircraft, transferring its A-20s and DB-7s to the 27th and 47th Light Bomber Groups. The new aircraft did not improve the 86th's combat capability. The Allies had found land-based dive bombers unsatisfactory for combat in Europe after the initial days of the war, so the A-24 and A-31 were as replaced as rapidly as possible. The transition began 20 November 1942, with the arrival of the first A-36 Apache (also christened the Apache or Invader), one of the finest ground-attack aircraft in the world at the time and a version of the P-51A Mustang.