On March 5, 1944, under a full moon, 61 Air Commando GC-4A gliders towed by C-47 Dakotas lifted the first element of the British Special Force Chindits into central Burma.

To the list of World War II specialists in close combat—Edson's and Carlson's Marine Raiders, British Brigadier Orde Charles Wingate's Raiders, Mountbatten's Commandos, U.S. Army ...

But today at Eglin, members of the all-volunteer 1st Air Commando Group work with ancient C46 and C-47 transports, stub-nosed B-26 light bombers, and prop-driven, single-engined T-28 trainers.