The 97th Aircraft Maintenance Division can trace its history back to two inactivated Wings, the 443rd Military Airlift Wing and the 340th Air Refueling Wing, where military personnel performed maintenance on the C-5, C-141 and KC-135 aircraft. On 1 October 1992, the Air Force activated the 97th Air Mobility Wing at Altus AFB replacing both wings. The 97th Air Mobility Wing was first assigned to Air Mobility Command and then, just 7 months later, was reassigned to Air Education and Training Command.

In January 1996, the C-17 was added to the list of aircraft maintained by the 97th's maintainers. In July 1996, as a result of an A-76 study, military aircraft maintenance started conversion to civil service under the 97th Logistics Group. By February 1997, civil service aircraft maintainers under the control of the 97th Logistics Support Group had assumed primary responsibility for all facets of aircraft maintenance from their military counterparts for the C-5, C-141 and KC-135 aircraft.

In August 2002, in a combined inactivation and activation ceremony, the 97th Logistics Group was inactivated and the 97th Maintenance Directorate was formed. During this historic event, the 97th Tanker and Airlift Aircraft Maintenance Flights were re-designated as the 97th Air Mobility Wing Tanker and Airlift Aircraft Maintenance Divisions. In addition all C-17 maintenance was fully converted from military to civilian maintainers.

In January 2007, the 97th Tanker Maintenance Division and the 97th Airlift Aircraft Maintenance Division were combined to form the 97th Aircraft Maintenance Division.

The following elements make up the Aircraft Maintenance Division: KC-135 maintenance, C-17 maintenance, and Support Section.