July-August - Air Defense Artillery

How's Your Air Mobility?
THE Chief of Army Field Forces has
directed that all army units will receive
sufficient training to enable them to
move by air all equipment and personnel
that can be transported by cargo aircraft.
Exactly where will the units obtain the
instructor personnel trained in troop
movement b\' air?
Student officers at the Antiaircraft and
Guided i\ lissiles School who are attending
the regular or associate courses on
the battery or advance levels receive 19
hours instruction in air transportability.
This provides the basic knowledge and
techniques needed to conduct unit
schools in air transportability. Included
in the course are detailed and practical
considerations of the material covered in
this article. There is much more to loading
an aircraft than simply filling it within
weight limitations. An excellent preview
of air transportability can be obtained
in thirty minutes from T.F. 7-
1510, Troop Movement by Air.
The Air Force supplies the cargo aircraft
but the army unit to be transported
is responsible for loading and securing
the cargo in the aircraft. Allowable cargo
loads are placed and lashed properly
to insure that the aircraft will have a safe
balance during take-off, flight and land-
By Lt. Col. George W. Shiuers, Jr., Arty.
/\
/ j"";
, J nJJLi
155mm gun in C-124 aircraft.
JULY-AUGUST, 1951
ing. The load is secured so that it will
not break loose under anv conditions of
flight. Fortunately, these requirements
may be computed accurately and quickly,
and exact load placement determined
prior to flight. In order to accomplish
this it is necessary that army units be
familiar with cargo aircraft.
Knowledge of the capabilities and
limitations of available cargo aircraft will
enable the higher commander, his staff
and lower unit commanders to plan efficiently
and execute an air transported
operation. 'Vhat specific elements of aircraft
data must be known?
PRINCIPAL factors concerning cargo
aircraft that influence the proposed air
transportability of units are: size and location
of the cargo doors. as well as the
height of the doors from the ground; size
of the cargo compartment and strength
of the floor; location and strength of the
cargo tie-down fittings; allowable cargo
load (pay load); and limitations of the
position of the center of gravity.
\Vorkhorse of \\Torld \Var ll, the
C-47, transported millions of tons of military
supplies in spite of certain definite
limitations in the location and size of the
cargo doors, the allowable cargo load,
and size of the cargo compartment.
These demonstrated limitations in the
C-47 were later to provide guides for the
development of cargo aircraft designed
for specific military purposes.
This is the picture today. The Air
Force has developed a series of cargo aircraft
more suitable for army loads and
the army has adjusted to the new requirement
by modifying or redesigning
equipment to reduce weight and bulk.
One new aircraft has already proved
itself as a combat cargo plane. It is the
C-119, also known as the Flying Boxcar,
or the Packet. It is the standard
medium cargo aircraft used to transport
light artillery pieces. I-laving an allowable
cargo load of 16,000 pounds, it loads
from the rear through clamshell doors
that allow straight-on loading. In addition
to its employment in standard air
transported operations, it can also be used
to drop personnel, artillery pieces and
vehicles by parachute. It has prO\'ed to
be an excellent plane for evacuation of
the wounded. Larger aircraft are available
for moving medium artillery units.
The standard heavy cargo plane is the
C-124, with an allowable cargo load of
50,000 pounds and the capability of carrying
virtually anything in the infantry
division except the hea\'ier tanks and
tank-recovery vehicles. It can carryall
artillery pieces except the 120mm antiaircraft
gun. Bulky and heavy equipment
is loaded by means of large doors
and ramps at the nose of the aircraft. An
elevator located aft of the wing is used
for loading lighter equipment. This aircraft
requires prepared landing strips,
but newer types of planes are being developed
for operations from unimpro\'ed
fields.
The C-123 is a new type of aircraft,
known as the assault transport. It is a
hybrid power glider that can land and
take off in short distances from unimproved
fields. Towed as a glider to the
vicinity of the landing area by a tug aircraft,
it can cut loose from the tug and
proceed to the landing area, land and
discharge its cargo, after which it takes
off and returns under its own power for
more loads. Another type of aircraft
under test is the detachable pod or pack
aircraft.
This aircraft, embodying the prime
mover and pod or the tractor-trailer principle,
has flown. The advantages based
on this principle are found in the reduction
in the time the aircraft must wait
on the ground for loading and unloading.
Its allowable cargo load has not yet
been established. The allowable cargo
load for any aircraft, of course, is dependent
upon the range it must fly.
The pay load figures included in the
desCription of the new cargo planes are
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