A Salute to the A/TA Industry Partners - Airlift/Tanker Association

ATC in December. The ATC, with authority to handle all airliftrequirements in the CBI theater of operations, brought its specialexperience to sort out the problems in air transportation andcargo flying.Operational efficiency began to improvewith the delivery of more airplanes and personnel,better weather forecasting, accumulatedflight experience, and newly built airfieldsconstructed with proper drainage.The big push came in the form of highlevelAllied conferences during the spring of1943. Those meetings established a timetablefor major European offensives and also resultedin agreements to accelerate the offensiveagainst Japanese forces in Asia. PresidentRoosevelt called for a goal of 10,000 tons amonth for the airlift into China.Military planners quickly shifted workersand equipment from road to airfield construction,and Combat Cargo Groups weresoon on the way. The newly introducedunits’ sole purpose in the theater was to beair-resupply, supplying ground units in acombat zone. The First through Fourth CombatCargo Groups were deployed to Karachi, India, via the SouthAtlantic route on 19 May 1944. Each of the combat cargo groups wasto consist of four squadrons, each with 25 aircraft.One hundred new C-47-A aircraft were sent to India, along with100 experienced multi-engine-rated pilots, 100 experienced multiengine-ratedcopilots, and 75 additional reserve flying officers. Eachaircraft was assigned a crew chief and radio operator, plus a navigatoron loan from the ATC.The four combat cargo groups used in the CBI theater were notthe only cargo-carrying air transport units. There were in addition,the ATC Army Air Force Base Units, the Ferry Command Squadrons,the Troop Carrier Groups, the Air Commando Groups, the CNAC,Royal Air Force Groups, and Royal AustralianAir Force Groups and Squadrons. Tacklingthe Hump on numerous occasions, they allserved with distinction in the CBI theater.ATC transports carried some heavy constructionequipment across the Hump toChinese construction sites, however the majorlabor force on both sides of the Himalayasinvolved tens of thousands of local workers,consisting of men, women, and children deliveringequipment, tools, stone chips andother building materials in baskets of wovenvines, so it is remarkable that by the springof 1945, a determined effort resulted in 13primary bases for the ATC in India and sixin China. And, on 28 January 1945, the 717-mile “Burma Road” (dubbed The Stillwell Roadafter Gen. Joseph Stillwell an American adviserto Chiang Kai-shek) from Lashio, Burmato Kunming in southwest China was reopenedby the Allies, permitting supplies toflow back into China by land.Nearly 1,000 men and 600 Air Transport Command planes werelost over the Hump by the end of China-Burma-India theater operations.In addition, CNAC lost 38 planes and 88 airmen.By the end of World War II, newly appointed Hump commanderBrig. General William H. Turner, had increased the ATC Divisionfrom 369 to 722 aircraft, and personnel numbers improved from26,000 to more than 84,000. Final offensives against the Japaneseresulted in one ATC transport taking off every three minutes. EarlyC-47s on the ramp at Berlin’s Templehof airportduring the Berlin Airlift. Dubbed OperationVittles, more than 2.3 million tons of cargowere delivered during the airlift. (U.S. AirForce Photo).Then 1st Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen attachescandy to a parachute during the Berlin Airlift.Known as “Uncle Wiggly Wings” and the “CandyBomber,” he personifies America’s “DeliveringHope” attitude. (U.S. Air Force Photo).in 1945, the monthly cargo delivered to China had reached 44 thousandtons – peaking at 71 thousand in July. The war would be overthe following month. However, using the world’s airways to deliverhope was really just beginning, and the next big airlift was only afew years away on the other side of the globe.The U.S. Air Force Faces its First TestThe National Security Act of 1947, establishedthe Department of Defense, with threesub-departments – the Army, the Navy, andthe Air Force. Truman signed the bill whileon the presidential airplane, a C-54 namedSacred Cow, and on 18 September 1947, StuartSymington was sworn in as the first secretaryof the Air Force. Carl A. Spaatz becamethe first chief of staff. A month later, on 14October, the Air Force, now an independentservice, announced its presence with a literalbang, as Captain Charles “Chuck” Yeagerbecame the first person to break the soundbarrier – within a year the fledgling servicewould have its mettle tested.At the end of the World War II, a defeatedGermany had been divided into four sectors,controlled by the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain,and France. The capitol city of Berlin, deep in the Soviet sector, hadbeen divided in half, with West Berlin controlled by the westernAllies and East Berlin by the Soviets. West Berlin would be suppliedfrom outside the Soviet sector by roads, railroads, canals, and threeair corridors. The air corridors led to Berlin from the German citiesof Frankfurt, Hanover, and Hamburg and were each 20 miles (32kilometers) wide.The Soviets, though, were acting in an increasingly aggressivemanner toward the capitalist western nations. In 1948, when thewestern nations released a new German currency in an attemptto restart the economy in their sectors, Soviet leader Joseph Stalinordered his ground troops and air force to“harass” the supply traffic to Berlin. Then,on 22 June 1948, the seventh anniversary ofthe Nazi invasion of Russia, all ground trafficto Berlin was stopped, halting 13,500 tonsof daily supplies to Berlin. Only the air corridors,protected by treaty, remained open.The United States, with the U.S. militarygovernor in Germany, General Lucius D.Clay, wanted to “force the issue” and usetroops to escort the supply convoys throughthe blockade. But British Foreign MinisterErnest Brevin proposed a massive airlift thatwould use military planes to fly supplies intothe city. Berlin needed at least 2,000 tonsof supplies per day for the most basic subsistence.The U.S. Air Force in Europe, however,had only 100 Douglas C-47 “GooneyBird” planes available, barely enough to flyin supplies for Berlin-based U.S. personnel.But with careful planning and organization,Major General Curtis LeMay, commander ofthe U.S. Air Force in Europe, managed to deliver twice the estimatedamount of supplies into the city on a test run, and Clay decided totry the airlift. LeMay told him to request Douglas C-54 Skymastersfrom the Pentagon. Skymasters were the air force’s largest transportplane and could carry four times as much as the C-47s.The first Skymasters arrived at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germanyon June 28. As soon as they landed, they were loaded and sent toBerlin. By the end of the next week, 300 C-54s had arrived fromA/TQ • Airlift/Tanker Quarterly • Fall 201115