The Journey of Flight.pdf - Valkyrie Cadet

superiority fighters flew for over 15 hours and 8,000 miles nonstop. Operation Desert Shield had
officially started.
Within 5 days, five more fighter squadrons arrived, and 2,300 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne
Division arrived via airlift. Egyptian and Moroccan forces arrived on August 11th, and American
B-52s arrived in Diego Garcia, poised and ready to strike. By August 21st, American F-16 Fighting
Falcons, F-15E Strike Eagles, F-4G Wild Weasels, F-117 Stealth Fighters, A-10 Thunderbolts, E-3B
Airborne Warning and Control Aircraft, RC-135 Reconnaissance Aircraft, KC-135 and KC-10 Tankers,
C-130 Transports and Army Patriot missile defense batteries had arrived. That day Secretary of Defense,
Dick Cheney declared that the threat of an Iraiqi invasion had ended. Air power had already achieved
its first victory in the desert.
Meanwhile, in Kuwait the crisis worsened. Iraqi troops surrounded diplomatic embassies. Refugees
streaming out of Kuwait reported massive looting and gross violence. The world was watching while
Iraq pillaged Kuwait. The UN reacted with Resolution 678 and called for UN Coalition Forces to use
“all means necessary” to compel immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait if Iraq did not
comply by January 15, 1991.
A large UN coalition force was now needed to expel the Iraqis out of Kuwait if they did not leave
on their own accord. US, French and British troops arrived almost immediately. Later, many more
nations contributed forces as well, including Saudi Arabia, Italy, Canada, Egypt, Syria, Qatar, Bahrain,
Pakistan, Czechoslovakia, UAE, Morocco, Bangladesh, Senegal, Niger, Germany and Belgium.
Desert Shield soon became the
most massive airlift in the history of
air power. Six weeks into the airlift
operation, Desert Shield had already
flown more ton-miles than during
the entire Berlin Airlift, and the
Berlin Airlift took 10 times longer.
The huge airlift operation was truly
a team effort.
US Air Force active duty,
Reserve, Air National
Guard C-141 Starlifters, C-5
Globemasters and C-130 Hercules
aircraft were augmented by US
commercial airliners. For the first
time in history, the Civil Reserve Air
Fleet was activated. Thirty-eight
commercial airliners contributed
cargo and passenger aircraft to the
Desert Shield airlift effort. Twelve
wide-body Boeing 747s were used
F-15E Strike Eagle is considered by many aviation authorities to be the
finest jet fighter in the world. (Boeing)
148
to carry the troops. In December, and
only 4 months into Desert Shield, 16