.

^-

omniand

Marcella Thum and

Gladys Thum
SL^'^r COMM;.

ISBN D-B^b-QfiSE^-b

LB >^1E.^5

AIRLIFT!
The Story of

the

Mihtary Airlift

Command

Thum and
Gladys Thum
Marcella

Illustrated with photographs

"You

we haul." Ever since the Military

Command's beginning in 1941 as the

call,

Airlift

Air Corps Ferrying

Command,

been doing

from troops

The

just that

MAC

has

everything

airlifting

to missiles to a whale.

Military Airlift

wartime under

Command

operates in

battle conditions. Yet seeking

out the eye of a hurricane, airdropping food

and supplies
ing

for disaster victims, air-evacuat-

wounded, taking the President where he

wants to go on Air Force

One are only a few of

other responsibilities.

MAC has been called

its

"the biggest, busiest, most far-ranging aerial

cargo carrier in the world."

MAC

dramatic, little-known story

is

told

here in text and photographs. Also featured are

MAC's

legendary transports, from the ever-

reliable

C-47 Gooney Bird

to the

C-5 Galaxy,

^the largest aircraft in the world.

DD,

MEAD & COMPANY

k, N.Y. 10016

AIRLIFT!

ctvtRYyyG

mS^^

AIRLIFT!
The Story of the

Marcella

Military Airlift

Command

Thum and Gladys Thum

Illustrated with photographs

DODD, MEy\D

&

COMPANY

New

York

PICTURE CREDITS
Lyndon Baines Johnson

Library (Cecil Stoughton), 88;

National Air and Space

Museum, Smithsonian

Institution,

85, 86, 95, 108. All other photographs are Official

U.S. Air Force Photos.

Copyright

1986 by Marcella

Thum

and Gladys

Thum

All rights reserved

No

book may be reproduced in any form

in writing from the publisher
Distributed in Canada by
McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto
Manufactured in the United States of America
part of this

without permission

10

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Thum,

Marcella.

Airlift!

the story of the Military Airlift

Command.

Includes index.

Summary:
which

is

history of

MAC,

a military organization

the "backbone of deterrence" for United States

fighting forces, the largest peacetime cargo airline

in the world,

and

humanitarian airhft

in

times of

disaster.
1.

United

Command
Air Force.

Gladys.

States.

Air Force.

History

Military Airlift

Juvenile literature.

Military Airlift

Command

[1.

United

History]

I.

States.

Thum,

II. Title.

UG633.T46 1986
ISBN 0-396-08529-6

358.4'4'0973

85-27397

In tribute to the Airlifters of the United States Air Force,

valiantly served

and

who

gallantly died in support of this nations dedi-

cation to the principles of liberty

and freedom.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Grateful recognition

mander, Det

Donald

1,

Hq

Custin,

AAW Historian; Lt.

Portia

McCracken,

Dolney, 375th

Tom

AAW

Edward Wittel, Com-

Raymond

Fuller,

MAC

Historians; Betty KenJojola,

MAC

Hq

MAC

Linda Frierdich, and

Public Affairs;

Public Affairs; Maj. Byron

O'Laughlin of The

Editor, Airlift;

Hq

MAC

Col.

Weather; David Wilson, Darlene

Maj.

Col.

1361st Aerospace Audiovisual Service; John Fuller,

Little, Joylyn

nedy, 375th

gi\'en to Lt.

is

Flyer; Maj.

Lt.

Tom

Howard and

Thornton

Phillips,

and Vivian White of the Research Center,

USAF

Museum, Dayton, Ohio.

Special thanks to Lt. Cols. Billic Carpenter and John Johanck,

present and past commandants. Airlift Operations School, and the

following faculty and

Lt. Col.

staff of

the School: Lt. Col. David Myers,

Clement Wehner, Maj. Carol Henry, Maj. Ronnv Smith,

Maj. Peter Nelson, Maj. Danny Dees, and Maj. Kent Douglas
for their unfailing assistance

and support.

Contents

Foreword

JJ

We

1.

"You

2.

Lifeline in the Sky

3.

"That Others

4.

The Hurricane Hunters

5S

5.

Flying Ambulances

68

6.

Air Force

7.

Air

8.

Airdrop or Airland

9.

Behind the Scenes

10.

Call,

Haul"

May

13

28
41

Live"

One

83

Commandos

MAC'S
Index

Planes

93

Anything, An\\\hcrc
at

MAC

103

117

US
J

39

FOREWORD

From

its

beginning

in

Command,

1941 as the Air Corps Ferrying

throngh three wars and innumerable humanitarian missions, the

Military Airlift

Command

and abroad by pro\'iding

in the world.

Although

has served the United States at

airlift,
its

home

when and where needed, anywhere

primary mission

national strategy and national policy,

is

MAC

airlift in

also has

support of

many

other

varied and important responsibilities: aeromedical, spceial air mission, operational

support

airlift,

combat

rescue, special operations,

audiovisual and weather services.

The

authors of this book have not attempted to write a com-

plete, in-depth presentation of the U.S. Air Force's Military Airlift

Command.

Tliev ha\'e, however, brought together little-kno\\'n

information on the proud histon^ of the oldest

USAF,
As

as well as

a former

mand,

showing what

Commander

belicx'c tlic

MAC

is

command

in tlie

and does.

in Cliief of the Militan' Airlift

importance of military

airlift in

Com-

the past and

11

present should be better known; even

awareness of the

vital

more important

role the Military Airlift

is

inereased

Command

will

play in the future.

General William G. Moore,

USAF

12

Jr.

(Ret.)

CHAPTER

You

By

Call,

the spring of 1941, during

We Haul

World War

II,

England was

ing under Nazi air attacks and desperately in need of

and

fighter planes.

Although America was

President Franklin D. Roosevelt on

War

Secretary of

bombers

to

Command

to speed

England.

The

up the

war material by

but

28,

more bombers

officially neutral,

1941, ordered the

delivery of American-built

Command

the transporting

airlift

air

May

still

reel-

very next day the Air Corps Ferrying

was activated. The

ginning of military

was not only the beof planes, troops,

and

the predecessor of the Military Airlift

Command, the oldest command in the United States Air Force.

The original mission of the new Command was to ferry Americanbuilt

British

lend-lease airplanes

States to departure points in

Canadian

pilots to Britain.

from

Canada

factories

in

the United

for transport

Soon, however, the Fernying

by

British-

Command
13

also

became

a military air transport service for the

ment. Military passengers and

civilians

War

Depart-

on diplomatic missions

were ferried aboard B-24 Liberator bombers from Boiling Field

Washington, D.C.,

North Atlantic

Montreal and Newfoundland, then

to

to Scotland.

via the

Often the only seating available

the passengers aboard the B-24s was in the

bomb

in

for

bays!

Despite the fact that few American pilots and crews prior to

1941 had any experience in flying over water or at night, within

six

months the Ferrying Command, under the command

nel Robert Olds,

flying night

December

had delivered 1,350

aircraft to the

and day. With the Japanese attack

the Ferrying

Command

began

East Coast,

at Pearl

Harbor on

World War

1941, and America's entrance into

7,

of Colo-

much-expanded foreign

its

II,

ferrying

operations by delivering four B-24 Liberator bombers to the Middle East.

The

Command

Ferrying

ing air routes that

Eventually these

had never been

new

air routes

different

from the Ferrying

ATC

handled

airlift

entire

War

important

Department.

new mission

ican servicemen

and

And by

order, considering that the

by

chart-

aircraft before.

the globe.

was renamed the Air

mission of the

August, 1942,

of air-evacuating sick

women

mapping and

ATC

was not

Command, but greatly expanded.

for the Army Air Forces but for the

much

just

circle

Command

Command (ATC) The

not

traveled

would

In June, 1942, the Ferr\qng

Transport

also started

ATC

took on the

and wounded Amer-

throughout the world.

new Command had

less

It

was

a large

than a dozen

transport planes and even fewer airfields with which to perform

its

duties.

Factories were working day and night turning out fighter planes

and bombers

14

for the

war

effort.

At

first,

ATC

had

to purchase

Boeing

Martin Flying Boats, and Boeing Stratoliners

clippers,

(C-75s)

from commercial

lack of aircraft

The

airlines to use as transport planes.

was only one of the new command's problems.

mapping

laborious

and

across the Atlantic

of new, previously uncharted air routes

Pacific,

which

are as essential to airlift as

highways are to automobiles, had only

out in the Pacific. Japan's occupation of

the
new

routes

had

fore desperately

just

begun when war broke

many

of the Pacific islands

Wake, Guadalcanal, and Midway

Philippines,

air

But

to

be charted and new island

needed

men and

meant

that

airfields built be-

supplies could be airlifted to the

war zone.

Pacific

The most

ATC,

pressing problem facing

and crews

of trained pilots

though, was the lack

to fly their transport planes.

Most

of

the experienced pilots and crews were already flying fighters and

bombers. Once again,

ATC

turned to the commercial

and crews were inducted into the

Civilian pilots

placed under contract to the

airlines

Army

and

service

man

pilots to

Then one day

civilian

Even with

Air Force.

help from the commercial airlines, however, there were

enough

airlines.

still

ne\'er

ATC

ferry-

the transport planes.

Col. William H. Tunner, head of the

ing division's domestic wing, discovered that the wife of one of his

was

officers
pilots,

and

women

like

a pilot,

here's

'Tm combing the woods for

my nose. Are there many more

and exclaimed,

one

right

under

your wife?"

''Why don't you

ask her?"

Major Love

replied.

Although there was considerable opposition

women
pilots

pilots flying for the military'

so

much

to

the idea of

so that the

women

were not granted military status and onlv flew within the

United States

Nancy Love managed

to start the

Women's Aux15

(WAFS)

Ferrying Squadron

iliary

Jacqueline Cochran later

Women's

corporated the organization into the

(WASP)

Pilots

At

first,

the

Air Force Service

program.

women

and high-powered

Army

fighter planes.

Air Force's biggest bombers

They

also acted as test pilots

By 1944,

targets for antiaircraft artillery practice.

all

the pilots ferrying fighter planes were

of

all

women, and

were accomplished with

women wore

WASPs

in the cockpit.

the wings of

Women's

and

half of

three-fourths

domestic deliveries of America's military planes of

thousand

Soon,

pilots ferried small training planes.

however, they were ferrying the

towed

in-

all

types

More than one

Air Force Service

Pilots.

While women

pilots

were breaking new ground

in

America, the

greatest sustained, intensive use of airlift in history

was being

undertaken on the other side of the world. In 1942, Japan blocked

all

water and land access to China, effectively cutting the supply

line to

Chinese and American troops fighting the Japanese

China.

The

only remaining lifeline into China was by

air

in

from

Eastern India over the awesome Himalaya Mountains into the

Yunnan Province

Hump."
The task of

of China. This 500-mile air route was

known

as

''the

and supplies

to

flying ''the

bringing vitally needed guns

Chinese and American troops

to the India-China

"the

Hump,"

Wing

Hump" became

of the Air Transport

one of the epics of

The uncharted Himalaya Mountains

16,500

feet.

Many

in

China, was given

Command.

airlift history.

soared from

The weather was

called

monsoons, to violent turbulence that could cause

16

14,000 to

of the peaks were shrouded in constant cloud

cover.

plummet 3,000

Flying

treacherous, from torrential rainstorms,

feet a minute,

a plane to

and freezing temperatures that

Four members of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs)

after graduation from B-17 school at Lockbourne Field, Ohio, 1944.

could cause severe icing on the

unknown.

When

planes went

aircraft.

down

just

Radio beams w ere almost

in the

Himalayas, few of the

crews were ever seen again.

Pilots

who avoided

the higher peaks to the north, and took the

southern route over the Himalayas, had to cross over northern

Burma

into

territory

Birds,

China and fared

little better.

and ATC's unarmed C-46

and

later,

Burma was

Japanese-held

Commandos and C-47 Gooney

the C-54 Skymasters,

Japanese Zeros. Although often shot

at,

came under

attack from

transport planes were not

17

built or

equipped to shoot back.

If

shot

down

over Burma, the

dense jungle soon obliterated any trace of the planes, and any
vivors

had

to fend off tribes of headhunters

who

sur-

lived in the area.

Some ingenious pilots of C-87s (converted B-24s) also flying

''the Hump/' placed black-painted bamboo poles, the thickness of
gun

barrels, into their ships' noses, sides,

and

tails,

hoping

their

planes would resemble Liberator bombers and frighten off the

Zeros!

C-46 Commando of the Air Transport Command flying ''the Hump,''

the snow-capped Himalayas between India and China, in World War 11.

-^.^^N.
*

^^'

i,:'*%'^HiM:t^

Nevertheless, despite shortages of gasoline and airplane parts,

primitive living conditions, and crews suffering from malaria and

American

dysentery, and three

flown into China, ''the

Hump"

in military histor}', airlift kept

and

''beans

One

bullets."

every thousand tons

lives lost for

airlift

continued. For the

an entire combat theater

historian has said,

Hump

nibal's crossing of the Alps, the

in the annals of military history as

first

time

alive

with

"Together with Han-

operation will go

one of the most

down

difficult logistics

missions accomplished by any military force.''

While

the Air Transport

tegic airlift

transporting

United States

Command

planes, troops,

war zone

to a

was the beginning of

and supplies from the

Europe the IX Troop Carrier

in

Command was the beginning of tactical airlift

and supplies

directly into battle.

which was not part of

ATC,

stra-

transporting troops

The Troop

Carrier

Command,

used C-47s and gliders to carry

air-

borne troops directly into battle in Nazi-held France on D-Day.

Wars throughout
by which

side

is

been won or

history have always

the strongest, but by logistics

lost

which

not just
side can

supply and resupply their army the fastest with the most troops

and equipment. Surface and

tial in

any long-term

sealift

conflict.

But

transportation are stiR essen-

for the

first

time during

World

War

II,

field

with a speed and efficiency and over distances never before

troops and war materials were transported to armies in the

possible. Airlift

had added

After the end of

new dimension

World War

II,

the

to warfare.

Army

Air Corps

became

separate military service, the United States Air Force. In 1948, the

Air Transport
Service

Command

was renamed the Military Air Transport

(MATS) and became

operating a global

air

fense. In addition to

major

command under USAF,

transport system for the

its

Department

of

De-

strategic airlift mission, aeromedical evacu-

19

and transporting important

ation^

of the United States,

MATS

dignitaries,

became

such as the President

responsible for Air Weather,

Air Rescue services and Airways and Air Communications Service.

However, Tactical Air Command,

MATS, became

responsible, for the

separate

most

command from

part, for tactical airlift,

transporting airborne troops and their equipment into forward

combat

areas.

Despite

its

vital missions,

MATS was cut back severely after the

war, as were other military services. So

much

so that

when

the

West Berlin, the

World War II, were

Russians suddenly threw their blockade around

C-47

MATS,

transports of

the workhorses of

almost worn out.

At the

close of

World War

II,

West

Berlin was an island sur-

rounded by the Russian zone of occupied Germany. Berlin had

been

The Western powers United States, Great

and France controlled West Berlin; the Russians, East

split in

two.

Britain,

Berlin. In June, 1948, Russia

to

West

lighting

Berlin.

Without

blockaded

Western powers

tanks were massing on the

blockade could be the

road and water access

food, medical supplies, and coal vital to

and heating homes and

to force the

all

start

factories, the

to

Communists hoped

abandon West

Berlin. Russian

German borders. Many

of World War III.

believed the

Gen. Lucius D. Clay, the U.S. military governor of West

Berlin,

telephoned Maj. Gen. Curtis LeMay, commander of U.S. Air

Forces in Europe, and asked an urgent question, ''Can you haul
coal?''

General

LeMay

replied with

what has become the

rallying cry of airlifters everywhere, ''General,

traditional

we can haul

any-

thing.''

The
20

job of running the Berlin

airlift

was given to the former

head of ATC's ferrying

domestic wing,

division,

now Maj. Gen.

MATS.

William H. Tunner, Deputy Commander, Air Transport,

General Tunner was put in charge of the

and saw

Berlin

at

Task Force

1st Airlift

in

once that the larger G-54 Slcymasters were neces-

sary to take over the job of supplying the besieged city.

Even with the

larger G-54s, there

problems facing the Berlin

hills

or ''Operation Vittles'' as

airlift,

Tempelhof Airport

called.

were almost insurmountable

middle of Berlin

in the

and apartment buildings, making

it

girdled

is

air traffic difficult

was

by

under the

best of conditions. In the winter, low-lying fogs and sleet storms

made

takeoffs

and landings even more dangerous. Yet

keep the

each day hundreds of American and British aircraft had

city alive,

and take

to land, off-load their valuable cargo,

Instead,

airport.

to

because of

the

heavy

off

again from the

traffic,

airplanes

''stacked up'' over the airfield, wasting valuable gasoline

were

and time,

waiting to land.

General Tunner's
aircraft arriving at

apart, flying at
all

at

up

staff set

new

traffic pattern.

Tempelhof was spaced

200 miles an hour.

To

Each loaded

exactly three minutes

maintain that

traffic

pattern,

planes were required to pass checkpoints at a precise height and

an exact time. Each plane then made a straightaway pass

runway and
to climb

if

the pilot failed to

and return

to his

home

make the

at the

landing, he was ordered

base from which he would

make

a fresh start.

The
tern

even break their rigidly controlled

pilots didn't

when Russian

airplanes,

and

fighter planes dived in front of the transport

shells

and paratroopers were dropped

C-54s. In spite of any and

a remarkable

traffic pat-

all

620 round-trip

close to the

obstacles, the Berlin airlift continued,

flights a day.

The

airlift

brought every-

thing from coal and flour and medical supplies to milk and candy

21

The markings on

this

MATS

C-S4

tell

the story: "Last Vittles flight

airlifted to Berlin!'

for the children of

West

called off their blockade.

ber,

Berlin. In

The

May, 1949, the Russians

Berlin

by which time American and

airlift

continued

till

finally

Septem-

had

de-

gained in flying the Berlin

air-

British air transports

livered 2.5 million tons of material to Berlin.

The
lift

valuable experience

came

in

handy

MATS

a year later

when North Korea invaded South

Korea, and America was once again at war.

first

C-54 was the

plane destroyed in that conflict.

The

Pacific

airlift

supporting the United Nations forces in

Korea was one of the longest

tical pipeline of

aerial

supply lines in history, a

nearly 10,000 nautical miles.

from the West Coast of the United States

22

A MATS

The

to the

logis-

shortest route

combat zone

re-

quired 30 hours of flying time.

two Army
Korean

di\'isions

again, as in

and personnel,
additional

United States

MATS

airlift

had

to the

II,

to the

to turn to civilian airlines to supply

war zone. In 1952, President Harry Tru-

With CRAF,

more than 300 commercial

CRAF

(CRAF)

planned use of

aircraft

capability in times of national

Korea.

move

because of a shortage of planes

established the Civil Reserve Air Fleet

riers,
lift

their bases in the

World War

in existence today.

still

agonizing weeks to

six

front.

Once

man

from

took

It

which

is

civil car-

can be added to U.S.

air-

emergencv or war.

nearly doubled the U.S. long-range

Each day more than 100 tons

of

airlift

capability in

emergency military items

were flown from the United States to Japan for transshipment to

the fighting units in Korea.

On
from

the battlefields in Korea, wherever troops were entrenched,

rice

paddies to mountaintops,

munition, food and medicine.

penetrated 125 miles behind

airlift

MATS Air

enemy Hues

provided guns and am-

Rescue helicopters often

to rescue

downed United

Nations crewmembers, and for those troops wounded

airlift

meant medical

care

and

in action,

a hospital bed, often within twenty-

four hours.

After the Korean

War,

various ''brush-fire'' wars and political

erupted around the world in the 1950s and

crises

'60s.

The

Suez,

Lebanon, the Congo, the Dominican Republic, and Pakistan were

among some

of the trouble spots

fast-reacting, highly

where violence suddenly exploded.

mobile force was needed

or end conflicts posing a threat to the

airlift

gave

MATS

United

to deter, contain,

States.

Modern

the ability to position troops and supplies

jet

when

and where they were needed.

It

wasn't until the Vietnam

War, however,

that a jet aircraft.

23

the

C-141

meet

built to

was specially designed, engineered, and

Starlifter,

new C-141, along with

men

10,355

and cargo

military standards as a troop

the older C-133 Cargomaster, airlifted

at the

maximum

Hoa

in

South

in the largest

and longest

stra-

attempted to a combat zone from the

tegic military airlift ever

States.

Again, as in Korea, the

down out
By

to Bien

42 days. Unloading operations of each plane required

in

twenty minutes

United

and 5,118 tons of

of the 101st Airborne Division

equipment from Fort Campbell, Kentucky,

Vietnam

The

carrier.

MATS

Air Rescue helicopters swooped

of the sky to rescue pilots

downed behind enemy

the end of the war, they had saved 4,120

human

lines.

beings from

death, suffering, or captivity.

Tactical

Air

which

airlift,

Command,
fire

time was

still

under the Tactical

airlifted supplies directly into the front lines,

as the besieged U.S.

enemy

at that

Marine base

at

such

Khe Sanh. Under constant

from machine guns and mortars, C-1 30s continued

to

unload food and ammunition, airdropping the supplies when the

runway was destroyed,

in the biggest single parachute airdrop op-

eration in U.S. military history.

In Vietnam,
a

modest term

their missions.

between
is

armed

power

airlifters called

to describe the courage

One

flying the

took to

The C-1 30

fly

was

on many of

transport pilot described the difference

C-1 30 and the F-4 fighter plane. ''The F-4 pilot

to get out of there.

for the F-4 pilot,

24

airlift

it

''trash haulers.'' It

to the teeth, starts high, does his trick

and wishes he had

blue.

themselves

and

lights the scat

C-1 30 pilot does his act low and slow

'just a little' scat

he can wait

power.

If

things don't go right

for his seat to kick

him out

into the

guys have to unbuckle, run about 50 feet to the

cargo ramp, and then decide

if

parachute landing

fall is

better

than riding the beast into the ground."

Both

strategic

and

tactical

Vietnam ended up

transports in

ammunition

carrying everything from tanks and

to elephants

and

refugee Vietnamese babies.

On
lift

January

1,

Command,

1966,

with

its

MATS

was redesignated the Military Air-

strategic airlift

and other missions remain-

Communications

ing mostly the same. However, the Air

Mission had been separated from

Rescue mission was

MATS

now expanded

in 1961,

MAC's

Air

to include coordinating search

and rescue missions within the United States

NASA's

and

Ser\ice

as well as

supporting

space explorations. Air Rescue was renamed the Aero-

space Rescue and Recovery Service.

The

Charting Service which had begun under

Air Photographic and

MATS

in

1951 became

the Aerospace Audiovisual Service, providing motion picture, television,

and

still

photographic coverage for

In December, 1974,

MAC

as well as strategic airlift.

By

assumed

all

Air Force activities.

responsibility for tactical

consolidating strategic and tactical

airlift

under one command, the efficiency and

airlift

was greatly increased.

In 1977,

MAC became a specified command,

flexibility of total

still

under

USAF

but reporting directly to the President through the Secretary of

Defense and Joint Chiefs of

crisis.

Staff during

wartime and periods of

Special Operations Forces was added to

MAC's many,

versatile missions

MAC

were tested

in

in 1983.

October, 1983,

during the Grenada operation called ''Urgent Fury." Grenada

involved almost every

MAC

wing

in

the United States, from

special operations, aeromedical evacuation, aerospace rescue

recovery, to weather

and audiovisual

services.

and

MAC planes airlifted

25


38085

m T

#***

til

Army

AFB

nm

MAC C-141B
North Carolina from Grenada.

troops march off a

in

and helicopters

troops, military equipment,

on Grenada, and

airfield

assault forces

From
tarized

bone

its

Starlifter after returning to

MAC

planes carried the

wounded and

home.

commercial

airline,

MAC,

today, has

of deterrence'' for U.S. fighting forces.

vital interests are

threatened,

supply, and redeploy U.S.

ment anywhere

combat

in the world,

of

MAC,

MAC

more than

a mili-

become the

''back-

forces

and do

Wherever America's

must be ready

it

and

to deploy, re-

their support equip-

in a matter of days.

however, are not just trained to operate in

wartime and under battle conditions.

26

to the Point Salines

original mission of operating as little

The people

Pope

MAC

also

is

the largest

peacetime cargo

ment

of

airline in

Defense and

In addition,

MAC

its

the world,

its

customers the Depart-

components.

also operates the world's largest

far-reaching humanitarian

threatened by natural or

throwing a

airlift,

man-made

disasters.

lifeline

As we

and most
to peoples

shall see in the

next chapter, perhaps no other military organization has touched

the

lives of so

With

MAC

many people

of so

many

lands.

the delivery in 1969 of the C-5 Galaxy, the worlds largest aircraft
achieved a revolution in airlift. Here an F-S is being loaded aboard

aC-S.

MILITARY AIRLIFT

COMMAND

27

CHAPTER

Lifeline in the

It

was an early Friday afternoon

in

gronnd began to shake beneath the

Sky

when

October, 1980,

city of

El

Asnam

and mosques collapsed

like

the

in Algeria.

Within minutes, the earth heaved and ofHce and apartment

ings, hotels, schools,

build-

houses of cards.

Frightened residents rushing out into the street were crushed

beneath the bricks and stones.

happened

so quickly.

The dogs

One

survivor said, "Everything

did not have time to bark.''

When

the last tremors had ended, 80 percent of the city was destroyed

and thousands were dead or

injured,

still

trapped beneath the

rubble.

By Sunday morning

the

first

carrying relief supplies and a

Team. By the time the

three

28

airlift

MAC

C-141 had arrived

at Algiers

38-man Disaster Assistance Survey

was

finished, eight

C-130 Hercules, and one C-5 Galaxy

aircraft

MAC
and

C-141s,

their crews

had flown 375 tons of

devastated

tents, blankets,

and

otlier supplies to the

eity.

Earlier in the year, in August, Hurricane Allen, the seeond

most

powerful Atlantic hurricane in history, ripped through the Caribbean, leaving shattering death and destruction in

winds were clocked

of

homes and

hurricane reshaped

more than 100 people. In

the coastline of Jamaica.

hotels disappeared with a single slap

Immediately

wake. Allen's

185 miles per hour, demolishing thousands

at

killing

its

MAC

dispatched

just six hours, the

Two

beachfront

from 30-foot waves.

Disaster

Assistance

Support

teams, helicopters, and supplies to the stricken islands of Jamaica,

Haiti, Barbados,

One

Dominica, and

St.

Lucia.

of the longest continuing humanitarian relief missions per-

formed by

MAC was the African drought relief in

Rainfall dropped well

below normal

1973 and 1974.

in the sub-Sahara region, turn-

ing the land into a dust bowl, incapable of supporting grain or

li\'estock.

Wells dried up and the people

in the 7,000-mile region

faced death by dehydration, starvation, or disease. Since there was

no

railroad

and only

the interior,

airlift

dirt roads into

was essential

keep millions of people

the crowded refugee camps in

to bring in the food necessar}' to

alive.

Joining with other countries, the United States answered the

urgent

The

call of

the United Nations international African relief effort.

Military Airlift

wheat,

rice,

Command

airlifted

tons of food, primarily

sorghum, and powdered milk for the children, along

with goats, sheep, and w ater buffalo to the drought-stricken African

countries.

The

airlift

operation was complicated by scorching

1 1

5-degree

temperatures over the Sahara Desert and red sandstorms often

climbing to 10,000 turbulent

feet,

making

visibility difficult.

There
29

was no

difficulty,

women

and

however, in off-loading the food! Starving

men

heaw

sack

scrambled aboard the planes and the

would be out

of grain

of the aircraft

last

of the aircraft in 25 minutes.

was carefully swept so that not

Then

a grain of

the floor

food would

go to waste.

Ten

and famine devastated

years later an even worse drought

Africa again. In Ethiopia alone 300,000 died.

Once

and supplies were sent to Africa from countries and

over the world.

all

MAC's

C-141s

vaccine, skim milk, water tanks,

the

human wa\e

again food

relief

agencies

airlifted in blankets,

measles

and other

of refugees fleeing to

\ital relief supplies to

Sudan from Chad and

Ethiopia.

Through the
airlift lifeline

years the Military Airlift

countless

number

Command

has thrown an

of times to countries ravaged

by

earthquake, flood, hurricane, famine, and other natural disasters.

Usually the request for disaster

Ambassador

in the stricken

comes

relief

first

from the U.S.

country to the State Department,

passes the request along to the Secretary of Defense. If

deemed

who

airlift is

necessar}^ the Joint Chiefs of Staff then tasks the Military

Command.

Airlift

Natural disasters, of course, do not happen only in foreign countries.

Within the United

States,

MAC

emergency equipment, and supplies

split

in the

MAC
A

after a massive

the earth and sent buildings tumbling in Alaska.

supplies were airdropped to 50,000

snow

delivered relief personnel,

earthquake

Food and

Navajo Indians stranded by

mountains of northwest Arizona.

airlifted

MAC C-130

almost four hundred tons of sandbags to Min-

departing after bringing grain to Africa during a period of

famine.

31

Snow removal equipment

blizzard of 1977 in Bujfalo,

is

off-loaded

from a

MAC

C-130 during the

New York.

nesota to fight off rampaging floods there, and in Arizona,

fighters
fire

were airhfted

in

from neighboring

retardants dropped to control forest

states

fires

fire-

and chemical

raging throughout

that state.

Not

all disasters

are natural.

Many

are

man-made.

heavals around the world have brought about

death and destruction in their wake. Military

civil

airlift

Political up-

wars bringing

can sometimes

stop these small wars from turning into worldwide conflagrations,

provide military material to

allies,

and deliver food and medicine

to victims of war.

Two
32

days after the Belgian

Congo

(later

renamed

Zaire)

gained

its

independence

in 1960, fighting

broke out between out-

law rebel forces. Europeans and Americans trapped within the

country, as well as Congolese citizens, were savagely killed or taken

hostage and threatened with execution. President

Lumumba

re-

quested military aid from the United Nations to restore order. Less

than 48 hours

later,

MAC

(at that time, the Military

port Service) and U.S. Air Forces in

become by the end

Air Trans-

Europe mounted what would

of 1960, the largest

American

military airlift

since the Berlin blockade.

It

was an

airlift

made more

difficult

by aircrews operating

harsh, unfamiliar environment of equatorial Africa.

maps were

unreliable,

mountains or marked

in the

Navigation

showing mountains where there were no

in the

wrong

places. Celestial navigation

was hampered by intense desert sandstorms that hid the

stars.

Radio beams were of low frequency or nonexistent, and multilingual air traffic controllers

had

to

be found

in a region

where

English was seldom spoken.

Language was

also a confusing barrier in transporting

United

Nations soldiers from sixteen different countries to the Belgian

Congo.
first

Many

of the troops were traveling in airplanes for the

time in their

1964,

MATS

lives.

By the time the

airlift

ended

in January,

had flown some 2,000 missions, moving 46,000

United Nations troops and more than 10,000 tons of cargo. Despite the difficulties, the foreign troops
airlifted successfully

Other military

without

airlift

and

field

equipment were

a single serious accident or incident.

missions to political hot spots around the

world follow^ed in the 1960s and 70s.

MAC

airlifted

and Army units and supplies during the Cuban and

crises,

Air Force

USS Pueblo

evacuated to safety U.S. and other foreign nationals from

the Dominican Republic and Pakistan, brought in a contingent of

33

peacekeeping forces to Zaire after an invasion by rebel troops from

More and more,

Angola.

began

airlift

to take a leading role in

projecting America's military force abroad.

The most

vital

U.S. national interests, was the

Yom

Kippur War.

up

of these military airlift missions, backing

Israeli airlift of

A fierce conflict had

1973, during the

erupted between Israel and

Egypt and

Syria. Russia

and

was running dangerously low on tanks, rockets, and

Israel

was supplying Egypt and Syria with arms,

ammunition.

Within nine hours

C-5

aircraft

of the U.S. decision to assist Israel, the

first

MAC

was loaded and airborne. Within 33 days,

C-141s and C-5s flew 566 missions over 6,450 nautical miles, making only a single stop en route for refueling.

More than 22,000

tons of critical war material was airlifted to Israel, effectively turning the tide of battle.
Soviet

Union

1,700 nautical miles.

And

flying a

MAC

a 40-day period, the

5,000 tons of war ma-

much

shorter route of only

provided Egypt with

airlift

935 missions while

terial in

airlift

By comparison, over

successfully completed the Israel

while routinely performing

its

other

many

daily

regular

missions.
Airlift missions in
crisis

response to a sudden military or humanitarian

Assignment

are called Special

SAAMs

are also operated

when

Airlift

when

or

other

airlift

and cargo

34

means

SAAM

response to military or humanitarian

the need

MAC

routes, such as

in support of military exercises,

or transportation

Although the demands of each

common

(SAAMs)

a mission requires a special pickup

or delivery at points outside the established

airlifting military troops

Missions

are inadequate.

SAAMs,

in

have one element

in

are different,

crises,

for a swift, efficient response to the

emergency

without

jeopardizing

MAC's

business-as-usual,

regular

airlift

missions.

On
home

a typical day,

more than 170

station carrying passengers

countries, with
period.

MAC's

more than 800

MAC

and

aircraft are

a cargo to as

arrivals

away from

many

and departures

as

in a

twenty

24-hour

customers are the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines,

and other Defense Department agencies and commands. These

missions can include everything: resupplying units stationed at the

Antarctic for Operation

Navy

Deep

base, transporting military

seas, flying

MAC

men

to

new assignments

over-

around the globe twice a week carrying embassy pas-

Former American prisoners of war

a

Freeze, airlifting cargo to a remote

in

North Vietnam

are airlifted aboard

C-141y headed for Clark Air Base, and then home, in 1973.

*
#^

sengers and mail, or

and western

Pacific,

making

a daily resupply run to the

among many, many

MAC

In one year's period,

carried

other routine missions.

more than 2,100,000

sengers and 489,000 tons of cargo through

which

MAC

(SAAMs)

pas-

known

is

its

as

opposed to

no wonder

It is

most far-ranging

called the ''biggest, busiest,

is

airlift

regularly scheduled service, as

is

Special Assignment Airlift Missions

that

aerial ports

its

passenger and cargo terminals. This type of

''channel,''

middle

aerial

cargo carrier in the world!"

MAC

The

Command

Center, located in the big, red brick

headquarters building at Scott

worldwide

airlift

Center, the

operations.

commander

As

Illinois, is

part of his

in chief of

more than 1,000

of the

AFB,

aircraft

MAC

hub

the

morning

is

for

MAC's

briefing at the

informed of the status

belonging to

MAC,

as well as all

missions currently in progress.

airlift

MAC

bases

within the United States and overseas directs and operates

airlift

missions within their

MAC

Command

own

areas.

AFB

dated information on every

Since

MAC's

aircraft

is

mission around the globe.

command

to fly into military bases

ALCE

in the world,
first

(Airlift

and

Control

from the nearest U.S. or over-

center, to act as mobile

command

cen-

those locations.

ters at

On

are connected with

constantly being provided with up-

airlift

Element) teams are sent out

seas subordinate

These centers

may have

anywhere

civilian airports

centers at

Center through command-wide computers, and

headquarters at Scott

a recent

NATO

military exercise

assault troops flew into a small

was waiting
planes,

36

command

network of subordinate

at the base.

when

Norwegian

The

ALCE

MAC

air base,

an

planes with

ALCE

team

cadre helped unload the

found quarters for the aircrews, repaired

aircraft,

organized

flight plans,

prepared crew briefings, and took care of a luindred

other details involved in an

The

ALCE

mission into a foreign

airlift

even persuaded the Norwegians to cut

air base.

down

trees

within 75 feet of the taxiway to get necessary wing clearance for

the C-141s that were due in the next day!

When

orders

Assignment

come

Airlift

into

Mission

Action System

a Crisis

(CAT)

is

formed.

reports within

The

is

MAC

for a Special

activated and a Crisis Action

team, which

Team

Center

an emergency situation,

in response to

one hour to the

of the Crisis Action

Command

is

is

on standby

Command

at all times,

Center. Each

a specialist, in

Team

member

maintenance, trans-

portation, communications, personnel, or operations,

among

other

fields.

MAC

is

divided into three subordinate

numbered Air

McCuire AFB, New

the 21st, with headquarters at

Forces:

Jersey, covering

the eastern hemisphere; the 2 2d, headquartered at Travis

AFB,

California, covering the western hemisphere; the 23d, located at

AFB

command over rescue, aeromedical

evacuation, and special operations, among other tasks.
The Crisis Action Team at headquarters must decide which
Scott

divisions
forces,

if

with a worldwide

and wings, which bases and personnel, and which reserve

any, will be involved in the emergency

Each wing tasked has

its

own

Crisis

airlift

mission.

Action Team.

The headquarters team must make a great many other decisions.

Which aircraft routes are to be flown? What en route support requirements, such as refueling for aircraft, will be needed? Are ade-

quate

airfields available to

MAC

aircraft in the foreign country,

or will airdrops be necessary to deliver the supplies?

are necessary,
terrain?

what

if

airdrops

in

weather and

systems, using satellite radio

communica-

special

Communication

And

problems

will

be faced

37

American hostages

in Iran return

home on

MAC

C-I37 in January of

1981 after nearly a year and a half of captivity.

tions, are set

may be

up or

restricted, as necessary.

Commercial

airlines

called in to free military aircraft to participate in the crisis

airlift.

The

Crisis Action

Team

at

wing

level

must

act quickly in assign-

ing crews and aircraft with the needs of the emergency, for rapid

and

efficient delivery of assistance to the victims

death to many.

The

CAT

is

often

life

or

teams operate around the clock until

the last plane returns to the base. However, the

develops

may mean

unpredictable,

crisis itself as it

requiring sudden,

unexpected

changes in planning and operation.

The
38

tragedy at

Guyana

in

1978 was one such unpredictable

At 8:30 p.m., on Saturday, November

mission.

airlift

Command

was alerted by the National Military

Pentagon that

a U.S.

had been murdered

American
sembled

MAC

at

MAC

among

in the

Jonestown, the eolony of an obscure

Crisis

Team was

Action

immediately

as-

headquarters. Six hours later a C-141 was dis-

patched from the 437th Military

carrying,

Center

eongressman and several American eitizens

religious cult.

at

MAC

18,

Airlift

Wing

South Carolina,

at

others, an aeromedical evacuation

Combat Control Team

team and

to provide security.

After arriving at Cuyana, the nightmare of the massixe suicides

that

had happened

Air Force and

Team

at

at the

Jonestown colony was revealed.

Army Task Force was

MAC

set up.

headquarters had to enlarge

The
its

Joint

Crisis Action

mission into a

full-scale airlift.
It

was immediately apparent that

heavy-lift helicopters

were

needed to shuttle out the bodies of the Jonestown victims. Three

HH-53

helicopters were dispatched

cue and Recovery

Wing

at

required aerial refueling by

from the 55th Aerospace Res-

AFB,

Eglin

HC-130

Florida.

The

helicopters

aircraft several times before

they reached Guyana. Nine C-141 flights airlifted the bodies from

Georgetown, the capital

city, to

Dover Air Force Base

ware. Also needed were consular

registration teams,

officials,

communication gear and

in

Dela-

medical and graves

specialists,

support

troops and supplies.

Before the

hours

later,

MAC

Crisis

Action

air

port missions were involved in the

Crisis

down 166
Force and Army active

finally

thousands of people, both Air

and reserve personnel, scores of

No

Team

stood

bases and almost seventy trans-

Guyana

airlift.

Action Team, of course, works alone. Supporting them

in their mission are the

93,000 active-duty military and

civilian

39

personnel of the Military Airlift

ground personnel, and

National Guard.
in

aircraft of the Air

MAC

26 countries, with 14

MAC-controlled

Command as well as crewmembers,

personnel

Force Reserves and Air

may be found

MAC bases in the

facilities in

Europe, one

340 locations

at

United States and two

in

Germany and one

in

the Azores.

No

group within

MAC,

though, provides more specialized and

vital assistance in a natural or

man-made

disaster than the highly

the airmen

trained personnel described in the following chapter

and women

40

of

MAC's

Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadrons.

CHAPTER

rr

That Others

May Live

Deep

within Viet

by enemy
hoping

in,

eopters

fire

Cong

territory,

an American pilot

during the \^ietnam War.

The enemv

Responding

to rescue the

to the pilot's

a IIII-3E Jolly

Mayday

heli-

signal are A-1 Skyraiders

Green Giant helicopter

Airman Duane Hackney,

screen,

down

man.

of the Aerospace

and Recovery Squadron. After the Skyraiders have

smoke

clowned

soldiers elose

to use the sur\'ivor as ''flak bait'' to shoot

coming

is

laid

and

Rescue

down

pararescueman aboard

the rescue helicopter, volunteers to be lowered into the jungle to

downed

search for the

locates the pilot,

who

is

pilot.

After two sorties. Airman Hackney

hoisted into the helicopter.

As the rescue crew departs the

flak tears into

ing

fire

area, intense

and accurate 37-mm

the helicopter amidship, causing

aboard

tlic craft.

With

damage and

disregard for his

own

a rag-

safety, Air-

41

.p
-<**>

man Hackney

fits

his

own parachute

to the rescued

man. Locating

another parachute for himself, Airman Hackney manages to

his

arms through the harness when

the crippled aircraft, blowing

door.

Though

second

37-mm round

slip

strikes

Hackney through the open cargo

stunned, the pararescueman manages to deploy his

unbuckled parachute and make

a successful landing.

He

later

is

recovered by a companion helicopter.

For

work that day, Duane Hackney received the Air Force

his

Cross. But

Hackney was not alone

in his heroism.

Pararescuemen

of the Aerospace

Rescue and Recovery Service

parachute jumping

won more decorations than any other group

men

of

An

in the Air

Force serving in Vietnam.

organized military effort to rescue

did not start with the

59 float plane,

crews

downed

called PJs for

downed airmen, however,

Vietnam War. Germany, using the Heinkel-

pioneered air-sea rescue of

first

in the

English Channel during

Luftwaffe

its

World War

English and Americans soon followed with their

own

II.

air-

The

air-sea rescue

teams. Modified American B-17s parachuted plywood lifeboats,

stocked with supplies, to aircrew survivors.

In August, 1943,

when

C-46 crashed over an uncharted jungle

near the China-Burma border, the only means of getting help to

the survivors was by paradrop.
cal

corpsmen volunteered

men, the

first

been founded
brought to

PJs

lieutenant colonel and two medi-

for the assignment.

For

month, these

although the Air Rescue Service had

cared

safety.

The

for the injured until

success of this

first

not yet

the party could be

parachute rescue team

proved that a highly trained rescue force could save survivors

a plane

when

was downed.

Demonstration of HH-53 helicopter hoist used in rescue operations.

43

After the war, the question arose as to which service should be

responsible for rescue operations. Rescue at sea

had always been

the traditional responsibility of the United States Coast Guard.

The Army

rescue capabilities. In 1945,

Command,

own

Air Forces, however, wanted to expand their

it

was decided that the Air Transport

Command, be

forerunner of the Military Airlift

the responsibility for

air

air

search and rescue over land and

given

ATC's

overseas air routes.

When
Service

North Korea invaded South Korea, the new Air Rescue

moved

swiftly into action,

first

with

Sikorsky H-5 heli-

its

The H-5s and Army

rescue helicopters not only moved wounded soldiers from the
battlefront to the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) but
copters and, later, the larger and faster H-19.

assisted in evacuating troops trapped

copters performed

most

of the rescue

behind enemy

work

there were also fixed-wing aircraft involved.

moving

Grumman SA-16A Albatross,

called

lines.

in Korea,

Heli-

although

The lumbering, slowDumbo, could operate

from both land and water.

By

the end of the Korean

War,

Rescue Group were credited with

nel to safety, as well as

had become
with
It

of

its

new

rescue

airlifting

996 combat

a vital part of the

special breed of

man

crewmen

saves.

9,680 military person-

The

Air Rescue Service

United States Air Force, along

the pararescueman.

was the Vietnam War, though, which developed the rescue

downed

pilots

on sea and land to

trained pararescuemen
in rescue missions

One

of the

moved

into

a fine art.

As more and

better-

Vietnam, the helicopters used

were also improved.

improvements that revolutionized search and rescue

operations was the aerial refueling of helicopters.

transfer of fuel

44

of the 3rd Air

between an HC-1 30P and an

The

first in-flight

HH-3E happened

in

1966. In-flight refueling extended the range of the helicopters,

allowing

them

reach airmen

to continue circling,

down

in

and cutting the time

as the

Green Giants, lacked

aircraft fire in

ful

enough

HH-43B/F

sufficient

armor

North Vietnam, and

to maintain a

tains. In addition,

took to

North Vietnam and Laos.

However, despite the advantage of

helicopters, such

it

aerial refueling, early rescue

Huskies and

HH-3E

Jolly

to sur\'ive the intense anti-

their engines

were not power-

hover over the jungles of the higher moun-

armed with only

7.62-mm machine gun, the

choppers did not have enough firepower to ''shoot their way out"
of dangerous situations.

Then,

in

HH-3E, was
An HH-53

1966, the Sikorsky

developed.

Super

Jolly

Dubbed

twice the size of the

the Super Jolly Green Giant, the

Green Giant being refueled by an HC-130. With

air-to-air refueling capability,

crew's endurance.

HH-53B,

the range of the

HH-53

is

limited only by the

HH-53

could carry a crew of

and 40 fully-equipped

soldiers,

turboshaft engines, speed of 195

7.62-mm Gatling type miniguns,

ity,

made

HH-53B

the

including two pararescuemen,

six,

necessary.

if

two GE-T64-3

Its

mph, titanium armor, and

three

as well as its air refueling capabil-

the largest, fastest, and most powerful heli-

copter in the Air Force.

The

rescue of a

verified,

The downed airman must

and

the nearest

in a hostile

first

enemy

in the area

must

typical search
fire,

and rescue might be

a pilot ejects

Vietnam. Usually he lands

vival knife,

The
fly

If

rescue

control of the mission

from

will

be undertaken.

as follows. After

being hit

his fighter plane over

in a tree

above the jungle

he uses

his

URC-11

North

floor, sus-

respond to his

survival radio in his seat pack to

command

Mayday

Skyraiders radio the

the pilot's location to

enemy

is

or several A-1 Sky-

within half an hour.

downed

enemy

One

post.

pilot's exact position

to another area, circling several miles

of the

location of

his parachute. After cutting himself loose with his sur-

contact an airborne rescue

raiders

The

controllers at rescue centers to

determine the type of rescue mission that

pended by

his position

be discovered.

also

command and

must be coordinated with ground

by ground

be located,

his physical condition determined.

appears feasible, airborne

environment, how-

more than courageous pararescuemen and powerful

ever, requires

helicopters.

downed airman

away so

as

troops lurking nearby.

uncertain, the Skyraiders

make

and then

not to reveal

If

the location

low, level passes

over the area for several hours, a tactic called ''trolling for
until the

When

enemy

forces are located.

the rescue helicopter arrives, the

a small flare

and the chopper moves

lowers the jungle penetrator.

46

fire''

The

downed

pilot fires off

directly overhead while a PJ

penetrator has spring-loaded

HH-3
a

helicopter loweririg a forest penetrator to hoist a pararescueman

downed airman. Penetrators were used

in the jungles of

and

Vietnam.

47

double hoist from water to

48

air

by pararescuemen.

arms that part the jungle foliage

straps himself to the penetrator

arms

at the other

end

and

it

the pilot

If

lowered.

is

The

survivor

releases a set of spring-loaded

for protection as

the branches of the trees.

will

as

is

lower himself on the penetrator and

he

is

hauled up through

injured, a
assist

pararescueman

the pilot up to the

helicopter and tend his wounds.

shot

If a pilot is

SA-16A

first

down

over water, the Albatross, a fixed-wing

The

used in Korea, often becomes the rescue vehicle.

amphibious plane can make

water landing to pick up survivors,

if

the sea permits, or lower a hoist to the

is

too rough.

If

downed

pilot

if

the sea

necessary, the pararescueman can parachute into

the water to lend assistance.

Whatever the procedure

Vietnam had

used, by 1966 a

a one-in-three

downed

aircrew in

chance of rescue. By the time of

America's withdrawal from Vietnam, the Aerospace Rescue and

Recovery Service, formerly Air Rescue Service, had saved 3,883

lives.

The Aerospace was added to Air Rescue's title when space exploration added a new duty to their mission, that of retrieving nose
cones, space capsules, and astronauts in support of

space missions.

When

Gemini 8 space

flight in 1966,

the decision was

made

NASA manned-

to terminate the

making an emergency splashdown

about 500 miles east of Okinawa, a rescue

aircraft

crew arrived

in

time to see the spacecraft hit the water. Three PJs parachuted into
the ocean and had flotation equipment attached to the spacecraft

within 20 minutes.

They

stayed with the astronauts until a

Navy

destroyer arrived three hours later.

In addition to wartime

manned
tary

ARRS provides flight crews for another

Command service: weather reconnaissance.

space

Airlift

combat rescue and rescue coverage

flights,

for

Mili-

But

49

ARRS's best-known peacetime mission

tary

and

civilian search

is its

and rescue due

responsibility for mili-

man-made

to natural or

disasters.

Such rescues can range from pararescuemen descending from

helicopters

to

snatch

climbers trapped on

four

frostbitten

Mount McKinley

and

to saving

mountain

injured

74

lives

when

fire

broke out aboard the cruise ship Prinsendam in the Gulf of Alaska.

At 6:00

By

ship.

A.M., passengers were ordered to

abandon the sinking

30 a.m., helicopters from rescue units in Alaska were

9:

hoist-lifting survivors

from the

lifeboats

and ferrying them

to rescue

vessels.

Within 75 minutes

of the volcanic explosion at

Mount

St.

Helens, Washington, Air Force Reserve rescue helicopters were on

their

way

to

remove survivors from the mountain, with

a total of

101 lives saved.

A small plane

crashes in the wilderness.

rescuemen reach the crash

site

Within two hours,

and give medical aid

para-

to the

two

survivors.

sailor

badly burned on a Russian ship in the Atlantic, 700

is

miles from the nearest land.

flowai to the

Two

PJs, stationed in the Azores, are

Russian ship. They parachute near the ship, are picked

up, and provide medical treatment for the sailor until the ship

reaches port days

No

matter

later.

how

small or large,

all

federal land

and sea rescue

operations within the continental United States are coordinated

and controlled through the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center located at Scott

Air Force Base,

by personnel trained

in

search

Illinois.

The Center

50

manned

and rescue operations and

equipped with telephone, teletype, air-to-surface

puter capability.

is

radio,

is

and com-

When

an emergency

is

reported to the Center, the incident

numbered arrow on

verified

and Center workers plaee

map on

the wall in front of the eommunieations consoles.

tation

is

made on

efforts

may be

blackboard at the

one time

in progress at

side.

is

a large

no-

dozen or so rescue

Center, which operates

at the

around the clock.

The

request for assistance

ate rescue agenc\-,

whether

immediatclv passed to the appropri-

is

it is

local, state, or federal.

Such rescue

agencies include c\erything from the local Ci\il Air Patrol to a

squadron of the

ARRS. The emergency

can be anything from

skiers or hikers to the transporting of a

from one hospital

human

eye

b\'

lost

helicopter

to another, to a flooded ri\er threatening a town,

or an oxerdue light plane.

Speed

is

essential in

crashes, studies

cent

if

To

show

any rescue attempt, but

that the sur\'i\al rate

is

in the case of

plane

better than 50 per-

rescue can be accomplished within eight hours.

that end, international Search

and Rescue

Satellites

monitor emergency locator transmitters worldwide. The

of both the

from

aircraft

work

of

United States and Russia

and

''listen''

satellites

for distress signals

such signals immediately to a net-

ships, relaying

ground terminals. The information

States Mission Control Center,

is

relayed to the United

which shares space with the Air

Force Rescue Coordination Center. During

tion, the

now

its first

year of opera-

Search and Reco\'cr\' Satellite Aided Tracking program

(SARSAT)

contributed to saying more than 90

li\'es

throughout

the world.
In peace and in war, the Aerospace Rescue and Reco\en' Scr\icc

has sayed more than 20,000

liyes.

Its

pararescuemen arc among

the most highly trained, dedicated professionals in the armed

forces.

How

docs one

become

pararescueman? W^cll,

it

isn't easy!

51

Pararescue

men

line

up

for their turn to use their parachutes.

All pararescuemen are volunteers

and

all

must

successfully pass

a grueling test before entering pararescue training.

volunteers, usually only six or seven pass the test.

gins at Lackland
cal
5:

00 A.M., and can include a

The

student's

day begins

at

500-meter swim, a two-mile run, and

and

4000-meter swim plus pool harassment, underwater

pararescueman^ already trained in the

52

training be-

of calisthenics, or a seven-mile run with pushups,

situps, or a

equipment.

The

every 20

Texas, with a rigorous eight weeks of physi-

conditioning and discipline.

two hours

AFB,

Of

air^

takes to the water with scuba

-;^f

<^

^jJi-

^"^
fc...

I
^

'-

work, and more calisthenics.

typical class of

40 trainees may

graduate only 12 students.

Then

follows three weeks of

borne School

many

at Fort

jump school

at the U.S.

Benning, Georgia. This

is

Army

Air-

followed by what

consider the most difficult part of the training: five weeks

at U.S.

Army

Special Forces Scuba School at

Key West,

Florida.

After the scuba training, there are three weeks at the U.S. Basic

AFB, Washington,

Survival School at Fairchild

survive in the desert, jungle,
are 18

land

weeks

swamps, and the

at the Pararescue

AFB, New Mexico,

learning

all

to

arctic. Finally, there

Recovery Specialist Course

putting

how

the newly learned

at Kirt-

skills

to-

gether, including qualifying as a medical technician.

At

his graduation, the

among

that select group of

covery Service
save

life

AARS:

54

pararescueman

who have

and give aid

''These things

men

is

ready to take his place

of the Aerospace Rescue

risked their lives in peace

to the injured, fulfilHng the

I

do

that others

may

and Re-

and war

to

proud motto of

live/'

CHAPTER

The Hurricane
Hunters

The
Airlift

Weather

Air

Command,

Service, a technical service of the Military

studies weather

earth and in outer space.

But

and environment

for the pilots

all

and crews of

Weather Reconnaissance Squadrons, whose mission

some

of the

most

terrifying

limited.

The

these weather reconnaissance flights

calm center

53rd

the eye

Weather Reconnaissance Squadron (WRS)

Mississippi, are
in the Atlantic,

54th

is

men and

the

of a hurricane or typhoon.

with an Air Force Reserve

The

to fly into

target of the

women on
The

is

MAC's

and destructive natural forces known,

much more

the focus can be

around the

USAF

WRS,

both stationed

at Keesler

along

AFB,

''Hurricane Hunters" or ''Storm Trackers"

Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and eastern Pacific.

WRS,

flying out of

"Typhoon Chasers"

in the

Guam, performs

western Pacific Ocean.

the

same

task as

combined Air
55

Weather
Joint

Service

and Naval Oceanography

Typhoon Warning Center

Let's

Command

provides a

in the Pacific.

go on one ''hurricane hunting''

flight involving

Camille,

the greatest recorded storm to ever hit a heavily populated area of

The story is summarized as

Weather Reconnaissance Squadron.

the Western Hemisphere.

copilot of the 53rd

On

August

14, 1969, the

National Hurricane Center in

reported that the storm Camille in the Caribbean had

hurricane and had changed

its

progress.

The crew

a weather-modified version of the cargo-carrying

was told to get

tion

fix

Jamaica behind

of the

us,

As the

copilot of the

become

and exact

WC-1 30

WC-130,

WC-130,

put

it,

posi-

"With
first

our already tense stomachs.

Present-day ''Hurricane Hunters' use the

Miami

the granite faces of thunderstorms in the

line of feeder-band clouds tightened

by

C-130 Hercules,

''eye" penetration of the hurricane

at a set time.

told

a modified version of

the Hercules. It can penetrate hurricanes at 10,000 feet to collect data

from the eye of the storm.

Navigator keeps track of the aircraft's position, using radar to locate the
storm and guide pilot into its eye.

was

in the left seat, flying the airplane

mon

sense warned that

through an area where com-

we should not go/'

Using compass headings selected from radar

returns, the

WC-

150 was put on an irregular course through thunderstorms, violent

turbulence, and torrential rain. Finally, they flew into an area clear

enough

to provide a view of the

navigator

came through on

return ahead. Fifty miles.

rough sea 10,000 feet below.

The

the intercom: 'Tve got a clear radar

The

classic

shape of the

eye!''

All around the plane were steel-blue sky walls of dense thunder-

storms and strong winds.

The

aerial reconnaissance

weather

oflBcer

found the velocity of surface winds was 80 to 90 miles per hour,

57

T*^

m
'J

Dropsonde operator loads a drop-chamber capsule with a radiosonde

mitter aboard a

WC-J30

aircraft.

well in excess of hurricane

The
eye,

trans-

wind speeds beyond 73 miles per hour.

navigator sought a soft spot in the '\vair' surrounding the

and found

narrow opening between towering thunderstorms.

Their radar was ''drowned" by the water; they hit deafening noise

and more turbulence. Then the navigator

Tve got the radar back; the eye
In the

warm

pressure, the

a two-foot

58

is

called, ''We're inside.

real tight/'

center of the eye, the point of lowest barometric

dropsonde operator dropped his instrument package,

by

six-inch, parachute-guided,

nonrecoverable tubular

sensing device.

It fell

5,000 feet per minute, sending radio signals

and humidity from the

that gave barometric pressure, temperature,

ocean surface. All of the data was transmitted im-

aircraft to the

mediately to the hurricane center.

The \VC-130
dropsonde unit

circled elliptically within

failed,

while the

Weather

the eye, in case the

Officer read the

way the

waves were breaking to obtain surface wind directions. Such data

is

especially critical as a storm tracks toward populated land areas.

With

good readout from the dropsonde, the

''crabbing"

its

way back through the

wall cloud

WC-130

when

was

the navi-

gator called for an immediate hard left turn to avoid a possible

tornado. Suddenly, radar and shortwave radios went out.

Without

them, they could not make a second penetration of the eve. Using
Ver\^
in

High Frequency

Cuba and Mexico,

radio, limited to a

few

they got clearance to

line-of-sight stations

fly

to Florida. Flying

blind in high cirrus clouds, their Hercules was hit bv lightning and
their
at

dome

McCoy
With

protector for the radar burned.

They managed

to land

Air Force Base, Florida.

radar repaired, the original crew took their Hercules

once more, hunting the eye of Camille.

Winds

up

over 200 miles per

hour now could be determined by the deeply wind-furrowed sea

below. At the plane's altitude, the winds were 190 miles per hour,
a higher velocity

than they had ever before recorded. Lurching

into the eye, they ''kicked out" the

circling for

an accurate readout.

When

pressure on their

oil

dropped toward

dropsonde unit and orbited,

number

three engine

zero, they got out of the eye

at

and sought

once
a pre-

number

four engine light

They shut number

four down, finally

viously seen 50-mile clear area. Their

indicated a faulty generator.

all

landing safely in Houston, Texas.

59

The

MAC Weather Reconnaissance Squadron was not alone in

hurricane hunting that day.

its

eye of that storm. But this

is

not

Navy DC-121
just

also flew into the

an adventure

story.

The

data

gathered by the aerial weather squadrons showed that Camille

was within

day of striking Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida. Be-

cause of the convincing measurements of the Hurricane Hunters,

over 200,000 people

Camille's path and found safety.

left

stayed; 255 were confirmed killed

The

first

and 68 missing.

low-level penetration of a hurricane by Air

Service aircraft

happened

in October, 1947; the

tion occurred in August,

Some

first

Weather

night penetra-

1955. Both times the aircraft was a

WB-29.
In the twenty years before aerial weather reconnaissance, an

estimated 6,200 persons lost their

killer hurricanes.

On

lives in

Labor Day, 1935,

the United States from

a hurricane over the Florida

Keys killed between 400 and 500 people. In September, 1960,

however, a similar hurricane over the Florida Keys killed only three,
although

it

Radar and

was one of the most destructive hurricanes of

all

times.

warnings of the approaching hurricane were

aircraft

given in time for the people in the path of the storm to be evacuated to safety.
In the last two decades, mostly because of the

who work

in the Air

Recovery,

fatalities

Weather

Service

from hurricanes

men and women

and Aerospace Rescue and

in the

United States have been

reduced to an estimated 1,400.

As important
lation,

though,

as the Air

AWS's

network of weather

Weather

Service

primary mission

facilities,

is

is

to the civilian popu-

to operate a

worldwide

providing weather support to the

Air Force, Army, and the Department of Defense in peacetime

and war.

60

Weather has ahvays been

a deciding factor in battles.

snow-

storm and a half-frozen Delaware River formed obstacles but aided

when General Washington captured

vital surprise

forces at

Trenton

War

Battle of Fredericksburg in 1863.

did not

become an

President Ulysses

General Burn-

in 1776. Torrential rains forced

infamous ''Mud March''

side to abort his

official part of

S.

Grant added

at the

the Hessian

important Givil

But weather observation

the militar\^ until 1870

when

weather section to the

Army

Signal Service.

The

full-scale

first

employment

weathermen came during World

of

War

I,

United

States

when one

military

historian said

much against the weather and the

mud as against the Germans.'' The science of meteorology during
the First World War, however, was still very new and the weather
that ''the battles were almost as

information was used chiefly by the

and

in

artillery,

the fledgling

air corps,

planning poison gas attacks.

The Army

Air Forces

to support the

some 19,000

Weather

Service was established in 1937

emerging military aviation operations. By 1945,

military weather professionals were working at

more

than 900 locations throughout the world.

In

World War

II,

weather forecasters on both

sides,

and German, were determining the time and location

to avoid the worst

conditions.

mans

in

The

American

of air raids

weather or to take advantage of good weather

date of

D-Day

for the Allied attack

Normandy, France, the

on the Ger-

greatest military' operation ever

mounted, was decided by weather consideration.

In the Pacific theater, the Japanese took advantage of an extensixc storm zone in the Pacific to conceal the approach of their
aircraft carriers to Pearl

the ending of

Harbor

World War

II

in

December, 1941, and

basically,

with Japan came with the weather-

61

determined timing of the dropping of the atomic bomb.

After

World War

Service was

Transport

MAC,

II,

in 1946, the

Army

renamed Air Weather Service and assigned

Command. When
Weather

the Air

the

Service

ATC

became

became

Weather

Air Forces

to the Air

MATS

and then

responsible for providing

weather support to the Air Force, the Army, and joint and com-

bined operations in war and peace.

During the Korean War, weather reconnaissance missions were

flown daily over North Korea with specially instrumented aircraft

manned by

Air

Weather

the war, the 56th

an

aircraft over

By

WRS

Service trained personnel.

of

was the only Air Force unit to have had

enemy-held

the time of the

By the end

territory every

day since the war began.

Vietnam War, Air Weather

Service

lished an Air Force weather satellite system. This

observing tool, the meteorological

satellite,

had

new

estab-

weather-

proved invaluable to

the weathermen in Southeast Asia. Satellite pictures

became the

primary source of determining the cloud conditions in a target

area,

such as the Son Tay

POW

raid

and the reopening

of

Khe

Sanh.

Weather reconnaissance

aircraft flew daily missions over

Vietnam, gathering weather data,

as they

had

in Korea.

North

On

the

ground, Air Force weathermen, providing weather support, were

often deployed forward with

and

destroy'' operations.

Army combat

battalions

on

''search

There were even Special Warfare weather

teams that worked clandestinely in Laos under dangerous condi-

Swirling cloud banks in weather satellite photograph

area

o-ff

States.

62

show low

pressure

Virginia coast and heavy thunderstorms over south central United

Weather

satellites

help predict possible tornados and hurricanes.

-a"*^-"

-^&%
^

^'^5?^

"%t^

--:

l&Sia.

tions, to establish

combat

and maintain weather observations

air operations.

In Vietnam, weathermen did not only forecast rain.

rain

on

request.

RF-4Cs dropped
creating
plies.

mud on

This

From 1967

to 1972, the Air Force

silver iodide,

humane

They made

WC-130s and
By

seeding clouds to cause rain.

the ground, they slowed the flow of

enemy

sup-

''weapon'' saved lives at relatively low cost.

Until 1975, the Air

Weather

weather reconnaissance

flying

essential to

Service alone was responsible for

aircraft.

At

that time, responsibility

WC-130s was transferred to the

Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service. The Air Weather Service
for flying the weather-modified

still

provides two crewmembers: the aerial reconnaissance weather

and the dropsonde operator.

officer

many weather

Formerly,

reconnaissance squadrons were

sta-

tioned around the world, but with the successful deployment of

weather

satellites,

the need for aircraft-supplied weather data has

decreased. However, after the satellite detection, pinpointing hurri-

canes

still

Today,
Air

and

requires the expertise of aerial reconnaissance units.

all

Weather

types of meteorological equipment are used by the

Service,

solar telescopes.

of accurate

from simple wind gauges

But weather forecasting

and timely raw

from Air Force and Army

data, collected

of the

still

on

requires masses

worldwide basis

installations all over the world.

So much data can only be handled

nology.

to weather radars

efficiently

by computer tech-

The Air Force Global Weather Central (AFGWC)

Air Weather Service, is located at Offutt Air Force

part

Base,

Nebraska, and has the largest military meteorological computer

facility in

the world.

More than 140,000 weather

are received, processed,

reports per day

and analyzed by computers, including

in-

formation gathered by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Pro-

64

gram. Forecasters are on duty 24 hours a day and can issue weather
forecasts for

anywhere on the globe for many types of military

operations.

The Automated Weather Network,

munications system, connects

a high-speed digital

com-

AFGWC with U.S. military users in

fifteen countries.

With

the

new weapons and

ballistic missiles

vehicles of the space age, such as

and space shuttle

knowledge of weather conditions

flights,

in

AWS

also requires a

and beyond the

earth's at-

mosphere.

To support weapons and

vehicles in outer space, the

AWS Space

Environmental Support System has been established. The system

is

worldwide network of solar observing

equipped with
satellites,

storm

solar,

optical

detection

sites.

The

sites

are

and/or radio telescopes, weather

radar,

rocketsondes

(small

weather

Preparing a rocketsonde for firing. The rocketsonde provides weather

sensors from 12 to SO miles in altitude.
^^mMmM:

I'

rockets)

balloon rawinsondes (weather instruments carried aloft

by balloons)

and various other

solar sensors to

and near-earth space environment. With

this

Global Weather Central,

can be

predictions

geophysical events that will

monitor the sun

data fed to Air Force

made

of

solar-

military systems operating in

aflfect

deep-space environment.
Air

Weather

Service responsibility does not end with forecasts

to the Air Force

AFGWC

at

is

and Army. The mass of data accumulated

retained as a working, historical

file

at the

daily

USAF

Environmental Technical Applications Center, Scott AFB, and

an operating location

At these two

at Asheville,

locations,

AWS

North Carolina.

climatologists study climate, or

the weather conditions over a period of years in various parts of

the world, determined by temperature and meteorological changes.

This information on climate and the environment

the Department of Defense in

and

in the acquisition of

its

valuable to

planning for military operations

new weapons

systems.

Through working with national and

the

is

international committees,

AWS also helps provide weather support for the fighting forces

of the free world.

These committees exchange weather data and

coordinate plans for peacetime and wartime weather support be-

tween nations.

The
ments

AWS

is

new techniques and instrutaking advantage of new com-

constantly developing

to study weather

and climate,

puter and communications technology. Soon

it

will

have the

to provide a three-dimensional picture of the atmosphere,

more highly developed Doppler weather radar

rate,

and

provide accu-

timely warnings of severe and hazardous weather. Battlefield

weather observation and forecast systems

66

will

ability

will

be able

to collect

weather information from hostile areas and transmit them immedi-

commanders

ately to

The war
continued

the

in the field.

AWS

fights

is

the oldest known, a fight that has

down through human

history.

The

fight takes place in

human 'Victories"
Anyone who has experienced

peace and war, and the battles never cease. All

are temporary

when

fighting weather.

a hurricane, tornado, a flood, earthquake, or

disaster,

person

knows how puny the elements on rampage can make

feel.

Although never winning

the Air

any other natural

Weather

and can hope

and even perhaps one day controlled.

and saving

not restricted to the Air Weather Service of

of people

we

MAC
will

of aeromedical

of

day when world weather can be accurately pre-

Efforts toward limiting disasters

other unit of

men and women

Service have helped save lives in peace and war,

for a

dicted, measured,

total victory, the

lives,

MAC.

equally as dedicated to saving

meet

in the next chapter

however, are

There

lives,

is

an-

the group

the men and women

airlift.

67

CHAPTER

Flying

The
lances''

Ambulances

crews of the Military Airlift

have a motto:

Command's

''flying

ambu-

''Patients are not cargo. Patients are not

passengers. Patients are patients."

What
cisely

the aeromedical

airlift

crews have to cope with

is

not pre-

normal ambulance or hospital procedure. During emergency

or wartime conditions, the medical technicians are trained to load

one

litter

every minute aboard a C-141 Starlifter.

that each patient

The

flight

is

nurse sets up a "seating" or "litter" chart, according to

tag includes special attention

the patient

is

to

be

68

wounds;

wound

or illness.

needed and the hospital

to

which

sent.

Emergency word abbreviations

fracture

the ''room"

assigned does not depend on income or rank.

the tag on the patient indicating the nature of the

The

And

GSW,

are used.

MFW means multiple

gunshot wounds; and,

in the chart,

added

chair space
tal illness

must be

may be

sible, so that care

seated between two ambulatory patients,

can be provided

The aeromedical
crewmembers.

men-

alloted to those with casts. Patients with

aircraft

Still,

pos-

if

needed.

as quickly as

do not routinely carry physicians

ambulance or hospital routine

as

followed in

is

the giving of needed injections or soothing words. Also, the flying

ambulance crews, with

their stacked litters,

These

patient problems in flight.

normal hospital

care.

medicines, catheters,

have to be

pumps

but

problems of

are not just the

They do have hypodermic

flying has

alert for

syringes, bandages,

own

its

hazards for

the patients.
Altitude and turbulence can be problems
will

go

far

pilots

out of their line of flight to avoid turbulence, which

can cause life-endangering

jolt

although the

air sickness to

some

patients

and even

out essential needles and tubes. Also, cabin pressures are not

always the same as the ground pressure at takeoflF points. Pressure

who

above certain altitudes can cause problems for patients

having

difficulty breathing,

pital stitched

even on the ground.

wounds may hemorrhage

low pressures of high-level

if

And

are

field hos-

exposed too soon to the

flight.

Also, the crews are especially trained against sudden decompression in the airplane.

Taking masks and carrying oxygen

nurses and medical technicians have to

all

the patients have their

Pilots

own

move

must be prepared with

formation to find the smoothest

try to

first

make

fast to

sure

individual oxygen supply.

extra fuel supplv to avoid

weather hazards they can, and they receive the

which

bottles,

must be cleared with

flying.

latest

They have

to

climb above turbulence, and

how

far

weather

make

air traffic controllers:

what
in-

choices,

should they

above can they go and

yet avoid endangering a patient?

69

World War
wounded by

air

was the first war in which mass evacuation of battle

was attempted. Air Transport Command Douglas C-47

ambulance planes were used.

And

they have another problem always with them.

''block time/' Essentially, that

on time

to the minute.

know when
readiness,
are

to

be

facilities

arriving at their destination

that serve casualties

there: support vehicles

and always,

seldom

The

means

firefighters. Patients

in condition to

jump

It is called

must

and personnel, hospital

on

or slide readily

a flying

from

ambulance

a plane in

an

emergency.
Transporting wounded by airplane from battle areas to hospitals

70

was

thought of back

first

brothers'

two young American Army

first flight,

own money,

Capt. George

Washington

officers,

using their

The

constructed and flew an ambulance airplane.

plane was modified for the pilot to

officers,

Wright

1910. Seven years after the

in

Gosman and

recommend

to

beside the patient.

Lt. Albert

that the airplane

Their presentation was rejected.

''The hazard of being

sit

wounded

Rhoades, went to

ambulance be

One newspaper
is

sufficient

The two
tried.

editorial scoffed,

without the additional

hazard of transportation by airplane!''

But the idea had already been

Franco-Prussian

War

tried

successfully during the

The French launched 66 balloons

and wounded out of Paris when it was under

to airlift 160 sick

of 1870.

Prussian siege. Later, in 1916, the French used a modified

II

by

airplane, designed

soldiers

from the

French medical

battlefield in Serbia.

officer, to fly

Two

Dorand

wounded

patients were carried

behind the cockpit.

While
ation,

that design proved the feasibility of aeromedical evacu-

World War

(1914-1918) had millions of casualties and

scarcely any airplane ambulances.

lated the

World War

I,

however, stimu-

development of aeromedical transport. The year the war

ended, a Capt. William Ocker and Maj. Nelson Driver at Gerstner

Field, Louisiana, converted a

JN-4 Jenny biplane into an ambu-

lance by removing the rear cockpit and putting in a stretcher.

Jenny was successfully used

program. Soon, other

air

in

The

tending casualties in a pilot-training

ambulances were commissioned for

mili-

tary airfields.

Three years

after

World War

the use of airplanes by the U.S.

I,

the Surgeon General praised

Army

patrolling the

Mexican

border. Gavalry patients, quite possibly '\vounded" by their horses,

were

airlifted to hospitals.

71

Curtiss

JN-4H Jenny equipped

Many

modifications of

air

as

an

air

ambulance

in 1918.

ambulances appeared

in the interwar

years that followed, with the increase of cross-country flying. In

1920

a plane called the

Cox-Klemin was

ambulance work, but the most successful

built especially for air

of the planes used in air

evacuation were a modified Douglas C-1 and a Ford-Stout C-9.

There were those

lieve in the

in the Air Corps,

though,

who

still

did not be-

concept of using converted transport planes for

air

ambulance work.

With
came
72

the start of

war

necessity.

World War

II,

aeromedical evacuation be-

Too many American

military personnel were

deployed to locations with limited medical

facilities,

and the old

system of surface evacuation proved impractical.

The

first

transports:

planes used for air evacuation of the

C-46 Commandos, C-47 Gooney

wounded were

Birds,

C-54B Sky-

masters. After unloading their cargo, the planes were converted

into primiti\e flying

ambulances with stretchers of wounded

some planes stacked four high

None

of the planes

in

for the return trip to the States.

was large enough

to carr\^

more than 36

litters.

Formalized training of nurses and enlisted medical technicians

to tend the

gun
At
it

wounded on

these

until January, 1943, at

first

first

flying

Bowman

ambulances was not be-

Field in Louisville, Kentucky.

there was opposition to the use of female flight nurses, but

was soon proven that the nurses were the most highly qualified

medical personnel available. Bv the end of the war, almost one and
a half million casualties

were carried by ambulance airplanes from

the war zones to the United States.

tion

by

new

And

the

type of flying ambulance

first

the

medical evacua-

had

helicopter

begun.

First airplane designed especially for air

Cox-Klemin XA-1

u
xf.

ambulance evacuation

^\'as

the

Evacuation of patients by air during World

ambulance planes, but by cargo planes like

War
this

11 was not always aboard

C-47 on an airstrip in the

Philippines in 1945.

In 1948, aeromedical

airlift

became the

responsibility of the

Military Air Transport Service. Despite cuts in personnel, under

MATS

comprehensive aeromedical evacuation system was de-

veloped, providing a military

member

stationed anywhere in the

world the best possible medical care.

Yet

in the first

months

of the

Korean War, the Eighth Army

did not fully utilize air evacuation of the wounded. In part, this

was due to the Eighth

74

Army Surgeon who

estimated that nine out

of ten casualties

H-19

would be returned

helicopters saved

porting

them from the

lifted patients

surface

many

to battle. Nevertheless,

critically

wounded

frontline aid stations.

in Korea,

Many

by

trans-

of those air-

would not have survived the ten-to-fourteen-hour

ambulance

ride to field hospitals.

In December, 1950, at the time of the Chinese

Communist

C-47s evacuated more than 4,000 sick and wounded

offensive,
soldiers.

H-5 and

This was the most successful and largest aeromedical

evacuation mission during the Korean

ried island to island

of several days.

By

War. Casualties were

from Japan to the United States over

car-

a period

the end of the war, aeromedical evacuations

totaled 311,673 patients.

A wounded
in

Korea

materials

United Nations soldier being carried aboard a C-S4 Skymaster

war

for evacuation to rear-area hospital. C-S4s brought in vital

and returned with wounded.

^t,.

UHiTD STATES AIR FORCE

War

In the post-Korean

Douglas C-118, Lockheed

years, the

C-121, and the Douglas C-124 replaced the C-54 aeromedical

C-131A Samaritan,

In 1954, the

the

first

fleet.

fully pressurized twin-

engine transport, could accommodate 40 ambulatory or 27 stretcher

patients.

The

air-conditioned plane could carry almost any type of

special medical

equipment and was used mainly between hospitals

wdthin the United States.

When MATS
its

became the Military

Airlift

in 1966,

How-

aeromedical evacuation mission was firmly established.

ever, in 1964, at the

time of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in Viet-

nam, the aeromedical

airlift

and medical personnel

system was

in the Pacific

at a

still

peacetime level

numbered only

60.

Medical

commands

as well

from the Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard. Six

Pacific

personnel were hastily brought in from other

as

Command

air

operating locations were set up and by the end of June, 1968, the

number

of medical personnel

had

risen to 1,142.

The C-118 and the Lockheed G-130 Hercules (70-74 litter

capacity) moved patients from Vietnam to Okinawa, Japan, and
the Philippines. After their conditions stabilized, patients either

returned to duty or began the second stage

United States on
Bell

MAG

UH-1 Huey and

Boeing G-135

evacuation

to the

jet Stratolifters.

The Army

Kaman H-43

Huskies pro-

the Air Rescue's

vided helicopter assistance.

In 1965, the G-141 Starlifter revolutionized aeromedical evacuation with

The

its

aircraft

long-range, high-speed jets and larger cabin capacity.

could carry up to 80

litter

patients or

54 troops, in

addition to two nurses and three medical technicians.

lifters carried

cargo

ships into flying

necessary.

76

in,

The

and then were transformed from

ambulances

Star-

freight

in as little as forty-five minutes,

if

Americans wounded in Vietnam aboard a C-141

United States in 1 966.

The C-141 could move

States in 17 hours,
fornia, in

nam

9 hours.

patients

from Japan
It

Starlifter

from Vietnam

en route to the

to the

to a hospital at Travis

was possible that

a soldier

United

AFB,

wounded

Cali-

in Viet-

could find himself in a hospital in the States the very same

77

day.

With

the

new

Starlifter flying

ambulance

in their inventory,

evac crews flew 86,000 battle casualties from Vietnam to the

air

United States from 1966-1971.

In 1969, an ambulance airplane, designed exclusively for

USAF

aeromedical evacuation missions by McDonnell-Douglas, came

into

MAC

For the

use: the
first

C-9A

Nightingale.

time, a flying

services as built-in

ambulance provided such

ramps and stairways, an

sembling a hospital intensive care unit,

specialized

isolated care area re-

electrical outlets permitting

the use of cardiac monitors, defibrillator, respirators, and infusion

pumps, among other

equipment

cal

The
40

twin-jet

litters

special features.

for almost

The

Nightingales carry medi-

any medical emergency.

C-9A Nightingale has a range

of 2,500 miles

and can

or ambulatory patients or combinations of both.

::Ml

#?!%

carry

With

the

C-9A and C-141 working

transported from anvwlicre in

together, a patient ean be

world to

tlie

a hospital an\\\here in

the United States in less than thirty-six honrs.

In 1975, the worldwide aeromedical evaenation system was eon-

MAC,

solidated under

with

Airlift

Wing,

AFB, was eharged with

the manage-

of the entire aeromedieal exaeuation system.

The 375th

headquarters at Seott

its

ment

and the 375th Aeromedieal

mo\'es not onl\- militar\- personnel, but their families and other

Department

Defense patients

of

Support

hospital.

is

to the

most medieally appropriate

provided bv nine Air National Guard and

twenty-one Air Foree Reserve units.

Located at Seott
Office

(ASMRO)

Department

ASMRO,

AFB

is

the

Armed

Services Medieal Regulating

Hospitals, worldwide, call this office to report

Defense patients needing aeromedical

of

duty controllers (regulators)

airlift.

match patient movement

requirements with the capabilities of individual hospitals.

suitable hospital has

been

PAC

is

responsible for

in the continental

(PAC)

is

all

aeromedical

at

Philippines,

medical

the

airlift

they must be

PAC

proxides

missions

air

evacuation

24-hour,

se\'en-day-a-wcck aero-

support around the entire world.

at Scott

mo\cd

AFB

classifies

the patients as ''urgent"

inmiediately, as ''priority"

picked up within 72 hours.

and

airlift

Rhein-Main Air Base, Germanv, and Clark Air Base,

The Center

aries

AFB.

States, including Alaska, as well as the

Caribbean area and Bermuda. Together with the

squadrons

passed on to

also located at Seott

managing

United

Once

selected, the information, along with

necessary medical information about the patient,

the Patient Airlift Center

At

Then

if

if

they must be

the Center sets up flight itiner-

relays these requirements to airlift

squadrons or opera-

tions centers.

79

Each C-9 Nightingale has

mechanic; a third of

The

two-man

flight

crew and

a flight

the flight crews are Air Force reservists.

all

crews are called the 'Trontenders/' Before the flying

flight

even begins, the required medicines and medical records for each

must be received and checked by the medical crew aboard

patient

The medical

the plane.

mally two

The

flight nurses

crews are called the ''Backenders'': nor-

and three medical technicians.

patients aboard are often a

surprised at the

little

number

of airfields they visit en route to their destination. Patients flying

from coast

to coast

may

stay overnight at

''Remain Overnight'' medical

States.

Sometimes

it

may

take several days for a ''routine'' patient

sudden emergency can cause

An

flight plan.

Germany was

motel-like

six

throughout the United

facilities

to reach his hospital because flight routes

one of

must be

a rapid

aeromedical evacuation

flexible.

change

flight to its

Upon

diverted to Beirut, Lebanon.

in a routine

home

arrival at Beirut,

the medical crew was inundated with casualties from the

Marine Corps Headquarters

of the U.S.

base in

in that city.

bombing

Meanwhile,

halfway around the world, a Nightingale en route to Altus AFB,

Oklahoma, was diverted

young

girl.

two-hour

to

Kentucky

Onboard support systems kept the

flight to

Whether

it's

a "routine" or

an "urgent"

crew aboard the Nightingale

and

care. Patients

with

Wing

its

C-9

up

a severely

girl alive

burned

during the

San Antonio.

fied

Airlift

to pick

flight,

the highly quali-

offers the patients reassurance

have always flown

in safety.

The Aeromedical

has accumulated 432,000 accident-free flying hours

fleet.

That's equal to flying one airplane 24 hours

every day for 50 years without an accident.

Of

course, the peacetime flights differ

from those of wartime.

In peacetime, an estimated 80 percent of patients are ambulatory.

80

not

litter

quire fast

patients; in
litter

wartime an estimated two-thirds would

transportation.

The peaeetime

re-

however,

efforts,

apart from satisfying daily needs, provide added training for personnel, in case of emergencies or conflicts.

The

crews of the 375th Aeromedical Airlift

missions,
tions,

and

move 300-400
service

Wing

patients, land at approximately

70-80 medical

facilities dailv.

to eight

fly six

60 loca-

Because of their

continuous training, the crews of the flying ambulances are equally

effective in rapidly transporting the injured or
ians,

ill,

including

civil-

during disasters or emergenev situations.

Following the outbreak of

hostilities or a natural disaster requir-

ing urgent aeromedical evacuation, the Tactical Aeromedical Evac-

uation Subsystem pro\'ides a

first

response capabilit}-.

peacetime aeromedical missions of the 375th

resultant

make an im-

The missions ha\e ranged from flying former Amerprisoners home from \'ietnam to airlifting astronauts of the

pressive

ican

AAW

The

list.

1974 Skylab 4 crew; from

Iran after

444 days

flving

American hostages home from

in captivitv to e\'acuating survivors of

com-

mercial aircraft disasters in the Canarv Islands and Spain; from

flying out sur\i\'ors of the

Jonestown, Guyana, tragedv to exacuat-

ing hospital patients in the path of a hurricane.

In 1984 alone. Military Airlift

Command

aircrews, nurses,

and

medical technicians provided aeromedical e\'acuation for 80,217

patients, including militan', cixilian dependents, retired military

personnel, ci\ilians and foreign nationals.

on

a total of

The

patients were

4,450 missions bv C-9As and C-141s.

were recently remodeled to ha\e

a capacity of

100

moved

The C-141s
litter

or 210

ambulator}' patients.
Statistics can't

show the

truly

medical care provided bv the

human

''flying

effect of the

ambulances," but

improved
statistics

81

can give a graphic

human

picture.

Thus, in World

War

II,

four

servicemen died out of 100 wounded. In the Korean conflict, the

statistics

became two

fatalities.

In the

Vietnam

fighting, the

num-

ber dropped to one death out of 100 wounded. Improved techniques and blood transfusions helped, but the people of the

worldwide aeromedical

airlift

play in saving countless

future.

82

MAC

system can be proud of the role they

number

of lives, past, present,

and

in the

CHAPTER

One

Air Force

''Air

Force One''

is

the radio eall sign for an airplane flving the

President of the United States.

The

the President's airplane.

call

is

used for

While the President has

for his primar\' use, that aircraft does not take

is

One

until the President of the

his ''o\al office in the sky."

passenger, the radio call sign

If,

is

at

is

on board.

instead, the \^ice President

''Air

the 89th Military Airlift

Staff,

and from

on the name of Air

United States

is

It

the

Force Two."

Wing

of

MAC,

Andrews Air Force Base, Mar\'land. The

Chief of

to

con-

a special airplane

Transporting the President of the United States

sibility of

air traffic

communications

trol identification as well as for all

Force

is

the respon-

headquartered

Office of the Vice

United States Air Force, does the scheduling of the

various Special Air Missions.

The

89th, though,

is

not limited to flying the President of the

83

United

Their missions also include flying the Vice

States.

dent, cabinet

members, and Congressional delegations

as well as

and prime ministers of other countries.

dignitaries, kings, queens,

The 89th Wing

Presi-

these top government officials on a worldwide,

flies

24-hour commitment.

Theodore Roosevelt was the

an airplane. Roosevelt had
his first flight in

The

Missouri.

a primitive

1910

at

left

first

American president

the presidential office

what was then Kinloch

when he took

Field, St. Louis,

plane in which he flew was a Wright Type

pusher,

wood-and-canvas craft held together by crisscrossing

but Roosevelt was typically enthusiastic, calling

wires,

''practical

For

and

It

flying

safe.''

number

American presidents were discouraged

of years,

from traveling out of the country, and when they did

ship.

to fly in

was not

until

Roosevelt became the

World War

first

II

it

was by

that President Franklin

president to travel by air while in office.

In 1943 he flew to Casablanca to confer with British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill. Since there was no

was loaned

Navy Boeing 314 Flying

for overwater flight,

flight, to

make the

trip.

With change

Franklin Roosevelt took only three

was

of aircraft, three stopovers

trip

took 90 hours in the

air trips

air.

while he was presi-

set aside specifically for presidential service.

In 1947, President Harry

Truman, who loved

flying,

took his

Cow" did not

plane, the DC-6 was

journeys in a Douglas DC-6. Because "Sacred

seem

a very dignified

name

for a presidential

painted like an eagle and designated

with

84

for overland

1944 a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, nicknamed the

''Sacred Cow,''

air

he

Boat, called a Dixie Clipper,

and an Army Air Corps C-54

were required en route, and the entire

dent, but in

presidential plane,

many

The Independence. Along

technical improvements, including a cruising speed of

The

''Sacred

Cow/' the

first

aircraft specifically built for presidential use.

A DC-4

Skymastery the plane was fitted with an electrically operated

vator to

lift

ele-

Franklin D. RooseveWs wheelchair.

315 miles an hour, four 2,100-horsepower engines, automatic

pressurization,

and

air

conditioning, the President for the

first

time could keep in touch with Washington with a radio teletype

transmission system. For the

first

time, also, the interior of

The

Independence was arranged so that the President could work on

board, comfortably.

He

could even, as President

mischievously did, have the pilot buzz the

President

have been a

White House.

Dwight Eisenhower, who was the

pilot in his

own

Truman once

first

president to

right, also liked flying.

He had two
85

The Independence, Harry Truman s aircraft, was painted to

giant American eagle. The three windows to the rear mark the

resemble a
President's

suite.

new modernized

aircraft: a

Lockheed Constellation and Lockheed

Super-Constellation, designated

IIL

{Columbine

Columbine

11

and Columbine

was the Constellation assigned

to President

Commander in Chief of Allied

Forces during World War II.) The Constellations were named
after the blue columbine, the official flower of Mamie Eisenhower's
home state, Colorado. A confusion of radio frequencies on ColumEisenhower when he served

as

bine 11 brought about a different control system and adoption of

the radio call sign ''Air Force One.''

In 1959, a
craft.

jet

transport Boeing 707

The Boeing 707

offered

became the

presidential

more speed, and the President

air-

of

the United States in his propeller-driven Constellation would no

86

longer be outshone by Russian dignitaries flying in their

new

turbojet aireraft.

The most history-making presidential plane was Speeial Air

Missions (SAM) Aireraft 26000, a new Boeing 707, whieh joined
the presidential fleet of President John F.

Kennedy

in 1962.

Lux-

words United States of America

uriously appointed inside, the

were painted on both sides of the fuselage and the American

was painted on the

a

tail.

In

May, 1963, on

Moscow

a trip to

flag

with

United States delegation, Air Force One, which had become

the

designation for the presidential plane, set 14 speed

official

records, including flying

from Washington to

Moscow

in a record-

breaking 8 hours, 38 minutes, 42 seconds.

But

this

same

SAM

One when

Force

November

it

22, 1963,

26000 made another kind of history

Kennedy

flew President

and flew

his

body back

as Air

to Dallas, Texas,

to

on

W^ashington, D.C.,

following his assassination.

Before the trip back, on board this same aircraft at Love Field,

Lyndon

Dallas,

B.

Johnson was sworn into

dent of the United States.

He

was the

oflBce as

first

president to be sworn

into office aboard an airplane. President Johnson,

ran the

the

SAM

number

space.

He

26000

of seats

also

''like a

the 36th presi-

range boss on a cattle

who

it

drive,''

was said
increased

aboard the plane to allow for more passenger

had the

seats

changed so that passengers flew back-

wards, facing him, and his special chair and kidney-shaped conference table. His last trip aboard Air Force

One was

after his state

funeral in Washington, D.C., on January 24, 1973, returning his

body

to Texas.

remodeled Aircraft 26000 was

dent Richard
tion.

His

M. Nixon

trips

during the

later

first

used extensively by Presi-

four years of his administra-

included an around-the-world

flight in

1969, a trip

87

The most famous photograph ever taken aboard a presidential airplane

was the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson at Dallas Love Field on November 22, 1963. The President is flanked by Lady Bird Johnson and justwidowed Jacqueline Kennedy.

to the People's
in

May

Republic of China in February, 1972, and to Russia

of that

same

year.

are a much-traveled group,

tries

presidents, unlike earlier ones,

but President Nixon visited more coun-

and traveled more miles outside the United States than any

other president.

88

Modern

Even

after Aircraft

26000 was relegated

to being only an ''alter-

nate" aircraft for presidential use, the British

flew

on

it

through her travels

in the

Queen Elizabeth

western United States in

March, 1983.

The replacement

Air Force One, Aircraft 27000,

presidential plane in 1972. It has

became the

been used by Presidents Richard

Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.

specially configured

tion C-1

It is a

Boeing 707-3 5 3B, with the Air Force designa-

37C. This new Air Force

One was

specifically

equipped to

meet the president's needs, including secure global communications.

The

passenger cabins are partitioned into several sections

with separate presidential quarters and staff/office compartments.

There

is

also limited seating for other passengers, including

news

media representatives.

Air Force One,

president.

Number

27000, over

The Boeing 707

needs.

is

Mount Vernon, home

specially outfitted to

meet

of the

first

the president's

In addition to the two Boeing 707s, the 89th Military Airlift

MAC

Wing

of

C-140

Jetstars, three

one C-6, and

its

inventory five C-137s,

C-20A Gulf stream

detachment

six

Ills,

six

three C-9s, two C-12s,

squadrons and one operational

from providing

for their other diverse duties, ranging

flying training for U.S.

Embassy attache

helicopters for high-priority

C-135s, four

UH-lNs and CH-3Es. The

squadron of

a helicopter

used by the 89th's

aircraft are

C-12

has in

airlift

pilots to using their

and, on emergency, medical

evacuation missions in the Washington area.

President Ronald Reagan continues to use as his presidential

plane Aircraft 27000, and

One

Force

be

a larger

planes

is

calls

it

his ''private turf,"

but the next Air

already in the planning stage and will undoubtedly

and wider

Aircraft

aircraft.

Although the two

special presidential

27000 and backup Aircraft 26000

are probably

the most pampered, looked-after aircraft in the world, one

twenty years old and one

is

ten.

The

future Air Force

have more space for improved communications,

and medical

No

will

conference

facilities.

matter what type of plane the President

not change.

staff,

One

is

The

flies,

one thing

will

ever-present attache case, which contains the

codes for ordering a nuclear

strike, will

be on board.

It

accompanies

the President everywhere, carried by a special military aide, and

it

will

be on board

The

as

soon

as the President boards.

mission of flying dignitaries aboard the diversified aircraft

of the presidential fleet requires a very special organization.

Not

only must the very important passengers be carried safely to their

destinations, but rigid time schedules

must be maintained

so that

the passengers will arrive punctually at their various destinations.

Often the time schedules

in

90

advance with

little

for the

VIP

flights are

arranged a

month

knowledge of the weather prospects. Never-

President Ronald Reagan and wife, Nancy, in front of Air Force

visit to Pacific

theless,

on one mission taking

more than
aireraft

Missile Test Center, Point

thirty

was

off

Mugu,

One on

California, in 1981.

a high-lexel go\'ernment official to

en route stops around the world, the presidential

schedule

less

than a minute!

Safety and security precautions for the President and Air Force

One

also require special attention.

test-fly
is

The crew

and examine the plane constantly

to

of Air Force

make

sure everything

men and women and

One on the ground.

functioning properly. Secret Service

Police Security police guard Air Force

While

in the air, the flight of the presidential

electronically

by the National

Securit\-

plane

Agency

One

as

is

Air

monitored

well as

the

91

National Military

Command

Center.

special weather

team

provides the latest weather information anywhere in the world to

the pilot of the aircraft. Planes of

company Air Force One on

MAC's

Air Rescue Service ac-

overseas flights, to assist in case the

presidential plane should have to ditch over the ocean. If necessary,

One can immediately order a fighter plane escort.

The crews who fly the presidential planes are handpicked and

Air Force

must meet

rigid requirements. Pilots

flying time,

must have

200 hours of which must be

Navigators must possess a

minimum

as

at least 3,000

hours

an instructor

pilot.

of 2,000 hours flying time

over worldwide routes. Flight engineers and radio operators have

an average of 14 years experience.

Air passenger specialists

who

act as flight stewards aboard the

plane must be experts in emergency procedures, and consummate

diplomats in handling their important passengers, as well

chefs.

as skilled

Maintenance airmen must meet both the tough experience

requirements of the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Agency.

The

highly qualified personnel

of the 89th Military Airlift

who maintain and

Wing have been

aware that their job

the most important people in the world

carried out that job
flying hours

92

is

clearly

the aircraft

awarded the Air Force

Outstanding Unit Award seven times. They

''Pursuit of Perfection,''

fly

fly
is

safely.

with the motto

to carry

some

of

That they have

on record. Their more than 700,000

have been accident-free.

CHAPTER

Commandos

Air

It

was night when

MAC

MC-130 was
field

with a planeload of

Army

aircraft to arrive over

Point

MC-130

Rangers reached Grenada, the

Salines airfield.

first

As the Rangers parachuted

into the darkness, the

suddenly spotlighted by a searchlight from the

and the plane came under intense

antiaircraft

was dangerously vulnerable

it

to the

field,

made

a pass over the

success

of

smoothly with the

particularly

fire.

MAC's

Operations wing, circling at a high altitude abox'C the

effectively silencing

The

and

enemy

But help was on the way. An AC-1 30 Spectre Gunship from

1st Special

air-

fire.

Flying at 500 feet and only 120 knots, the unarmed plane
those following

enemy

antiaircraft

guns on the

field,

them.
the
airlift

Special

Operations

forces during the

Forces

in

working

Grenada operation

is

noteworthy because the Special Operations Forces

93

(SOF) had been consolidated with the Mihtary

Airlift

Command

only eight months before.

Although

MAC's

sions, training,

SOF

and equipment

had been

became

MAC

in

called the

The 23rd

that time.

as the Special

Operations Forces,

a separate organization of the Air Force until

a part of

Force, the 23rd

rescue and recovery service has similar mis-

combat rescue and

March, 1983.

A new

combat arm

MACwas

among

includes,

of

it

numbered Air
set

up

at

other worldwide missions,

recovery^ aeromedical evacuation, weather re-

connaissance and aerial sampling, security support for intercontinental ballistic missiles

and

special operations.

Special Operations Forces,

known

also

Commandos,

Air

as

specialize in ''unconventional warfare, collective security, counter-

operations,

terrorist

psychological

operations,

and

affairs

civil

measures.''

To

explain the Air

purpose
II

we must

in the

first

Commandos

their aircraft, actions,

go back to their beginning

in

and

World War

China-Burma-India theater of operations. Survival be-

hind enemy

lines there for British troops

General Orde Wingate,

who made

under the

command

of

daring, long-range raids into

Japanese-held Burma, would have been even more difficult with-

out the support of the American

Commando

Air

1st

Group.

In one of the most unusual operations of that war, the Air

mandos, using C-47s towing

and
their

their

equipment over

a 7,000-foot

air

British troops to
ried out

shuttle

rough

Wingate's

Disbanded

lines.

Then

releasing

they set up a
for

the

hacked out of the jungle, and

car-

operation,
airstrips

Wingate's raiders

mountain range,

burdens 100 miles behind Japanese

remarkable

94

gliders, transported

Com-

airlifting

in

supplies

casualties.

after the war, the Air

Commandos and

the idea of a

j^i^wf

Some

of the

pack mules
during

most

difficult

airlifted to

World War

cargo to be infiltrated behind

Wingates Raiders

in

enemy
Air

lines

were

Commandos

11.

Special Operations Force lay

dormant

Kennedy

to train

called

Burma by

on the military

type of unconventional warfare,

insurgents, assassins,

''a

until President

its

John F.

forces to fight in a

war by

new

guerrillas, subversives,

war by ambush instead of by combat/' The

Air Force responded by activating at Hurlburt Field, Florida, in

1961, the 1st Air

Commando Wing,

Special Operations

The

known

as the 1st

Wing.

types of airplanes of this

special as those

eventually

who

Wing, then and now, were

used them. Thus, during the Vietnam

as

War,
95

the aircraft used by the Air

models, propeller

aircraft,

Commando

units were often vintage

such as T-23s, C-47s, B-26s, and A-ls,

appearing out of place in the

jet age.

But

as

one Air

Commando

commented, ''Our planes may be obsolete and unsophisticated but

they can do our kind of

job!''

Their job? Picture at midnight several shadowy figures waiting,

hidden near the

tree line of a

jungle in

North Vietnam. The

powerful roar of turboprop engines suddenly shakes the pitch-black

night.

An

almost invisible

ridge, ejects a package,

again into the darkness.

MC-130E

makes

''Blackbird'' crests a nearby

descending turn, then disappears

The bundle

of

ammunition and

supplies

Vietnam often used conventional transport

The modified C-47, armed with guns at
cargo doors and windows, was nicknamed "Pu-ff the Magic Dragon!'

Special Operations Forces in

planes in unconventional ways.

is

from the drop zone by the dark-clothed Special

retrieved quickly

They then bury

Forces team.

the parachute and container and

disappear quickly and silently back into the jungle.

Such

enemy

a night action, supplying Special Operations

was

lines,

USAF

a standard

teams behind

Special Operations mission

during the Vietnam War, involving ''precise timing and coordina-

enemy

tion deep behind

ness."

But the

x\ir

working under the cover of dark-

lines,

Force Special Operations job ranged also from

dropping psychological warfare

ing isolated Special Forces

naissance patrols into

To

up and supply-

leaflets to setting

camps and sending Long-Range Recon-

enemy

territory.

defend the Special Forces camps from nighttime enemy

attacks, the Special Air

Warfare/Air

Commando

forces success-

fully

developed the workhorse C-47 transport into a

that

it

could operate at night.

Nicknamed

flareship, so

''Puff

Magic

the

Dragon,'' the aircraft was also armed with 30-caliber machine guns

and 7.62-mm miniguns jutting from the passenger windows and

The guns could be both

cargo doors.

while the aircraft was in a

Another
Operations

aircraft

bank.

left

modified during the Vietnam

activities

I30E Combat Talon, known

sensors with

in

another modification, the

which

to locate targets.

An onboard computer

auto-

gun alignment and aimed the guns with deadly

The Combat Talon was designed

Special

MC-

as "Blackbird.''

tration of hostile areas so that

move

for Special

Spectre Gunship was equipped with sophisticated

matically figured
accuracy.

War

was the Hercules C-130, which became the

AC-130 Spectre Gunship and

The armed

sighted and fired by the pilot

it

for long-range pene-

could bring

in,

rcsupply,

and

re-

Operations teams working behind enemy

lines.

Combat Talon

to fly

Special terrain-following radar allowed the

97

The Combat Talon performs

infiltration, resupply,

long-range, night, adverse-weather, low-level

and other missions.

over mountainous terrain at very low altitudes, and the plane's

inertial navigation

curate airdrops on

An

made

system and mapping radar

unmarked drop zones, day

interesting modification

addition of the Fulton

of

(Skyhook)

downed crewmembers. The

aircraft

the

possible ae-

or night.

Combat Talon was

the

Recovery System to rescue

was outfitted with

yoke on

the nose resembling the feelers of a large beetle.

The

the ground was dropped a kit containing a harness

suit, a lift line,

a balloon,

and two containers of helium. The individual dons the

suit,

makes sure the

then

inflates the

craft

was maneuvered

lift

line

is

attached to the suit and balloon,

balloon with the helium and

to intercept the

lift

lets it fly.

line

taching the line to the aircraft by a special lock.

98

person on

The

with the yoke,

air-

at-

The crewmember

and winehed on board the

was then pulled smoothly into the

air

Combat Talon.
Armed helieopters sueh as
UII-IN Twin Huey were also

HH-53H

sonnel.

Equipped with

the

Pave

Low and

the

flown by Speeial Operations per-

speeialized eleetronie equipment, sueh as

terrain following/avoidance radar, the helieopters could provide

elose-in fire support as well as

from behind enemy

Even

after the

removing Speeial Operations teams

lines in all kinds of weather.

end of the Vietnam War, the need

for a Speeial

Operations capability remained. Suddenly erupting international

Two men

being winched into open cargo door of aircraft equipped with

Fulton Aerial Recovery System.

turmoil and terrorist threats that reached around the world

re-

quired a small, flexible, well-trained force able to protect American

interests

and

Many
in

citizens abroad.

of the Special Operations aircraft used in

Grenada

are

Combat Talon and

However, both the

in use today.

still

the

AC-130

Vietnam and

MC-130

Spectre Gunship, as well as the

combat rescue and Special Operations

helicopters, are being aug-

mented and updated with improved navigation equipment and

special avionics capabilities.

An

experimental

a fixed-wing turboprop aircraft with vertical

ability,

aircraft,

lift

the

JVX,

(helicopter)

cap-

on the drawing board.

is

Night-vision goggles which can amplify objects 40,000 times

their

normal brightness

at night,

producing an eerie black-and-

green image, used by combat rescue teams, are

now

being used by

Special Operations as well.

And what

like their aircraft, they,

means

all

men and women? Well,

special breed. Some
by no

of the Special Operations

too, are a

USAF

are trained at the

Special Operations School at

Hurlburt Field, Florida, where the curriculum covers

diverse

range of subjects from unconventional warfare, psychological operations, insurgent operations

and international terrorism

to for-

eign internal defense.

Many
erations
lishing
in

are taught skills not

found

in a classroom.

Combat Control Team, which

drop zones behind enemy

remote

areas,

is

Special

Op-

does everything from estab-

lines to

guiding aircraft to targets

trained in parachute jumping, radio main-

Combdt Control Team from 1st Special Operations Wing rappels from
a hovering Army UHIH Iroquois helicopter during training.

100

much

tenance, scuba diving, forward air control operations, and

more.

The members

of the

MAC

pared for combat in the

role

is

but know that their most

critical

supporting Army, Navy, and allied special operations teams

operating behind
First
airlifters

enemy

lines.

and foremost, the

who

and get them

102

field,

Special Operations Forces are pre-

MAC

Special Operations Forces are

''anytime, any place, get

out!''

them

there, resupply

them,

CHAPTER

Airdrop or Airland-

Anything, Anywhere

A sandy

field

vehicles, jeeps,

are

still

is

covered with airdropped armored reconnaissance

and

palletized

artillery.

The

and rigged

scattered pieces of

for airdrop.

equipment

Soon C-130 transports

appear overhead, approaching in a long staggered column. Over

the drop zone the planes release their cargo: paratroopers of the

82nd Airborne Division.

Canopies

and quickly descend. Once on the ground and

inflate

out of their chutes, the troopers, wearing camouflage combat

tigues
field.

and carrying

field

move toward

The above
Zone

rifles,

rush to the

Within minutes, the paratroopers have the heavy equipment

derigged. Engines roar to

jeeps

packs and automatic

fa-

the

life,

enemy

howitzers are in position, and the

objective.

joint military exercise took place at

at Fort Bragg,

North Carolina,

Normandy Drop

a scenario that involved U.S.

103

Army

paratroopers but which could not have taken place without

the close support of the Military Airlift

Training jump school

is

at Fort

Command.

Benning, Georgia, but

drop wings take part in parachute troop training.

jumps from C-130 and C-141

requires five training

including a night
at

jump and

Pope AFB, almost

317th Tactical

The

in the

Airlift

at least

one

in full

combat

all air-

training

transports,
gear.

Thus,

middle of the Army's Fort Bragg, the

Wing

of

MAC

is

responsible for training

drops from C-130s of 130,000-140,000 troops a year.

Even

after a paratrooper receives his wings, the intense training

continues,

making sure that the 82nd, the spearhead

Deployment Force,

is

of a

Rapid

ready to be airlifted to fight anywhere in

Troops wait to board a C-141B Starlifter at Pope AFB at Fort Bragg.

Helping in the training of paratroopers is part of MAC's airdrop mission.

the world.
alert,

One

of the 82nd's three battahons

is

always on standby

able to deploy within twenty-four hours' notice.

one company

battalion,

on two-hour

is

alert,

Within the

move out

ready to

immediately.

Airborne troops can carry only a limited amount of supplies

and ammunition with them. Once on the ground, they must be

resupplied, usually again by
airland

weather,
plies

that

off-load their cargoes

is,

enemy

If

airlift.

the transport planes can't

on the ground

^because of

action, or lack of suitable airstrips, then the sup-

must be airdropped. Airdropping of

airborne troops but to

combat

all

supplies, not only to

troops, can present

enormous

problems when the equipment that must be dropped ranges from

Sheridan tanks to fragile communications equipment.
First,

large

aircraft

enough

with cavernous cargo spaces must be found,

to carry anything

from

a howitzer to a helicopter.

Second, with these heavy payloads, the aircraft must

to take off

and have

nation. Third,
a

if

sufficient range

to safely deliver the

as precisely as possible within a

sor of

MAC,

War

II,

its

desti-

equipment by

airdrop,

designated drop zone.

the Air Transport

Command,

predeces-

used some of the largest transports for military cargo:

C-46s, C-47s, and C-54s.

more

to reach

be able

the cargo can't be off-loaded on the ground, then

way must be found

During World

and airspeed

still

freight than

The C-47, which

any other

6,000 pounds on long hops.

has probably hauled

aircraft in history,

The C-54

could carry only

Skymaster, the largest mass-

produced four-engine cargo transport of the war, carried

top

pay load of 14,000 pounds of freight.

Early in the war, the delivery system of the cargo on these planes

which couldn't be airlanded was simple. The cargo was rigged

105

n..w

\eep being loaded aboard a

C-46A transport

largest twin-engine cargo transport of

plane.

World War

The C-46 was

and was

11,

the

used in

also

Korea and Vietnam.

with parachutes which were then airdropped as the plane

low passes

at the

ground. Accuracy was a problem. Thousands of

pounds of precious supplies were

clearing

made

lost

and were swallowed up by the

when

they missed a tiny

jungle. In addition,

it

took

pass after pass to complete an airdrop, the aircraft flying at stalling

speed only

50 feet above hostile ground,

the flight crews to

enemy ground

Every cargo plane had

106

its

all

the while exposing

fire.

unsung hero, the

''kicker."

His job

was to drag heavy bundles of supplies

plane,

with

hang onto anything

all

his might,

solid his

to the

open door of the

hands could reach, then kick

pushing the heavy parcels out to troops eagerly

awaiting the supplies on the ground. Sometimes the

lose his grip

Toward
N'cyor,

in the

open cargo door.

the end of the war, the C-47s were fitted with a con-

occupying the

compartment

the cabin from aft of the pilot's

left half of

An

to the cargo door.

electric

motor drove the

which could support about 4,000 pounds on

belt.

less

When

the

parachute-rigged

launching platform at the cargo door,

as a

would

and follow the bundle down, or be wounded by enemy

he stood

fire as

''kicker''

its

22 inch-wide end-

containers

static lines

mechanism nudged the packages out the

belt,

reached

the

opened the chutes

door.

With

the con-

veyor, a plane could drop 500 gallons of gasoline in seven seconds

and

in a space of

The first
World War
ports

U.S. military transport was also developed during

II,

the Fairchild C-82 Packet. Previous military trans-

had been

off-the-shelf civilian aircraft, modified for military

airlift.

car,

300 yards.

The C-82 was

replaced by the Fairchild C-119 Flying Box-

the biggest and most powerful cargo transport of

Wheeled equipment was loaded on

the hinged rear cargo door.

would

also allow

electrically

The

its

time.

the plane via ramps through

clamshell cargo doors at the rear

two rows of paratroopers

to

jump

in unison.

An

operated monorail dropped twenty 500-pound paracans

through a hatch

in the

bottom

of the fuselage.

The C-119 had

payload of 20,000 pounds.

The

Flying Boxcar proved

Marine Division was cut

reservoir. Supplies

and fighting

off

its

worth

in

Korea when the

by the Chinese Communists

at

Chosin

dropped from C-119s kept the Marines

for ten days.

1st

alive

Then, when the Marines broke out of

107

^#^^

'

the trap, the parts of a 32-ton bridge were airdropped.

The

bridge

was used to help the Marines cross an impassable gorge to reach

the fleet at

Hungnam.

It

was the

first

time in history that an entire

bridge was airdropped.

The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II was also a well-known transport in the Korean conflict. Dubbed ''Old Shakey," the C-124 had
clamshell loading doors and hydraulic ramps in the nose and an
elevator under the aft fuselage.

The Globemaster was

easily able

to handle bulky cargo such as tanks, field guns, bulldozers,

trucks.

Its

interior could

equipped combat troops;

and

be double-decked to carry 220

fully

pavload was 74,000 pounds.

The

its

C-124's range of 2,300-4,000 miles

made

it

prime hauler

in stra-

tegic airlift.

Even during the Korean War, however, the Air Force

that the piston-driven strategic

airlift

transports, the

realized

C-54 Sky-

master and the C-124 Clobemaster, lacked the range and cargo
capability for supplying a

United
tions,

States.

And

the tactical

war halfw^ay across the world from the

within the Korean combat theater of operaairlift

transports,

the twin-boom C-119, the

hard-working C-47 and C-46, were not large enough to handle

the heavy support equipment needed by the frontline forces.

Lockheed-Ceorgia accepted the challenge to develop a new

port plane, and the legendary turboprop

C-130 Hercules was born.

Especially developed for takeoffs and landings in as

2,000 feet on rough dirt

trans-

little

as

the ''Herk''

became the prime

tactical transport for airdropping or airlanding

men and equipment

strips,

into hostile areas.

An

early, factory-style

Transport

Command

conveyor belt used for airdropping cargo from Air

transport planes during World War IL

109

C-130D Hercules modified with wheel-ski landing gear for delivering cargo
in the Arctic and to units along the Distant Early Warning line.

Up

to six pallets of cargo, or 42,000

pounds could be loaded

onto the C-130 through a hydraulically operated main loading

door and ramp in the rear of the

aircraft.

The ramp could be

low-

ered for loading and unloading wheeled vehicles. Rollers in the

floor of the cargo
lets

compartment made the handling of cargo

quick and easy. Sixty-four fully equipped paratroops could

exit the aircraft

through two doors, one on each side of the

behind the landing gear

With

aircraft

fairings.

the coming of the

jet age,

even the legendary ''Herk'' was

not large enough, nor fast enough, to handle

in a

modern, conventional war.

What

airlift

requirements

was needed was

a fleet of

large jet-propelled transport planes, aircraft capable of picking

110

pal-

up

an entire

Army

division with

all

equipment and

its

overseas in a matter of hours, ready to fight. This

airlifting

new combat

it

cargo

plane would have to be easy to load and unload, built to go in low

under enemy radar, drop

men

and

or supplies

gone before enemy guns could be brought

up

pull

and be

fast

to bear.

Shortly after the war began in Vietnam, such a plane entered

MAC'S inventory the Lockheed

could be used to

lift

combat

C-141

The

Starlifter.

Starlifter

forces over long distances, could carry

69,925 pounds or 155 paratroops, and had the capability to

drop or airland cargo and troops. In the 1980s, the

''stretched.''

section was inserted in front

capability but decreasing

same time the

its

and behind the wing,

and

is

MAC's

cargo

At the

fleet.

The

the world's largest aircraft, almost as long as a football field

as

high

as

a six-story building.

The

cargo compartment

and

alley

than the distance of the Wright brothers'

first flight!

Able

to

be refueled

as three

in the air, the

CH-47 Chinook

helicopters, or

a little longer

two 59-ton tanks, or

and

Cargo can be loaded and off-loaded simultaneously

rear cargo openings of the C-5.

''kneeling

down"

to

is

C-5 can carry outsize cargo

a 74-ton mobile bridge at intercontinental ranges

and

cargo

capability to refuel in flight was added.

about the width of an eight-lane bowling

such

its

cargo-fuel weight use.

In 1969, the C-5 Galaxy was added to

C-5

were

Starlifters

lengthening the plane by 23 feet 4 inches, and increasing

volume

air-

The

plane

is

jet

speeds.

at the front

also capable of

handle loading directly from truck bed

levels.

Full-width drive-on ramps at each end are ready for loading double

rows of vehicles,

pallets, or containers.

a second story or upper-deck

Troops may be carried on

compartment, immediately available

to drive vehicles off the plane for airland delivery.

Although

MAC

continues to use the C-130 Hercules in tactical

111

the C-141 and C-5 can be teamed to carry fully equipped

airlift,

and combat-ready military units

term notice. The

aircraft

to

any point

in the

can then provide

full

world on short-

field

support to

maintain the fighting force for unlimited periods.

The C-1 30, C-141, and C-5 have come a long way from the days
when ''kickers" were used to airdrop cargo. Today, there are many
improved methods of delivering supplies and equipment.

Airland

Preferred delivery by landing aircraft at permanent

or temporary airfield

and off-loading troops or

supplies.

Cargo

doors are lowered and the pallets of cargo can be off-loaded by

conveyors while airplane

case of

enemy

Free Fall

taxiing,

is

minimizing ground time

in

action.

Oldest form

of airdrop without a parachute

and

limited to indestructible items such as bales of hay or wire. Air-

makes low pass and then

craft

a shallow

climb while the cargo

is

rolled out of the aircraft.

Container Delivery System

to pull bundles of supplies

CDS

from the

uses the force of gravity

aircraft.

When

the specially

designed containers, weighing up to 2,000 pounds, are out of

craft,

tion

parachutes inflate and lower them to the ground.

and supplies can be delivered accurately within

meter

area.

Ammuni-

a 100- to 400-

Shock-absorbing materials deliver fragile items

Low-Altitude Parachute Extraction System

air-

safely.

LAPES

parachutes, not to lower the load to the ground but to pull

it

uses

from

the aircraft as

it

dives to a point five to ten feet above the ground,

and

small drogue parachute deploys up to three larger

levels off.

This S7-ton marine propulsion-reduction gear for the Navy is shipped

aboard a C-S Galaxy, the only aircraft capable of transporting a load of
such weight and

112

size.

a^^SS^"bj%

rWn
wm'
K^Sfc

"^

^^^^^^^^I^^^^^^^^HHjpiiHMrf^J

^^1

-ijf^

?r-

C-130 Hercules airdropping cargo in the low-altitude parachute

tion system

extrac-

(LAPES)

parachutes from rear of the

as three platforms

equipment.

aircraft.

pull out as

many

loaded with up to 37,000 pounds of cargo/

The whole package

approximately 100 yards.

artillery pieces, fuel

These chutes

slides to a halt

LAPES

is

on the ground

in

used for delivery of bulldozers,

and water bladders.

High-Altitude Airdrop Resupply System

for cargo drops of 2,000

pounds up

HAARS

is

used

to altitudes of 10,000 feet. This

also allows delivery of paratroops qualified in high-altitude, low-

opening parachute jumping.

The crewman aboard

storage

114

the cargo plane responsible for the safe

and delivery of cargo

is

the loadmaster, the modern-day

relative of the ''kicker/'

Not

only must the loadmaster be able to

handle and deliver unusual eargoes, ranging from missiles to once

even

a whale,

but he must also

know how

to

stow

safely

dan-

gerous cargo such as explosives, acids, and gases.

But the

MAC

unit that

most crewmembers reW on

is

the Air

Combat Control Team. Composed of jump-qualified specialists, they are among the first to jump on an objective. Once on
Force

the ground, they set up vital navigation and communication aids

to guide

incoming

aircraft to the

drop zone.

Combat Control Teams were

organized in

World War

Originally called Pathfinders, they were deployed before the

wave of airborne
the

troops,

enemy before being

and

at times

had

to

engage

in

II.
first

combat with

able to complete their primary mission

providing visual guidance for incoming

aircraft.

Today, Combat Control Teams use much more sophisticated

radio

equipment

training for

combat

establish drop

The

to

communicate with incoming

controllers' jobs goes far

Combat

to

flight operations.

Controllers are called because of

their distinctive headgear, are trained to

proficient in scuba operations, to rappel

skilled in

and the

beyond learning

and landing zones and controlling

red berets, as

aircraft

be parachutists, to be

from helicopters,

be

to

techniques of survixal, radio communications, vehicle

maintenance, meteorology, patrol, ambush, and demolition. Most

important, they must have the ability to
sions.

Many

lives,

make

quick, logical deci-

including those of paratroopers, depend on their

air traffic decisions.

At one time

it

was thought that helicopters could take the place

of airborne soldiers.

However, no one has vet found

a substitute

for the airborne's capability of projecting a large military force

aircraft over long distances to seize

and hold

by

terrain.

115

The USAF

Center of

Airlift

developing and testing

niques.
stage.

A new

new and

Even the C-5

is

will

aircraft will

airlift
is

full

is

constantly

and airdrop tech-

also in the planning

to airlift the

in the last years.

perform the
all

Pope AFB,

MAC

no longer able

be capable of carrying

at

better

transport aircraft for

combat equipment developed

C-17

MAC,

spectrum of

Army's outsize

The proposed new

airlift

missions. It

classes of cargo over intercontinental

distances directly to the final destination. It will be able to airland

or airdrop a payload

and perform low-altitude parachute

tions. In addition, the

C-17

will

extrac-

have the capability of operating

into small airfields previously restricted to C-150s.

From

Hump" in World War II to Grenada, the

Command has proven and will continue to prove

"flying the

Military Airlift

the capability of

116

airlift

to deliver anything, anywhere, anytime!

CHAPTER

Behind the Scenes

at

MAC

''Keep 'em flying'' was a popular slogan for the United States

Air Force during

lift

Command

is

World War

many

aircraft of the Military Air-

by

military

pilots,

and

copilots,

civilian

and

men and

working behind the scenes.

Cargo handlers, maintenance

searchers,

are

The

''kept flying" not just

navigators but by a great

women

II.

specialists,

computer

experts, re-

weathermen, aeromedical technicians, and many others

needed

to

keep things moving.

thing, anywhere, anytime. It

is

MAC's

goal

is

to delixer any-

the largest, busiest, and most

ranging aerial cargo carrier in the world, and

it

far-

takes a lot of per-

sonnel to do that.

The photographs

that follow are only a few glances "behind

the scenes" at the wide variety of jobs performed by support

vices in the Military Airlift

ser-

Command.
117

"^-^

(J.S.hin

MAC technicians inspecting engine of a C-141.

118

Instrument

specialist

working on helicopter panel controls.

Specialist processes passengers at the air passenger terminal for

flights.

MAC

Trained work at a pharmacy

is

also a job for

MAC personnel.

MAC C-130 loadmaster at work.

120

ii>l

^TF5
pMm

MP

.7

Jt^ i

:'

""U

i
Security policeman training a working military dog.

MAC civil engineers in hard hats inspecting construction.

122

~t

S
^
INN

m:

I3v*':r

An

Aerospace Audiovisual Service motion picture photographer in action

during an Air Force exercise.

ture,

124

and

still

photographs for

MAC's AAVS
all activities

provides video, motion pic-

of the U.S. Air Force.

CHAPTER

10

MAC'S Planes

There have been

at least

100 different transport planes de\el-

oped since the Fokker T-2 Transport, the Army's pioneer monoplane passenger carrier, flew the
in 1923.

The

following

is

first

nonstop cross-country

a selection of

some

flight

of the outstanding

'\vorkhorse'' transports which, through continued use o\cr a period

of years,

have proxen invaluable to strategic and

tactical airlift in

peace and war.

Almost

all

have appeared

in different

models and performed a

wide variety of functions. The C-47 has been

ship,

a transport, a

gun-

and an ambulance.

Beautifully restored historic transports

tional Air

may be

and Space Museum, Smithsonian

ington, D.C., and at the U.S. Air Force

seen at the Na-

Institution,

Museum,

Wash-

W^right-Patterson

Air Force Base, Davton, Ohio.

125

.#^V^.>x^ 4^^^,
I

C47 Gooney Bird

DOUGLAS
tion

and

C-47

Perhaps no other transport plane has

loyalty of

more

military pilots than the C-47

low-wing monoplane with a standard

tail

section

won

the devo-

Gooney

Bird.

and conventional

landing gear with retractable front wheels, the C-47 was developed in
1942 from the Douglas

War

II to

DC- 3 and

has flown in every war from

Vietnam.

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

Douglas Aircraft

Two

Power plant:
engines, 1,200

Dimensions:

Pratt

Max LEVEL SPEED AT 8,500 ft:

Load:

Crew:

126

Company

& Whitney R-1830-92

Wingspan, 95

range:

(C-47A)
14-cylinder radial-piston

hp each
ft;

Normal max takeoff weight:

Normal

World

Length, 64

ft, 5

in

26,000 lb

229

mph

1,500 miles

28 troops or 18 stretchers and attendants, or 6,000 lb

Three

C-46

Commando

CURTISS

C-46

Tlie C-46

fought in three wars.

gear and a standard

The

tail

Commando
lo\\-\\ing

also has the distinction of

retractable landing

C-46 was

delivered in 1942.

section, the

largest twin-engine cargo transport of

like the C-47,

World War

SPECIFICATIONS
Two

engines, 2,000

Pratt

the C-46,

(C-46A)

ft, 1 in;

Length, 76

Max level speed at

269

range:

18-cylinder radial-piston

hp each

Wingspan, 108

45,000 lb

Load:

II,

II.

& Wliitney R-2800-51

Normal max takeoff weight:

Normal

World War

Curtiss-Wright Corporation

Power plant:
Dimensions:

first

was produced with many variations and has been called

the most modified aircraft of

Contractor:

having

monoplane with

15,000 ft:

ft,

4 in

mph

1,200 miles

50 fully equipped troops, or up to 33 stretchers

and four attendants,

or 16,000 lb cargo

Crew:

Three

to four

127

C-S4 Skymaster

DOUGLAS C-54
in

mihtary

The Skymaster was

airlift histon'.

the

first

four-engine cargo transport

Developed from the DC-4

1942, the C-54 was a low-wing

monoplane with

landing gear.

The most-used

also has the

dubious distinction of being the

the Korean

aircraft

War. The C-54C was the

civilian airliner in

retractable tricycle

during the Berlin

first

first

airlift,

the C-54

plane destroyed in

plane to be specially modified

as a presidential aircraft.

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

Power plant:

Douglas Aircraft

Company

Four Pratt & Whitney R-2000-7 Twin

radial air-cooled engines, 1,290

Dimensions:

Wingspan,

Max takeoff weight:

Max speed: 265 mph
Range:
Load:

Crew:

128

(C-S4A)

17

ft,

hp each
6

in;

Length, 93

ft, 1 1

62,600 lb

3,900 miles

50 equipped troops or freight load of 14,000 lb

Six

Wasp

in

14-cylinder

C-118Liftmaster

DOUGLAS

C-118

a low-wing

The

Liftmaster, deri\ed from the Douglas DC-6, was

monoplane with

to arrive at Air

Transport

retractable tricycle landing gear,

and began

C-118 was

Command

bases in late

used as a presidential transport bv President

1946.

Truman and C-118s were

used for aeromedical evacuation during the \'ietnam

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

Douglas Aircraft

Power plant:

range:

ft,

in;

radial-

Length, 105

ft,

7 in

107,000 lb

360

mph

3,350 miles

76 troops, or 60 stretchers and

Load:

Crew

Company

hp each

Wingspan, 117

Max takeoff weight:

Max speed at 18,000 ft:
Normal

(C-118)

Four Pratt & Wliitnev R-2800-52\V 18-cylinder

piston engines, 2,500

Dimensions:

War.

six

attendants, or 27,000 lb

Five

129

C-119 Flying Boxcar

FAIRCHILD

C-119

In 1949 the Flying Boxcar, developed from the C-82

Packet, was the largest and most-powerful cargo transport of

twin-boom, high-wing monoplane,

a long

tail

its

twin

tailfins

two rows

time.

were connected by

plane. Large clamshell rear cargo doors were

a standard door, allowing

its

of paratroops to

embedded with

jump

in unison.

The C-119 served in Korea and Vietnam. A modified version, the AC119G gunship, with the code name ''Spooky," had four 7.62-mm miniguns in the fuselage.

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

Fairchild Aircraft Corporation

Two Wright

Power plant:
hp

each,

2,850

(<:-119K)

R-3350-999-TC 18EA2 piston engines, 3,700

and two General Electric J85-GE-17

auxiliary turbojet engines,

hp each

Dimensions:

Wingspan, 109

ft, 3 in;

Length, 86

ft,

6 in

Max TAKEOFF WEIGHT 77,0001b

Max LEVEL SPEED AT 10,000 ft: 243 mph
:

Range with max payload:

Load:

Crew:

130

990 miles, 20,000 lb

62 fully equipped troops or 40 equipped paratroops

Four

C-124 Globemaster 11

DOUGLAS

C-124

The Globemaster

was developed from the eadier

II

Douglas C-74 and delivered to Air Force bases

in

1950.

The

aircraft

featured clamshell loading doors and hydraulic ramps in the nose and

an elevator under the aft fuselage.

The Globemaster was

able to handle

bulky cargo such as tanks and bulldozers, as well as sening as an

borne ambulance. Tlie C-124C served

in

air-

Korea and Vietnam.

SPECIFICATIONS (C-I24C)
Contractor:

Power plant:

Four Pratt & WTiitney R-4360-63A 28-cylinder

engines, 3,800

Dimensions:

Load:

radial-piston

hp each

Wingspan, 174

ft,

Max takeoff weight: 194,500

Max level speed at 20,000 ft:
Range with

Company

Douglas Aircraft

26,375-lb payload:

2 in; Length, 130

ft, 5

in

lb

304

mph

4,030 miles

200 troops or 127 stretchers, 52 ambulatories and 15 attendants, or

up to 68,500 lb cargo

Crew:

Eight with additional backup crew on long

flights

131

C-123X Provider

FAIRCHILD

C-123

Rigged with
fields

skis,

Deliveries

so that

it

of the Provider were

begun

in

1955.

could land and take off from snow-covered

on rescue missions, the C-123B was used along the Distant Early

Warning

(DEW)

line, stretching

from Greenland to Alaska. Later the

Provider was used in Vietnam. Engines were bolted to the wings and
fuel carried in tanks underneath,

making

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

maintenance

easy.

(C-123K)

Fairchild Aircraft Corporation

Two

Power plant:
2,300

hp

2,850

hp each

each,

Dimensions:

field

Pratt

and two

& Whitney R-2 800-99

radial-piston engines,

General Electric J85-GE-17 booster turbojets,

Wingspan, 110

ft;

Length, 76

ft,

3 in

Max takeoff weight: 60,000 lb

Max level speed at 10,000 ft: 228 mph
Range with max p aylo ad of
Load:

1 5 ,000

lb

attendants, or miscellaneous freight

Crew:

132

1,035 miles

60 equipped troops or 50 stretchers, plus

Two

to four

six

ambulatories and

six

40502

AIR

U.S.

FORCE SR*-

iSpr^

C-BOE

Hercules

LOCKHEED

C-130

medium-range

tactical airlift aircraft,

more than

50 versions of the Hercules have been produced since the C-130 joined

The C-130

the U.S. Air Force in 1956.

roles, as a

has served,

among

other

airlift

cargo-troop carrier, flying ambulance, in-flight refueling tanker,

search and rescue plane, retriever of space hardware, hurricane hunter,

drone launcher, and airborne

command

post.

During the Vietnam

the C-130 was converted to a side-firing gunship

(AC-130A/H

\\^ar,

Spectre),

primarily for night attacks against ground forces in \^ietnam.

SPECIFIC ATIONS (C-130H)

Contractor:

Power plant

Four Allison T56-A-15 turboprops, 4,300 hp each

Wingspan,

Dimensions:

Max takeoff weight

Speed:

Range:
Load:

386

mph

with

32

ft,

7 in; Length, 97

ft,

9 in

5 5,000 lb

55,000-lb takeoff weight

2,500 miles with 25,000-lb cargo, or 5,200 miles with no cargo

47,000-lb cargo

patients with

Crew:

Company

Lockheed-Georgia

(C-130E/H), 92

troops, 64 paratroops, or 74 litter

two attendants

Five

133

C-133 Cargomaster

I
DOUGLAS
overall

Although the Cargomaster was not much

C-133

dimensions than the Globemaster

twice the cargo

a high-wing

when

it

II,

the C-133 could carry

arrived at Air Force bases in 1957.

monoplane with standard

tail

larger in

section

The

C-133,

and paired wheel

sets

supported by a nose gear, was the largest production model prop-driven

cargo transport in

histor}^

airlift

could be loaded through

its

Inter-Continental

mammoth

Contractor:

Douglas Aircraft

Missiles

rear cargo doors.

SPECIFICATIONS
Povv^ER plant:

Ballistic

(C-133B)

Company

Four Pratt & Whitney T34-P-9WA turboprops, 7,500 hp

each

Dimensions:

Wingspan, 179

Normal TAKEOFF weight:

Load:

Crew:

134

lb:

8 in; Length,

57

ft,

6 in

286,0001b

Max level speed at 8,500 ft:

Range with 51,850

ft,

359

mph

4,030 miles

200 fully armed troops or two loadmasters and 110,000 lb of freight

Four

Camouflaged C-141B

LOCKHEED

Starlifter

C-141B

high-sweptwing monoplane with

section, the Starlifter joined

MAC in

1965.

The

Starlifter

from the war zone

and remove the

ad\anced medical

to

facilities.

the C-141A Starlifters had been ''stretched" by 23

in-flight refueling capabilit}^,

combat

sick

By
feet,

air-

and wounded

June,

1982,

all

4 inches, gi\en

(C-141B)

Company

Lockheed-Georgia

Power plant:

lift

tail

and redesignated C-141B.

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

can

T-t\pe

by airland or

forces over long distances, inject those forces either

drop, resupply those employed forces

Four Pratt & \\'hitney TF33-P-7 turbofan engines with a

thrust of 21,000 lb each

Dimensions:

Wingspan, 159

Max takeoff weight:

Speed:

Range:
Load:

571

mph

ft,

11 in;

Length, 168

ft,

4 in

323,100 lb

at 25,000 ft

Unlimited with

in-flight refueling

200 troops, 155 paratroops, 103

litter

and 14 ambulatory patients

and/or attendants, or 69,925 lb cargo

Crew:

Six,

including two loadmasters

135

Camouflaged C-S Galaxy

LOCKHEED

The Galaxy

C-5

is

the world's largest

outsize cargo at intercontinental ranges

and land

mounted on pylons beneath the

MAC

jet

in 1969, the Galaxy's

strength and

its

wing sweep, and four

wings. Since the

a\'ionic capability

jet

engines

C-5 was accepted

improved.

(C-5)

Company

Lockheed-Georgia

Power plant:

first

C-5 has a

wings have been modified for greater

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

can carry

speeds, yet can take off

in relatively short distances. Like the C-141, the

distinctive high-fl\ing T-tail, 25-degree

by

and

aircraft. It

Four General Electric TF-39 turbofans with 38,800 lb

thrust each

Dimensions:

Wingspan, 222

Max takeoff weight:

High

Speed:

Range
Load:

Crew:

136

cruise, 541

ft,

8 in; Length, 247

ft,

8 in

769,000 lb

mph; average

cruise,

517

mph

00,000 lb load, 4,860 miles

Max payload
Normal,

7;

weight, 242,500 lb; troops, upper aft compartment, 73

minimum

Artist's

conception of the proposed new C-17

DOUGLAS

C-17

In addition to increasing

airlift capability,

of the aging

MAC's

strategic

and

tactical

the proposed C-17 will sene as a replacement for

C-HTs and

C-130s in

MAC's

inventon\

The C-17

some

will

be

able to earn' outsize cargo as well as take off and land on runways as
short as 3,000 feet and only 90 feet wide.

SPECIFICATIONS
Contractor:

Power plant:

(C-17)

McDonnell-Douglas Corporation

Four

fully reversible Pratt

& Whitney 2037 engines with

37,000 lb thrust each

Dimensions:

Wingspan, 165

ft;

Length, 175

Max takeoff weight:

570,000 lb

Speed:

mph
minimum

Range:
28,000

ft,

2 in

Cruise speed, 517

Fully loaded,

unrefueled

range of 2,400

miles

at

ft

Max payload, 172,000 lb

Crew: Normal, 7; minimum 4

Load:

137

Index

A-1,41,46,96
AC-130 Spectre Gunship,

Air National Guard, 40, 76, 79

93, 97, 100

Aerospace Audiovisual Service, 25, 124

Rescue Service. See Aerospace

Rescue and Recoven- Senice
Air routes, mapping and charting of,

Aerospace Rescue and Recoven^ Senice, 25, 41,43, 44, 49-51, '54, 64

Air Transport

Aeromedical

airlift,

African drought

Air

68-82

relief, 29,

Command,

3-14

Air Force, U.S., 13, 19, 35, 115

Environmental Technical Applications Center, 66

Outstanding Unit Award, 92
Air Force Global Weather Central
(AFG\VC),64, 65, 66
Air Force One, 83-92
Air Force Rescue Coordination Center,
50-51
Air Force Resene, 40, 76, 79
Air Force

Two, 83

14, 15

Command (ATC),

19,44,62, 105
India-China Wing

31

Commandos, 93-102

Air Corps Ferrsing

Air

of,

14-

16

Weather Senice, 55-67

Automated Weather Network. 65

Air

Space Environmental Support System, 65

Aircraft 26000. See Air Force
Aircraft 27000. See Air Force

One
One

Airdrops, 103-116
Airland, 112
Alaska, 31, 50

ALCE

(Airlift

Control

Element)

teams, 36-37
Algeria (earthquake),

28-29

139

Allen (hurricane), 29

Ambulances,

flying,

68-82

Andrews Air Force Base (Maryland),

83
Antarctic, 35

Armed

Services

Office

Army
Army

Regulating

79

Air Force, 14,

Service,

1 5,

104,

109-110,

111,

112,

C-131A Samaritan, 76
16, 44,

92

61-62

Signal Service, 61
Special Forces Scuba School, 54

Asheville,

103,

116, 133

Air Coq^s, 19, 84

Weather

Army
Armv

Medical

(ASMRO),

C-119 Flying Boxcar, 107, 109, 129

C-121,76
C-123 Provider, 132
C-124 Globemaster, 76, 109, 131
C-130 Hercules, 24-25, 28, 76, 97,

North Carolina, 66

C-133 Cargomaster, 24, 134

C-135, 90
C-1 37, 89,90
C-140 Jetstar, 90
C-141 Starhfter, 24, 28, 31, 34, 37, 39,
68,76,77,79,81, 104, 111, 112,

B-24 Liberator bombers, 14

B-26, 96
"Backender," 80
Belgian Congo, 23, 32-33
Berlin airlift, 20-22

Carter,

Berlin blockade, 20, 22, 33

Churchill, Winston, 84

''Block time," 70
Boeing 707, 86-87, 89, 90
Boeing clippers, Stratoliners, 1 5, 84
Boiling Field (Washington, D.C.),
Bowman Field (Kentucky), 73
Burma, 17-18, 94

Civil Air Patrol, 51

135
Camille (hurricane), 56-60

Jimmy, 89

CH-3E, 90
Channel

airlift,

36

Civil Resen^e Air Fleet

(CRAF), 23

Clav, Gen. Lucius D., 20

CoastGuard,

U.S., 44
Cochran, Jacqueline, 16

Columbine

(Dwight

Eisenhower's

plane), 86

C-5 Galaxv, 28,

C-6, 90

C-9A

34, 111, 112, 116,

136

Nightingale, 78, 80, 81, 82, 90

C-12,90

Cox-Klemin (plane), 72

C-17, 116

C-20A Gulfstream
C-46 Commando,

III,

17,

90
73,

105,

109,

Action System, 37

Crisis

Action

Cuban

crisis,

Team (CAT) 37-39

,

33

105,

107, 109,

125,

17, 21, 22, 73, 76, 84,

27

DC-6 (Harry Truman's plane), 84

Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, 64-65

C-87 (converted B-24), 18

Department of Defense,
35,60,66,79

C-118Liftmaster, 76, 130

Disaster Assistance Survey

105, 109, 128

140

17, 19, 20, 73, 75,

126

C-54 Skvmaster,

Crisis

Curtiss- Wright Corporation,

127

C-47 Goonev Bird,

94, 96,' 97,

Combat Control Teams, 39, 1 1

Container Deliverv System (CDS),
112

U.S., 19, 27,

Team, 28

Dominican Republic,

H-5, 44

23, 33

Douglas Aircraft Company, 126, 128,

129, ni, 134
Dover Air Force Base (Delaware), 39

H-19, 44

Driver, Maj. Nelson, 71

Heinkel-59

East Berlin, 20

HH-3E (Jollv Green Giant),

HH-43B/F Huskies, 45

Hackney, Airman Duane, 41, 43

HC-130P,44
float plane,

HH-53 (Super

Eglin Air Force Base (Florida), 39

Eisenhower, Dwight, 85-86

Jolly

43
44, 45

Green Giant),

Eisenhower, Mamie, 86
Elizabeth II, Queen (England), 89

HH-53HPaveLow, 99
High-Altitude Airdrop Resupply Sys-

Ethiopia, 31

tem, 114
Himalava Mountains, 16-17
''Hump, the," 16-19, 116

F-4 (fighter plane), 24

Hurlburt Field (Florida), 95, 100

"Hurricane Hunters," 55-67

Environmental Technical Applications

Center, 66

Fairchild Air Force Base

39,

45-46,99

(Washing-

Hurricanes. See Allen; Camille

ton), 54
Fairchild

Corporation,

Aircraft

130,

132

Independence, The, 84-85

In-flight

Fairchild C-82 Packet, 107

refueling

(helicopters),

44-

45

Federal Aviation Agency, 92

IsraeH

airlift

(1973), 34

Flying Boxcar. See C-1 19

Fokker T-2 Transport, 125

Ford, Gerald, 89

Japanese Zeros, 17, 18

FortBenning (Georgia), 54, 104

Fort Bragg (North Carolina), 103
Fort Campbell (Kentucky), 24
Free

fall

(airdrop), 112

JN-4 Jenny, 71
Johnson, Lyndon
Joint

B.,

87

Typhoon Warning Center, 56

Jungle penetrator, 46, 49

J\^

(experimental aircraft), 100

'Trontender," 80

Fulton

98

Gemini

(Skvhook)

Recoverv Svstem,

Kennedv, John F., 87, 95

''Kicker,'" 106-107, 112,115
Kirtland Air Force Base (New Mex-

8 space flight, 49

Gcrstner Field (Louisiana), 71

Gliders, 19

ico), 54

Korean War, 22-23, 44, 49, 62, 7475,82, 107, 109

Goggles, night-vision, 100

Gosman, Capt. George, 71

Grant, Ulvsses

Keesler Air Force Base (Mississippi),

55

'

S.,

61

Grenada, 25-26, 93, 100, 116

Grumman SA-16A Albatross,

Guyana, 38-39, 81

44,

49

Lackland Air Force Base (Texas), 52

Lebanon, 23
LeMay, Maj. Gen. Curtis, 20

141

Loadmaster. See ''Kicker"

Offutt Air Force Base (Nebraska), 64

Lockheed-Georgia Company, 109, 133,

135, 136
Love, Nancy, 1
Low- Altitude Parachute Extraction
System (LAPES),112, 114

Olds, Colonel Robert, 14

Operation Deep Freeze, 35

''Operation Vittles." See Berlin

^airlift

22-23

Pacific airlift,

Pakistan, 23, 33

Marines, U.S., 35, 107,109

Martin Flying Boats, 1

MC-nOE Combat

Pararescue Recovery Specialist Course,

Talon

("Black-

54
Pararescuemen, 43, 44, 46, 49,

bird"), 96, 97-99, 100

McCoy

Air Force Base (Florida), 59

McDonnell-Douglas Corporation, 78,

Paratroopers,

103-104

Pathfinders.

See

Combat

Control

Teams

137

McGuire Air Force Base (New Jersey)

Patient Airlift Center

(PAC), 79

Pearl Harbor, Japanese attack on, 14,

37

Transport

Air

Military

(MATS), 19-25,
Military

51-

50,

52,54

Airlift

Service

33, 62,

74

Command (MAC),

13,25-27, 29,

31, 33-37,

38-40,

62,67,76,81,94, 104, 105, 116,

117-124

Command

Center, 36, 37

subordinate

command

centers, 36

support services, 117-124

Minnesota, sandbag

Armv

Mobile

airlift

to,

31-32

Hospital

Surgical

61
Pilots

shortage of

1 5

women, 15-16
PJs.

See Pararescuemen

Pope Air Force Base (Fort Bragg),

104,116
Presidential plane. See Air Force One
Prinsendam (ship), 50
Pueblo, USS, crisis, 33
"Puff the Magic Dragon," 97

(MASH),' 44

Mount McKinley,
Mount St. Helens,

rescue mission, 50

rescue mission, 50

Rapid Deployment Force, 104-105

Reagan, Ronald, 89, 90

Red
National Hurricane Center (Miami),

berets.

See

Combat

Control

Teams
RF-4C, 64

56

National Military

Command

Center,

Rhoades,Lt. Albert, 71
Roosevelt, Franklin D., 13, 84

39,92
National Security Agency, 91

Roosevelt, Theodore, 84

Navajo

Russia, 20, 21, 34

Indians,

supplies

airdropped

to, 31

Nixon, Richard M., 87-88

SA-16A,49

Normandy Drop Zone

"Sacred Cow." See Independence,

'

(Fort Bragg),

103

Satellites,

The

weather, 62, 64

Scott Air Force Base (Illinois), 36, 37,

Ocker,Capt. William, 71

142

50, 66,

79

Search and Recovery Satellite Aided

Tracking program (SARSAT), 51

United Nations, 29, 33

"Urgent Fury." See Grenada

Search and Rescue Satellites, 51

Warfare/ Air Commando

97
Special Assignment Airlift Missions
(S.\.\MS),34, 36, 37

Special Air
forces,

Combat Control

Operations

Special

Team,

100, 102

Special Operations Forces, 25,

Suez

crisis,

Super

93-102

23

Jolly

Green Giant. See HH-53

Washington, George, 61
\\TB-29, 60

WC-130, 56-59,64
Weather reconnaissance, 49, 55-67
Weather satellites, 62, 64
West Bedin, 20
Wingate, General Orde, 94
1 5-16

T-23,96
system, 81

Command,

Tempelhof Airport
Tra\'is

49, 62,

Women pilots,

Tactical Aeromedical Evacuation Sub-

Tactical Air

Vietnam War, 23-25, 41, 43,

64,76-78,84,95-99,100

20,

24

(Berlin), 21

Air Force Base

(California),

and, 71

37,77
"Trolling for

fire,"

World War

46

Troop Carrier Command, 19

Truman, Harr\S., 23, 84-85
Tunner, Maj. Gen. William H.,

UH-IN Twin

Women's Air Force Service Pilots

(WASP), 16
Women's Auxiliarv Fencing Squadron
(WAFS), 15-16
World War I, aeromedical evacuation

Huev, 90, 99

II,

13, 43, 72,

105-107,

116, 117, 127

aeromedical evacuation and, 72-73

15, 21

Yom
Zaire.

Kippur War, 34
See Belgian Congo

143

BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY

la'V
3 9999 01753 785

^Wz-r'

5^

Boston Public Library

HYDE PARK

BRANCH LIBRARY

14

UG633
Ta6
1986

860a7030--46 HP
The Date Due Card in the pocket indicates the date on or before which this
book should be returned to the Library.
Please
pocket.

do

not

remove cards from

this

MaRCELLA THUM
and a free-lance

is

a professional librarian

She has published

writer.

fif-

teen books in several genres: nonfiction, mystery novels for

young people, gothic and

historical novels.

She received a Mystery Writ-

ers of

America Award

for

Mystery at Cranes

Landing. She established the library and

is

presently the librarian for the Airlift Operations

School of the Military

at Scott Air

Force Base,

Gladys THUM began

Airlift

Command

Illinois.

her writing career as a

public relations writer for the Air Transport

Command

in

World War

II.

In the years that

followed, with breaks for graduate study

and

U.S. gov-

Ph.D., she worked

as a writer for the

ernment

in Asia.

She has had published or

broadcast

more than

thousand

and film commentaries.

she teaches at

articles, radio

English professor,

Louis Communitv' College,

St.

Florissant Valley

An

campus.

Marcella and Gladys

Thum

have previ-

ously collaborated on

The Persuaders: Propa-

War and

Peace and Exploring

ganda

in

Military America.

Official U.S. Air Force Photos:

The C-S Galaxy

Jacket

dcM

in flight

and being loaded

^wurrcoMMi

.1
ISBN n-3^b-DfiSE'^-&