OUA 1964 - Page 13 |
|
|
|
|
Mercy missions are an inherent part of the ice cap mission which
even the pressure of the airlift could not ignore. On 3 May when delivery operations were at peak, one C-130 and air crew were pulled out of the
airlift momen- tarily to fly to Upenavik, Greenland. Its task was to locate and orbit an aircraft of the Royal Danish Air Force which had ditched with 13
passengers aboard. The distressed
aircraft was located and orbited until an SA-16 arrived from Sondrestrom to land on the water and rescue the passengers. And again on 19 May another C-130 was diverted to airlift medical
personnel to Dye Site #4 for further airlift into the interior ice cap by
helicopter to attend to a 3 year old child who had been mangled by dogs. The child was successfully brought out and delivered to the hospital and even
though the saving Hercules lost #2 generator, the mission was completed
successfully with another aircraft. |
|
|
|
y. The actual pounds of cargo moved during
this airlift exceeded 6.2 millions. Weight of the
bladder containers accounted for about 1.5 million pounds to yield a net pay load of 4.7 millions. Over 3 millions of this were moved by three crews alone who were subsequently recommended for
award of the Air Medal. Other aircrews,
in varying degree accounted for the balance of the cargo airlifted. I
consider this a magnificent demonstration of profes- sional airmanship and in the total history of the ice cap
operation stands without parallel. When
the day's flying was done, the flight crews were rarely off the line earlier than 2000 hours readying their
aircraft for the next day's ordeal. In
this they worked shoulder to shoulder with the de- dicated maintenance technicians positioned at Sondrestrom to
support them. Some of these maintenance technicians too, have been recommended
for the award of appropriate United States military decorations. From start to finish, the 1964 POL airlift functioned with the flawless ease
of a well- oiled piece of machinery - oiled with the sweat and dedication
of the men of the 17th Squadron.
Meanwhile the remaining resources of the squadron, by this time about equally split between Dyess and Elmendorf,
had been far from idle. On 8 May
1964, five aircrews of the 17th joined an equal number from the 18th Troop Carrier Squadron at Sewart Air Force Base,
Tennessee, to man ten C-130A's of the 317th Troop Carrier Wing newly
arrived at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio, from Evreux, France. Its own shortage of personnel necessitated this "borrowing" of other
aircrews to support a mis- sion levied upon it.
This mission was launched from Fort Benning, Georgia; forty-one formation and corridor sorties were scheduled and
thirty-nine were flown,. The success of
this mission was a glorious tribute to the flexibility of the men of the 17th Squadron. Integrated crews who hardly knew each other's names, flew nine ship formations to drop army elements
and to make timed landings on assault strips without accident, incident or
mishap. |
|
|
|
z. At the same time, tempo of operations in
Alaska was gaining momen- tum. The aircrews
already in place at Elmendorf were busily engaged in becoming familiar with the various radar sites and their
approach proce- dures. Each site was
being individually inspected by a C-130 instructor pilot in survey flights conducted by the 5017th Operations
Group. Follow- ing this, a trial run was made by an instructor pilot in a C-130
into each of the sites. This procedure
provided expertise in checking-out subsequently arriving aircrews as they completed their individual transfers
from Dyess. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|