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d. |
Tactical Air Command C-130 Air Combat
Crew F-012, commanded by |
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Captain Donald T. Glenn, departed Dyess Air
Force Base, Texas, on 13 May 1963 for a routine aircrew tour of duty with
the Sondrestrom Detachment. They returned to Dyess on 7 June 1963. During the intervening twenty- four days, they established a record never
before equalled or closely approached by any other C-130
Air Combat Crew participating in the far northern resupply mission. They flew ninety ice cap sorties with a total flying time of 95:45 hours. They airlifted a total of 1,043,101 pounds of materiel, primarily POL products
from Sondrestrom to Dye Sites #2 and #3 and returned 111,117 pounds from
the sites to Sondrestrom for a total of 1,154,218 pounds moved. While weather had moderated suffi- ciently to force an earlier than usual thaw
in the shipping lanes, for flying purposes it was unusually adverse for
the normally "good" period of the year. High winds and sub-zero temperatures producing
"white-outs" on the ice cap were daily encounters. Paradoxically, although four C-130's were positioned at Sondrestrom to execute
this mission. Captain Glenn’s crew alone airlifted more than twice
as much cargo as the other three crews combined. The other three crews were able to account
for slightly more than 400,000 pounds during
this same twenty-four day period.
Often flying as many as four flights in a single day. Crew F-012 literally bore the brunt of the entire
operation. |
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e. |
There was no
deliberate effort or attempt on the part of either |
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this crew or the responsible aircraft scheduling
authorities to "set a record." A number of factors combined to produce this situation but in the final analysis all of them boiled down
to professional airmanship and dedication. Numerous things happened during the 24 day period which highlighted these sterling traits of this
crew. From the beginning Captain Glenn placed himself and his crew
completely at the disposal of the mission commander. He asked the mission commander to take the
full- est advantage of the available flying
weather in scheduling his sorties to the ice cap. In order to do this, the mission commander, who stayed in constant contact with his aircraft, used
his departure notice from the Dye Sites as an automatic
signal to schedule another flight, weather and time of day permitting. Consequently, when Captain Glenn touched- down at Sondrestrom loading personnel were
standing-by ready to reload the aircraft. In the same manner, personnel were on the spot to refuel. In the meantime, the mission commander had
filed flight plans and made block altitude flight reservations for the
following trip. This proce- dure reduced down-time at Sondrestrom to the
bare minimum consistent with aircraft reloading and refueling. In few cases did this exceed one and one-half hours. By such economy of time and motion, Crew
F-012 was able to fly up to four deliveries per
day whereas the norm was one or two.
A hard working crew doing a man size job would be particularly a
fitting description in this case. |
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f. |
Perfect crew
coordination and discipline prevailed throughout. |
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Each crew member pulled his weight and more to produce
optimum results. The crew, to a man,
pitched-in with unloading on the ice cap.
This was reduced to such an exact procedure that one off-loading turn
around was made in twelve minutes. Every Dye Site
landing is made with air borne |
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