C-124 from the 22nd MAS at Tachikawa on one of the few actual combat airlift missions C-124s and MAC crews ever flew. This airplane brought an Army Caterpillar into the remote camp at Kham Duc on May 10, 1968. Two days later the camp was evacuated by C-130s, one C-123 and Army and Marine helicopters. Two C-130s were shot down during the evacuation.
If there is an airplane that old MATS
crewmembers look back on with fondness, it is undoubtedly the Douglas C-124
Globemaster II. For a generation of airlifters, the C-124 personified
airlift, and those who flew the shakey old bird, often known as "the aluminum
overcast," treasure the memories of those years. Until the advent of the C-5,
the C-124 was the only airplane capable of carrying some of the Army's largest
items of cargo. And, thanks to TAC, it was the only MATS airplane other than the
C-130E that was capable of airdrop before the C-141 entered service.
The
C-124 is a direct descendant of the C-74, a design that was developed during the
first months of World War II. A contract was let for 14 C-74s in 1942, but it
was not until September, 1945 that the first airplane flew. The contract for a
subsequent order was cancelled and the money diverted for the C-124, which was
built off of the C-74 airframe. Both airplanes featured the same wings and, at
least initally, the same engines. The C-124 had a much larger fuselage, which
allowed it to accomodate items that were previously too large for
airlift.
The development of the C-124 came at a time when the Troop
Carrier Command was looking for a long-range transport with tactical
capabilities. The Air Transport Command, which had just become Military Air
Transport Service, felt that all of the C-124s should be assigned to it's
squadrons and a big political row ensued over the airplane. In the end, TAC
prevailed and tactical capabilities were added to the C-124 even though it was
not the airplane TAC really wanted.
Ironically, it was neither MATS nor
TAC who got the first C-124s, but rather SAC, who assigned the huge transport to
its logistical support squadrons. Subsequent deliveries went to TAC and MAC and
the airplane was just coming into service when the Korean War broke
out.
Initially, the C-124s were used on the long overwater flights to the
Far East from the West Coast. The TAC squadrons flew missions for MATS, which
was severly under-strength in terms of airplanes and personnel. TAC C-54s also
operated with MATS.
In September, 1951, the Air Proving Ground C-124 went to
Korea for testing with the 315th Air Division. A single C-124 could do the work
of a pair of C-54s, and the 315th commander asked that a squadron be assigned to
his command. In the fall of 1952 C-124s were assigned to two squadrons of the
374th Troop Carrier Wing in Japan and were heavily involved in the Korean
Airlift. In the end, the last active duty C-124s would be assigned to
PACAF.
While MATS used the C-124 as an overwater transport, TAC used it
as a troop carrier. SAC used the airplane to support the nuclear-carrying B-36
force. In the Far East, 315th Air Division used it primarly to carry outsize
cargo that was too large for the C-119s with which its squadrons had equipped
during the Korean War. C-124s were used in Indo China, particularly to airlift
the wounded from the Dien Bien Phu battle back to France. Air evac C-124s
assigned to 315th picked the patients up in Indochina and flew them to Japan.
There they were loaded onto TAC airplanes for the flight to France.
In
the late 1950s, as TAC was starting to get C-130s, the troop carrier C-124
squadrons transferred to MATS. For the TAC flight crews, the transfer was a big
change as they went from troop carrier flying to cargo missions with MATS. MATS
crews wore Class A uniforms when they flew, while the TAC crews wore flying
fatigues. Though now part of MATS, the former TAC units retained their troop
carrier idenity while the MATS units were designated as air transport
squadrons.
By the early sixties, all of the C-124s were either in MATS,
or assigned to the logistical support squadrons which had become part of the Air
Force Logistics Command. MATS airplanes were based at Charleston, SC, Savannah,
Georgia, Dover, Delaware, Suison, California and Tacoma,Washington. The 6th and
22nd Troop Carrier Squadrons, based at Honolulu and Tachikawa, Japan,
respectively, were assigned to MATS but operated under the control of
PACAF.
With the advent of the TAC Composite Air Strike Force concept in
the late 1950s, MATS' C-124s undertook a new role as they became responsible for
assisting TAC's C-130s during deployments of TAC fight units overseas. In the
early sixties the Air Force ordered the C-124 squadrons to attain tactical
profficiency, and C-124 crews were soon heavily involved in airdrop training at
Pope and Fort Campbell.
As events in Southeast Asia led to an increase in
the American presence there, the C-124s were soon heavily involved in airlift
opertions carrying cargo from the United States and Hawaii to Vietnam and
Thailand. MATS C-124s were also involved in the Congo. A C-124 crew from
Charleston was pulled from their airplane and savagely beaten by a hostile mob
at Stanleyville.
For C-124 crews, a flight to the other side of the world
took more than two weeks to complete. Ole Shakey could carry a sizeable load,
but the airplane was slow and unpressurized, which meant the crews had to
operate below 12,000 feet and down in the weather. A mission was rather
demanding physically on the crews.
The 22nd TCS at Tachikawa operated
under 315th Air Division to carry outsize cargo. While MATS C-124s operated only
into the coastal bases where there were MATS facilities, the 22nd crews often
delivered large generators and other items too large for C-130 lift into
airfields in the interior of Vietnam. Tachikawa-based C-124s were a regular
sight at many of the forward airfields in South Vietnam, as the big airplanes
were used in the tactical airlift role. Two C-124 missions were flown into Kham
Duc carrying bulldozers and US Army engineers as the camp was reinforced prior
to the dramatic evacuation on May 12, 1968.
MATS C-124s flew literally
all over the world, but they were limited to hard surface runways which kept
them from attaining the reputation of the more rugged C-130s. Because they were
unpressurized, the C-124s were used almost exclusively for cargo transport by
MATS, with the jet C-135s assuming the troop and passenger carrying role. One
C-124 mission was airdropping supplies to Operation Deep Freeze outposts
in Antarctica. The C-124 crews flew out of Christ Church, New Zealand, for the
drops.
In 1964 the C-141 made its appearance, and signalled that the days
of the C-124 were indeed numbered. But the C-124's huge fuselage allowed it to
carry items of cargo too large for delivery by C-141, so a few squadrons
remained on active duty until almost the end of the decade. The only other
airplane with outsized cargo capabilities was the C-133, but that airplane was
plagued with problems and most were retired from service by the late 1960s.
Charleston, Dover, Travis and McChord each retained a C-124 squadron as the
others on the bases received the new jet C-141. The AFLC logistic squadrons also
retained their C-124s for a time.
On New Years Day, 1966, MATS became MAC
and all of the squadrons became military airlift squadrons. The 22nd in Japan
continued under 315th Air Division control even though the squadron became part
of MAC. The AFLC logistics squadrons also transferred to MAC, and the 7th Log at
Robins AFB, GA became the 58th MAS and began equipping with C-141s. The squadron
at Kelly retained its C-124s for a time, while the Hill AFB, Utah unit was
inactivated.
As the MATS C-124s were replaced by C-141s, the
Globemasters transferred to reserve and air guard squadrons. The reserve
units began flying overseas missions, and thus continued to offer the outsize
cargo capabilities for which the C-124 was famous.
In 1968 MAC
deactivated the 22nd at Tachikawa, and the designation moved to Travis. To
replace the 22nd C-124s, the Air Force assigned four of them to the 463rd
Tactical Airlift Wing at Clark, where they became part of the 20th Operations
Squadron along with some C-118s that were used for Air Evac. The 20th OS C-124s
continued to fly outsize cargo missions into Southeast Asia as the 22nd MAS had
done.
In the summer of 1970 MAC took delivery on the first of its C-5s,
and the larger Galaxy picked up the outsize cargo mission. In the early
1970s the Air Force began replacing the C-124s in the reserve units with C-130s.
The aging C-124s made their last flight to the boneyard, or to aviation museums
where they remain as a testimonial to a by-gone era.
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