The aircraft loadmaster career
field is fairly recent in comparison with other US military aircrew
positions, most of which date back to at least World War II, if not
before. No military occupational speciality existed in the US Army for
such duties and it wasn't until 1953 that the US Air Force finally
established a loadmaster career field as a shred-out of the air
freight Air Force Specialty Code. Although it is a common misconception
among modern loadmasters that they have a heritage dating back to World
War II, such is not the case. The aircraft loadmaster heritage actually
goes back only to the Korean War, and even then it was restricted to
the large four-engine Douglas C-124 Globemaster II. It is believed that
Douglas Aircraft actually originated the term, as it is used in the
company's handbook for the C-124 to describe the duties of a cargo handler.
Some of the duties carried out by present-day loadmasters have existed since World War II but they were carried out either by other flight crewmembers or by ground personnel, particularly US Army Quartermasters assigned to troop carrier and air transport units. Similarly, the term "airlift" is a post-World War II term that was probably coined by the late Lt. General William H. Tunner. During World War II and afterwards, air transportation operations were described only as "air transport", although combat air transport operations were carried out by troop carrier and combat cargo units. At the beginning of the war very little thought had been given to the use of transport aircraft in the military role, but by 1945 when it came to an end troop carrier operations had become an integral air combat mission while the Air Transport Command was operating the largest airline in the world, with air routes that spanned the globe.
Throughout World War II no crewmember was assigned to flight crews specifically to carry out cargo handling duties. Typically, an air transport crew consisted of two pilots and a radio operator unless operations were to be over long expanses of water in which case a navigator was assigned. Twin-engine transports carried the aircraft crew chief whose duties included opening doors and overseeing the cargo compartment as well as assisting with inflight operations. Four-engine transport crews included an aerial engineer whose duties were similar to the C-130 flight mechanic's of the 1950s and 1960s before they were redesignated as flight engineers. Weight and balance calculations were performed either by the pilots or the aerial engineer using a load calculator, the familiar "slipstick" that was basically a slide rule marked to compute aircraft center of gravity index. Slipsticks were used on all military aircraft, including bombers and fighters. It wasn't until the advent of the long-range B-29 Superfortress and the assignment of specially trained flight engineers, all of whom were initially commissioned officers, to compute performance data that weight and balance was computed using mathematical formulas to achieve an accurate of a center of gravity as possible to allow computation of aircraft cruise performance so as to get the maximum amount of range per gallon of fuel.
Early in the war air terminal and air cargo squadrons were established at troop carrier bases overseas, and later at Air Transport Command bases in the United States. The air terminal squadrons included rated aircrew officers, navigators as well as pilots, who were responsible for planning loads to insure that the airplane remained within weight and balance limits. Actual loading was carried out by Quartermaster personnel, often colored troops. It was also within the air terminal squadrons that the first personnel with duties resembling that of a loadmaster originated. The delivery of supplies by parachute became an important air transport mission early in the war, particularly in New Guinea where troop carrier squadrons supported Australian ground troops fighting on the Kokoda Track in mid-1942 and in Burma where the 1st Ferrying Group, a Tenth Air Force unit made up mostly of former airline pilots with US Army reserve commissions that had been sent to India specifically to fly cargo into China, was assigned to drop supplies to British and Chinese units operating in the Naga Hills of northern Burma after the country fell to Japanese forces in mid-1942. Since the handling of supplies was a Quartermaster Corps responsibility, quartermasters were assigned the duty of packing the cargo for airdrop. Specifically, the duties were given to personnel assigned to laundry companies, since they had also been given responsibilty for the packing and handling of cargo parachutes. It was a logical step for the young laundrymen to begin flying on airdrop missions to shove the bundles out of the airplane door. Naturally, they were soon referred to as "kickers." As delivery of supplies by parachute became common throughout the world, the "kickers" were soon assigned to flight duty and referred to as "dropmasters," although no mention of dropmasters is made in the official history of the US Army Air Forces in World War II. They are referred to in some unit histories and historians writing about the B-24 Liberator bomber refer to IX Troop Carrier Command dropmasters being assigned to fly on B-24 cargo missions over France and Holland in the summer of 1944 after the D-Day invasions. Both the kicker and dropmaster terms remained in use in Tactical Air Command into the early 1960s. During the Korean War, although the troop carrier mission had become a US Air Force mission, rigging of cargo and ejection inflight was carried out by US Army airborne quartermasters who flew on airdrop missions in C-119s, C-47s and C-46s. Air Force personnel were not involved in rigging of loads and it was Army personnel who installed the aerial delivery equipment in C-119s and operated it inflight. In 1953 the dropmaster mission transferred to the Air Force along with other duties formally performed by US Army personnel - including combat control - and the new dropmasters were given the loadmaster AFSC that had just been established.
Another job originated in the closing years of World War II that is often attributed to the origin of the loadmaster field by older loadmasters whose careers were in MATS, although such a claim is dubious considering that enlisted kickers had started flying on transport aircraft in early 1942. In February 1943 the Air Transport Command assumed responsibility for the India-China Ferry, a highly political mission transporting military supplies into China, which had been cut off from all surface resupply by the Japanese, from bases in India. Keeping the transports in the air was a major factor in the success of the mission and the rapid movement of aircraft parts from the United States to the ferry squadrons in India became a high priority mission. A special mission was set up by the Air Transport Command that used Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express transports to transport cargo from Cincinnati, Ohio to India. It soon became apparent that there was a need for someone to accompany the cargo all the way to its destination and enlisted men were assigned to the missions to take care of the manifests and to insure that the proper cargo was offloaded at points along the route. Since their duties primarily involved the handling of paperwork, the men were commonly referred to as "flight clerks" although the proper term was flight traffic clerk. As more transports became available, ATC began transporting more and more passengers so flight traffic clerks were assigned to its routes to take care of passengers. Some flight traffic clerks, particularly on domestic routes, were evidently Air WACs. By mid-1944 the need for combat aircrew was diminishing as losses decreased and men in the training pipeline for aircrew duty as pilots, navigators, bombardiers, aerial engineers, gunners and radio operators were reassigned to the Air Transport Command to fly as flight traffic clerks. After the war ended as troop carrier squadrons overseas became involved in the movement of passengers, some flight traffic clerks were assigned to troop carrier squadrons although the assignments were evidently short-lived as no mention of flight traffic clerks is made in either the Berlin Airlift or the Korean War troop carrier histories. Flight traffic clerks did fly on C-54s in MATS on passenger missions and on other passenger-carrying aircraft such as the C-118, C-76 and C-121. They were also assigned to the Douglas C-74, a large four-engine transport that was developed during World War II but which was modified to become the C-124 after only a handful entered operational service.
Immediately after the Korean War the Air Force air transportation mission underwent a major overhaul. Air transportation duties that had formerly been carried out by US Army personnel transferred to the Air Force and aerial port squadrons were established at several locations overseas and at Tactical Air Command bases in the US. Aerial delivery sections were included and dropmasters were assigned to check loads rigged by US Army airborne quartermasters for proper rigging and to fly on airdrop missions to operate the aerial delivery equipment. Loadmasters were assigned to C-124 crews in TAC, and also in other commands that used the huge four-engine transport, specifically the Military Air Transport Service and Strategic Air Command's logistical support squadrons.
Beginning in December 1956, TAC troop carrier squadrons began receiving the new Lockheed C-130 Hercules, replacing Fairchild C-119s. Radio operators were retrained as aircraft loadmasters/dropmasters, and for the next five to seven years there was some confusion as to where they should be assigned. Since their primary duties involved aerial delivery, most were initially assigned to the aerial port squadrons and attached to the troop carrier squadrons for flight duty on airdrop missions. MATS assigned loadmasters to its air transport squadrons but they were only required to fly when cargo was carried. Flight traffic specialists, bascially flight attendants, who were lineal descendants of the WW II flight traffic clerks, flew on passenger missions. After considerable discussion as to whether there was an actual need for loadmasters to fly on logistical missions, MATS adopted the policy that they might be needed in the event of a need to jettison cargo and loadmasters were assigned to the air transport squadrons, although they were not considered to be part of the flight crew and were not afforded crew rest. On aircraft such as the C-135, it was common for both a loadmaster and flight traffic specialist (commonly referred to as "hot cuppers" and often female) to be assigned to the same mission since they sometimes carried both cargo and passengers. TAC C-130 crews included both a flight mechanic and a scanner, who were usually assigned to a particular airplane's ground crew and worked on the flight line when they were not flying. Due to regulatory requirements, TAC troop carrier transports were not allowed to carry non-tactical cargo in the US; aerial port loadmasters flew with the squadrons on cargo missions in Europe and the Far East.
The beginning of the Vietnam War saw another major evolution in the loadmaster career field as loadmasters were assigned to flight crews (as opposed to cabin crews or strictly for aerial delivery) for the first time. When Project MULE TRAIN, a project that sent a squadron TAC C-123s from the 464th Troop Carrier Wing at Pope AFB, NC to Clark Field in the Philippines, then on to Saigon, loadmasters were transferred into the troop carrier squadrons from the aerial port squadron at Pope - and from that time on, they never left. By 1963 loadmasters had taken over the scanner's duties on TAC C-130 crews and TAC Manual 55-130, which dictated how troop carrier operations functioned in the overseas commands of PACAF and USAFE as well, stipulated that loadmasters were part of the five-man C-130 crew. Loadmasters were also assigned to C-123 squadrons, although by the mid-1960s all C-123s had transferred to air commando squadrons. Additional loadmasters were assigned to the aerial port squadrons and were assigned to fly as second loadmaster on aerial delivery missions. As the Vietnam War escalated, loadmasters assigned to C-123 and C-130 squadrons assumed a far greater importance than loadmasters had ever seen in other commands. (Ironically, when the Air Force received the Army's CV-2 Caribous, loadmasters were not assigned to Caribou crews. Instead, in keeping with the Army policy of using crew chiefs on their airplanes, the Air Force assigned experienced flight engineers to C-7 squadrons and it was the Caribou flight engineer who was responsible for loadmaster duties, including airdrop.) The combat environment required that aircraft be off-loaded as quickly as possible to avoid destruction by enemy ground attack and the loadmaster became the most important member of the aircrew after the pilots. How quickly a loadmaster functioned could determine whether or not an aircrew survived in the combat environment. Loadmaster Charlie Shaub recieved the Air Force Cross for saving his airplane by manually extending the landing gear even though his hands had been badly burned while he was battling a fire that had been set by ground fire that damaged his airplane and killed the flight engineer on a mission over An Loc in the spring of 1972. Loadmaster John Levitow was awarded the Medal of Honor for throwing a flare out of an AC-47 gunship, but he was not assigned to an air transportation/airlift mission at the time.
In 1970 the huge C-5 Galaxy entered operational service and brought in a new requirement for loadmaster knowledge. The C-5 incorporated complex hydraulic and pneumatic systems that were used to operate the forward and aft cargo doors and to kneel the airplane for loading and offloading. Kneeling the airplane was initially a five-man operation, but it was reduced to three when the pneumatic kneeling system was converted to hydraulics. Loadmasters were required to be able to operate the APUs and hydraulic systems on the ground when the flight crew was not around. Prior to the early 1970s the aircraft loadmaster career field remained as a shredout of the air freight field. In 1962 it was established as 607X0, with an A Prefix to indicate that the airman was assigned to flight status, as was true in all career fields. The advent of the C-5 led to an A appendix to the AFSC, as in A60770A to indicate that an airman was a C-5 loadmaster supervisor. As the war in Vietnam began winding down and aircrew positions were decreased, USAF decided to lump all enlisted aircrew personnel into one career field and the air operations field 10000 was established with the aircraft loadmaster field becoming 114X0 (114X0A for C-5 loadmasters.) The field went through another evolution with the introduction of the C-17 and C-130J, neither of which carry flight engineers. On the C-130J in particular, the loadmaster assumed duties previously performed by the flight engineer/flight mechanic, including monitoring of environmental systems and hydraulics.
The post-Vietnam period saw loadmasters assigned to ground positions as load planners with Airlift Command Elements, commonly known as ALCE. ALCE loadmasters were the result of the assignment of loadmasters to non-flying assignments with aerial port units in South Vietnam for duty in the field in mobility sections. Working with US Army and Marine combat units by planning loads for movement by air is their primary function, but ALCE loadmasters often worked as air freight personnel.
Some of the duties carried out by present-day loadmasters have existed since World War II but they were carried out either by other flight crewmembers or by ground personnel, particularly US Army Quartermasters assigned to troop carrier and air transport units. Similarly, the term "airlift" is a post-World War II term that was probably coined by the late Lt. General William H. Tunner. During World War II and afterwards, air transportation operations were described only as "air transport", although combat air transport operations were carried out by troop carrier and combat cargo units. At the beginning of the war very little thought had been given to the use of transport aircraft in the military role, but by 1945 when it came to an end troop carrier operations had become an integral air combat mission while the Air Transport Command was operating the largest airline in the world, with air routes that spanned the globe.
Throughout World War II no crewmember was assigned to flight crews specifically to carry out cargo handling duties. Typically, an air transport crew consisted of two pilots and a radio operator unless operations were to be over long expanses of water in which case a navigator was assigned. Twin-engine transports carried the aircraft crew chief whose duties included opening doors and overseeing the cargo compartment as well as assisting with inflight operations. Four-engine transport crews included an aerial engineer whose duties were similar to the C-130 flight mechanic's of the 1950s and 1960s before they were redesignated as flight engineers. Weight and balance calculations were performed either by the pilots or the aerial engineer using a load calculator, the familiar "slipstick" that was basically a slide rule marked to compute aircraft center of gravity index. Slipsticks were used on all military aircraft, including bombers and fighters. It wasn't until the advent of the long-range B-29 Superfortress and the assignment of specially trained flight engineers, all of whom were initially commissioned officers, to compute performance data that weight and balance was computed using mathematical formulas to achieve an accurate of a center of gravity as possible to allow computation of aircraft cruise performance so as to get the maximum amount of range per gallon of fuel.
Early in the war air terminal and air cargo squadrons were established at troop carrier bases overseas, and later at Air Transport Command bases in the United States. The air terminal squadrons included rated aircrew officers, navigators as well as pilots, who were responsible for planning loads to insure that the airplane remained within weight and balance limits. Actual loading was carried out by Quartermaster personnel, often colored troops. It was also within the air terminal squadrons that the first personnel with duties resembling that of a loadmaster originated. The delivery of supplies by parachute became an important air transport mission early in the war, particularly in New Guinea where troop carrier squadrons supported Australian ground troops fighting on the Kokoda Track in mid-1942 and in Burma where the 1st Ferrying Group, a Tenth Air Force unit made up mostly of former airline pilots with US Army reserve commissions that had been sent to India specifically to fly cargo into China, was assigned to drop supplies to British and Chinese units operating in the Naga Hills of northern Burma after the country fell to Japanese forces in mid-1942. Since the handling of supplies was a Quartermaster Corps responsibility, quartermasters were assigned the duty of packing the cargo for airdrop. Specifically, the duties were given to personnel assigned to laundry companies, since they had also been given responsibilty for the packing and handling of cargo parachutes. It was a logical step for the young laundrymen to begin flying on airdrop missions to shove the bundles out of the airplane door. Naturally, they were soon referred to as "kickers." As delivery of supplies by parachute became common throughout the world, the "kickers" were soon assigned to flight duty and referred to as "dropmasters," although no mention of dropmasters is made in the official history of the US Army Air Forces in World War II. They are referred to in some unit histories and historians writing about the B-24 Liberator bomber refer to IX Troop Carrier Command dropmasters being assigned to fly on B-24 cargo missions over France and Holland in the summer of 1944 after the D-Day invasions. Both the kicker and dropmaster terms remained in use in Tactical Air Command into the early 1960s. During the Korean War, although the troop carrier mission had become a US Air Force mission, rigging of cargo and ejection inflight was carried out by US Army airborne quartermasters who flew on airdrop missions in C-119s, C-47s and C-46s. Air Force personnel were not involved in rigging of loads and it was Army personnel who installed the aerial delivery equipment in C-119s and operated it inflight. In 1953 the dropmaster mission transferred to the Air Force along with other duties formally performed by US Army personnel - including combat control - and the new dropmasters were given the loadmaster AFSC that had just been established.
Another job originated in the closing years of World War II that is often attributed to the origin of the loadmaster field by older loadmasters whose careers were in MATS, although such a claim is dubious considering that enlisted kickers had started flying on transport aircraft in early 1942. In February 1943 the Air Transport Command assumed responsibility for the India-China Ferry, a highly political mission transporting military supplies into China, which had been cut off from all surface resupply by the Japanese, from bases in India. Keeping the transports in the air was a major factor in the success of the mission and the rapid movement of aircraft parts from the United States to the ferry squadrons in India became a high priority mission. A special mission was set up by the Air Transport Command that used Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express transports to transport cargo from Cincinnati, Ohio to India. It soon became apparent that there was a need for someone to accompany the cargo all the way to its destination and enlisted men were assigned to the missions to take care of the manifests and to insure that the proper cargo was offloaded at points along the route. Since their duties primarily involved the handling of paperwork, the men were commonly referred to as "flight clerks" although the proper term was flight traffic clerk. As more transports became available, ATC began transporting more and more passengers so flight traffic clerks were assigned to its routes to take care of passengers. Some flight traffic clerks, particularly on domestic routes, were evidently Air WACs. By mid-1944 the need for combat aircrew was diminishing as losses decreased and men in the training pipeline for aircrew duty as pilots, navigators, bombardiers, aerial engineers, gunners and radio operators were reassigned to the Air Transport Command to fly as flight traffic clerks. After the war ended as troop carrier squadrons overseas became involved in the movement of passengers, some flight traffic clerks were assigned to troop carrier squadrons although the assignments were evidently short-lived as no mention of flight traffic clerks is made in either the Berlin Airlift or the Korean War troop carrier histories. Flight traffic clerks did fly on C-54s in MATS on passenger missions and on other passenger-carrying aircraft such as the C-118, C-76 and C-121. They were also assigned to the Douglas C-74, a large four-engine transport that was developed during World War II but which was modified to become the C-124 after only a handful entered operational service.
Immediately after the Korean War the Air Force air transportation mission underwent a major overhaul. Air transportation duties that had formerly been carried out by US Army personnel transferred to the Air Force and aerial port squadrons were established at several locations overseas and at Tactical Air Command bases in the US. Aerial delivery sections were included and dropmasters were assigned to check loads rigged by US Army airborne quartermasters for proper rigging and to fly on airdrop missions to operate the aerial delivery equipment. Loadmasters were assigned to C-124 crews in TAC, and also in other commands that used the huge four-engine transport, specifically the Military Air Transport Service and Strategic Air Command's logistical support squadrons.
Beginning in December 1956, TAC troop carrier squadrons began receiving the new Lockheed C-130 Hercules, replacing Fairchild C-119s. Radio operators were retrained as aircraft loadmasters/dropmasters, and for the next five to seven years there was some confusion as to where they should be assigned. Since their primary duties involved aerial delivery, most were initially assigned to the aerial port squadrons and attached to the troop carrier squadrons for flight duty on airdrop missions. MATS assigned loadmasters to its air transport squadrons but they were only required to fly when cargo was carried. Flight traffic specialists, bascially flight attendants, who were lineal descendants of the WW II flight traffic clerks, flew on passenger missions. After considerable discussion as to whether there was an actual need for loadmasters to fly on logistical missions, MATS adopted the policy that they might be needed in the event of a need to jettison cargo and loadmasters were assigned to the air transport squadrons, although they were not considered to be part of the flight crew and were not afforded crew rest. On aircraft such as the C-135, it was common for both a loadmaster and flight traffic specialist (commonly referred to as "hot cuppers" and often female) to be assigned to the same mission since they sometimes carried both cargo and passengers. TAC C-130 crews included both a flight mechanic and a scanner, who were usually assigned to a particular airplane's ground crew and worked on the flight line when they were not flying. Due to regulatory requirements, TAC troop carrier transports were not allowed to carry non-tactical cargo in the US; aerial port loadmasters flew with the squadrons on cargo missions in Europe and the Far East.
The beginning of the Vietnam War saw another major evolution in the loadmaster career field as loadmasters were assigned to flight crews (as opposed to cabin crews or strictly for aerial delivery) for the first time. When Project MULE TRAIN, a project that sent a squadron TAC C-123s from the 464th Troop Carrier Wing at Pope AFB, NC to Clark Field in the Philippines, then on to Saigon, loadmasters were transferred into the troop carrier squadrons from the aerial port squadron at Pope - and from that time on, they never left. By 1963 loadmasters had taken over the scanner's duties on TAC C-130 crews and TAC Manual 55-130, which dictated how troop carrier operations functioned in the overseas commands of PACAF and USAFE as well, stipulated that loadmasters were part of the five-man C-130 crew. Loadmasters were also assigned to C-123 squadrons, although by the mid-1960s all C-123s had transferred to air commando squadrons. Additional loadmasters were assigned to the aerial port squadrons and were assigned to fly as second loadmaster on aerial delivery missions. As the Vietnam War escalated, loadmasters assigned to C-123 and C-130 squadrons assumed a far greater importance than loadmasters had ever seen in other commands. (Ironically, when the Air Force received the Army's CV-2 Caribous, loadmasters were not assigned to Caribou crews. Instead, in keeping with the Army policy of using crew chiefs on their airplanes, the Air Force assigned experienced flight engineers to C-7 squadrons and it was the Caribou flight engineer who was responsible for loadmaster duties, including airdrop.) The combat environment required that aircraft be off-loaded as quickly as possible to avoid destruction by enemy ground attack and the loadmaster became the most important member of the aircrew after the pilots. How quickly a loadmaster functioned could determine whether or not an aircrew survived in the combat environment. Loadmaster Charlie Shaub recieved the Air Force Cross for saving his airplane by manually extending the landing gear even though his hands had been badly burned while he was battling a fire that had been set by ground fire that damaged his airplane and killed the flight engineer on a mission over An Loc in the spring of 1972. Loadmaster John Levitow was awarded the Medal of Honor for throwing a flare out of an AC-47 gunship, but he was not assigned to an air transportation/airlift mission at the time.
In 1970 the huge C-5 Galaxy entered operational service and brought in a new requirement for loadmaster knowledge. The C-5 incorporated complex hydraulic and pneumatic systems that were used to operate the forward and aft cargo doors and to kneel the airplane for loading and offloading. Kneeling the airplane was initially a five-man operation, but it was reduced to three when the pneumatic kneeling system was converted to hydraulics. Loadmasters were required to be able to operate the APUs and hydraulic systems on the ground when the flight crew was not around. Prior to the early 1970s the aircraft loadmaster career field remained as a shredout of the air freight field. In 1962 it was established as 607X0, with an A Prefix to indicate that the airman was assigned to flight status, as was true in all career fields. The advent of the C-5 led to an A appendix to the AFSC, as in A60770A to indicate that an airman was a C-5 loadmaster supervisor. As the war in Vietnam began winding down and aircrew positions were decreased, USAF decided to lump all enlisted aircrew personnel into one career field and the air operations field 10000 was established with the aircraft loadmaster field becoming 114X0 (114X0A for C-5 loadmasters.) The field went through another evolution with the introduction of the C-17 and C-130J, neither of which carry flight engineers. On the C-130J in particular, the loadmaster assumed duties previously performed by the flight engineer/flight mechanic, including monitoring of environmental systems and hydraulics.
The post-Vietnam period saw loadmasters assigned to ground positions as load planners with Airlift Command Elements, commonly known as ALCE. ALCE loadmasters were the result of the assignment of loadmasters to non-flying assignments with aerial port units in South Vietnam for duty in the field in mobility sections. Working with US Army and Marine combat units by planning loads for movement by air is their primary function, but ALCE loadmasters often worked as air freight personnel.
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