Labor Day tribute – honoring one crew of our many outstanding military forces

Flopping Aces ^ | 09-05-09 | Mataharley

[Starman417]

With the Labor Day weekend upon us, it cannot be said enough that the engine of the US is us, her citizens. From those that are perceived to carry the lowliest of jobs to the highest CEO, it is the fruits of our labor, and the regulations we must abide by to harvest those fruits, that enable the elite in the beltway. Truly a fact I believe they have long since discarded as inconvenient.

Today, I am reminded that our military are also toiling daily... sans days off and always on call. And while all deserve mention and our respect, I'm here to tell you the story of just one crew, from one crew member's personal story.

On Sept. 14th, the Crew of Torqe 05, 40th Airlift Squadron, Dyess AFB, Texas, will be the recipient of the Lt. General William H. Tunner Award for 2009 in a ceremony at the Air & Space Conference and Technology Exposition in Washington DC.

The award, given for the year's most outstanding airlift operation, was named for the most outstanding authority on airlift operations of the United States Air Force (and Army Air Corp in WWII). The below are excepts from a biography, written by a grateful recipient of Tunner's "Candy Bombers" in Germany as a young girl.

Lt. Gen. Tunny first helped orginally create, the "Air Corps Ferrying Command" divisions in the early 40s.

July 1942, the name "Ferrying Command" was changed to Air Transport Command. General Tunner, by now a Colonel, was made Commanding Officer of the Ferrying Division. At that time, this division was ferrying 10,000 aircraft monthly to the Allied Forces, which was of vital importance in the early days of World War II.

In Sept of 1944, then Col. Tunner was called to command "The Hump" airlift transport of supplies to the Chinese people in the China-Burma-India theatre of the war. It was there he demonstrated his exceptional abilities to organize efficient and successful airlift missions.

This was the legendary "Hump" airlift, so named because the airplanes had to clear the 16,000 foot high Himalaya Mountains. And even though all air traffic had to be channeled over this enormously high range, Tunner and his crews delivered 71,000 tons of material to China, far beyond what had ever been carried by air before. In OVER THE HUMP, published in 1964, he told of his experiences in this operation.

The Hump airlift laid the foundation for his next, and even more famous airlift mission four years later, The Berlin Airlift - a mission defying all odds and embarrassing the Russians by supplying what was then the fifth largest city in the world (2.5 million people plus 6000 occupation troops), by air alone. In a ten month period, over 2.3 tons of supplies were flown into the city, dwarfing even future airlift operations. For example, between 1992 and 1997, there was a total of 179,910 tons brought into Sarajevo - less than the amount flown into Berlin in merely one month.

The Berlin Airlift earned a later Maj. General William Tunner, and his airlift crews, the H.H. Arnold Award in 1949.

[smokingfrog]

[Jacquerie]

Over 100,000 tons of kick a$$!