The Beginning
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States was suddenly involved in two major wars, one in the Pacific against Japan and the other in Europe against Germany. Troops were deployed overseas, and combat air forces were formed and located in strategic areas of the world.
Major Challenges
To support the overseas forces and U.S. allies, a military air transport system was needed. The major airlines helped with the organization, and the aircraft manufacturers came through with the planes needed for the difficult missions.
Worldwide Organization
To meet the airlift requirements in these large areas, the Air Transport Command (ATC) was divided into nine wings (or in 1944, divisions) and were assigned geographical sectors. Each division was responsible for the movement of supplies, equipment, and key personnel within its sector and coordinated its activities with other divisions to provide a worldwide delivery system. The Navy provided a similar operation to its forces with the much smaller Naval Air Transport Service (NATS). This report focuses on the activities of ATC.
Principal Aircraft
The Douglas C-47, a conversion of the successful commercial DC-3 airliner, proved to be a mainstay in all theaters of operation. Its mission was enhanced by the Curtiss C-46 which had twice the carrying capacity of the C-47. For the long over-water flights, B-24 bombers were modified as cargo planes and designated C-87s. The premier long-range plane, originally to be a Douglas DC-4 commercial airliner, became the C-54.
Europe, Africa, and the Middle East Theaters
North African Campaign and the Middle East
The oldest of the air routes under ATC jurisdiction (and throughout 1942 the most important) reached from Florida, south to Natal, Brazil, then across the South Atlantic to Africa and the Middle East. It provided a lend-lease supply line to British forces fighting in the Near East. The battle lasted from 10 June 1940 until the German surrender on 13 May 1943. After the U.S. entry into the war on 7 December 1941, ATC participated in the North African Campaign, called Operation Torch, by bringing supplies to U.S. forces as well. It also supported Fifteenth, Twelfth, and Ninth Air Forces operating from locations along the Mediterranean coast and Cairo, Egypt.
Transport aircraft often stopped at Ascension Island in the South Atlantic on the flight from Natal, Brazil; to Accra, Ghana; or Kano, Nigeria. Eastbound flights continued through Central Africa to Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and to India to link up with the China-Burma-India Division. After Lagens Field (now known as Lajes) in the Azores was opened in late 1943, flights went from the U.S. east coast via Newfoundland and the Azores to Casablanca, French Morocco, and then across North Africa to Egypt, Iran, and India. This new route to India was much shorter than the 14,000-mile flights from Florida across the South Atlantic.
European Campaign
One of the difficulties ATC had was the winter weather over the North Atlantic. Until Lagens Field in the Azores was opened in late 1943, eastbound operations over the North Atlantic ceased because of very high winds and other adverse conditions. When the field became operational, all eastbound flights resumed, and by March of 1944 most transport flying between the United States and Great Britain or North Africa went by way of the Azores.
Bermuda was used as a weather alternate to Newfoundland. When able, flights to Prestwick, Scotland, continued to be flown via Labrador and Iceland. Through the winter of 1943-44, ATC provided a sizable eastward lift for the movement of key personnel, mail, and critical cargoes to the European and Mediterranean theaters. From January 1944 the monthly lift increased from 350 tons and 785 passengers to 1,178 tons in June and 1,900 tons and 2,570 passengers by July. Seventy percent went to Great Britain and 30% to North Africa.
ATC provided emergency airlift to Eighth Air Force, delivering incendiary-bomb fuzes, jettisonable fuel tanks for fighter planes, and other equipment. Pontoons were hastily carried to the Fifth Army in Italy.
In addition to their typical cargo, ATC carried 3,570 pounds of whole blood daily to Paris. Thousands of battle casualties were returned to the U.S. for medical care.
In the last five months of the war in Europe, over 10,000 tons of air cargo were carried overseas by ATC. It proved to be a safe, dependable airlift service.
Asiatic Pacific Theater
The Aleutian Islands Campaign (June 1942 – August 1943)
The Japanese believed that control of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, was of strategic importance to prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. They bombed Dutch Harbor on 3 and 4 June 1942 and occupied Kiska and Attu.
ATC responded and sent many planes to Edmonton, Canada, a major railhead and U.S. Army supply depot. There they loaded troops, ammunition, medical supplies, food, weapons, and other vital equipment and made daily round trips to Dutch Harbor. They also flew in a complete hospital as the one in Dutch Harbor had been partially demolished by Japanese bombing.
Throughout the ongoing battle with the Japanese occupation of Kiska and Attu, American and Canadian forces and Eleventh Air Force were supplied by ATC until all Japanese forces withdrew on 15 August 1943.
The India-China Airlift (July 1942 – December 1945)
In 1942, shortly after the United States entered the war, China stood between more than a million Japanese troops and the southeast Asia region, including American forces. After China’s ocean, rail, and road supply routes were blocked, all supplies had to be moved by air over the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains, an area named The Hump by Allied pilots.
The India-China airlift was dangerous because there were no radio navigation aids, maps were unreliable, and the weather was unpredictable.
Daily operations for 42 months resulted in delivery of 650,000 tons of materiel. Most of the personnel were from ATC with support from Britain, India, Burma, and China. Thirty-four thousand military personnel and 640 aircraft were involved. Five hundred forty-nine aircraft (86%) were lost or destroyed, and 1,659 personnel (5%) were killed or missing.
ATC was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation at the personal direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944–the first such award made to a non-combat organization.
Australia and the Pacific Islands
With the loss of the Philippines to the Japanese, Fifth Air Force and other U.S forces were relocated to Australia. This was vital for the defense of Australia as well as to provide a base to launch offensive operations to retake lost ground from the Japanese. In addition to Fifth Air Force, ATC supported Thirteenth Air Force at New Caledonia.
The Pacific route operation at the end of 1942 was still without proper organization, standardization, maintenance, or discipline. Staffing was increased, and by the end of 1943 the Pacific’s roster showed approximately 5,000 personnel. By September 1945, the size had increased to 41,600 officers and enlisted personnel.
In 1943, there were 29 aircraft assigned to Pacific operations, and at the end of December scheduled traffic amounted to 20 round-trip flights a week. The westbound lift from California, 107 tons in December 1942, had risen to 355 tons in December 1943. In addition, ATC performed special missions. One such mission was to send eight sets of B-24 modified horizontal stabilizers to Fifth Air Force at Port Moresby, Australia, to keep their B-24s flying.
As combat operations moved further north, the Australian terminus shifted from Brisbane to Townsville and Port Moresby, 1300 miles north of Brisbane. Sometimes, ordered equipment arrived at its destination after the ordering unit had moved to another location requiring trans-shipping the equipment.
With the rapid movement of combat activities northward, the Central Pacific route became the primary focus of transpacific operations rather than the Southwest Pacific route to Australia.
Air evacuation planes carried cargo and passengers on their westward flights and evacuation of the wounded eastward. In the battle at Saipan alone approximately 800 wounded were evacuated.
Throughout 1944 and 1945, ATC played an increasingly important role. In December 1943, the actual westbound lift amounted to 494 tons. The next December it was 1,618 tons, and in July 1945 it reached 3,483 tons. Bomber Command flew hundreds of B-29 bombers to the western Pacific for action against the Japanese homeland. An enlarged ATC played an important role in supporting strategic bombing by bringing in equipment and additional crews.
After the war with Japan ended on 30 August 1945, 1,336 C-54 flights brought over 23,000 troops, 924 jeeps, 9 disassembled liaison aircraft, 329 other vehicles and pieces of equipment, gasoline, and rations to Atsugi Airdrome, Japan. More than 7,000 released prisoners were flown to Okinawa, Japan, to begin their repatriation journey to the U.S.
Size of the Air Transport Command
When operations began on 1 July 1942, ATC’s military strength was approximately 11,000 officers and enlisted men. By August 1945, it had reached over 209,000 with an additional 104,000 civilian personnel. ATC’s fleet of 3,700 planes operated an aerial network stretching 180,000 miles reaching virtually everywhere in the world. In July 1945, the month preceding the termination of hostilities, ATC planes carried almost 275,000 passengers and delivered just under 100,000 tons of mail and freight.
Size of the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS)
While ATC supported the Army, NATS supported naval fleet forces worldwide. Its planes were R4D (C-47) and R5D (C-54) aircraft, and several types of flying boats. At its peak strength it totaled four wings of 18 squadrons that had 540 aircraft with 26,000 personnel.
Air Transport Command Legacy
On 18 September 1947, the U.S. Air Force became a separate branch of the military, and on 1 June 1948 the Air Transport Command and the Naval Air Transport Service merged into one organization, the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).
ATC had built a highly effective worldwide military delivery system through its pioneering efforts of building bases and establishing routes and navigation aids. The Military Air Transport Service inherited a very successful operation and continued the mission of military airlift to our forces and those of our allies.
My father was a Flight Engineer & Crew Chief with the 8th Operational Training Unit, 1311th Base Unit, Col. Lee Willey, Commander, Gaya, India. This unit was tasked with transitioning new Hump Pilots from Single Engine to Multi-Engine flight operations. Dad was originally in ICWATC later re-designated the ICDATC. He flew in every type plane flown over the Hump and amassed hundreds of hours in-flight. He was based with the 8th OTU for 18 months, flying just about every day. He was one of the recipients of the 1944 PUC award. Does anyone have a relative that also served with the 8th OTU? They were a very small, generally unknown unit in the Hump Operations.
My Dad and his twin brother were in the ATC 43-46. When they were based in Homestead AFB Captain Walker was there who wrote The Wild Blue Yonder. They later were based at Hickham. My dad passed in September and I played the 43 version of Wild Blue Yonder and buried him in the uniform he was so very very proud of.
Pick up the book, “United States Army in World War II China-Burma-India Theater Time Runs out in CBI” by Charles F. Romanus and Riley Sunderland. You should be able to borrow the book, inter library loan. Some info about ATC, pictures and maps. Take a look on the internet for Robert J. Serling’s book – “When the Airlines Went to War”. My Father-in-Law was a radio operator, WWII, South Pacific, ATC/United Airlines-flew out of SFO/OAK/Hamilton Field. Thank you for all your comments. Brought back a lot of memories of being with him.
“When the Airlines Went to War” is very informative. BTW the author of this article did his ATC training at Hamilton Field.
My Grandfather was an American Airlines pilot who in WWII became a pilot for and flew “the hump” to China etc many times. He crashed on “Lac O’Connor” (name of lake now known) and the John Wayne movie Island in the Sky was about their survival until they could be rescued. So glad to have found this website!!!!
Janice, thank you for the post. Just yesterday, I heard a story about one of the crew members of your grand father’s successful landing on Lake “O’Connor”, who lived in Newport RI, sometime during he late 1940’s ~ early 1950’s. This gentlemen, apparently had trained a parrot to squawk out the DC-3 take off check list, “flaps__”…., “airspeed___”, and so on. Any chance you know who this parrot trainer/ crew member was?
Thanks for this site! My late father, then district traffic manager for TWA in Indianapolis, joined the US Army Air Corps ATS in 1942. After training at Eglin, he was sent to England for the duration of the war. His separation papers from the Air Corps do not specify the location of his service, but he told us he was first in Cornwall (Mawgren), then transferred to London where he was somehow involved with liaison work for the 303rd Free Polish fighter squadron there. After the Germans vacated Paris, Dad (then a Major) was sent to France to help re-establish Paris airfields, then later to Marseilles and North Africa. He was discharged from the Air Corps in 1946 and briefly worked for Mid-Continent Airlines in KC Missouri before returning to the (new) USAF during Korea. He was a MATS traffic and transport officer until he retired from service in 1967.
When we were stationed in France in the early 60s (he was traffic officer for the 322nd Air Division), we visited London and looked up the apartment building he lived in during WW2! Is there any other way to determine exactly what his WW2 duty tours were other than his DD214?
Military records can be found for almost all veterans. Here is website to get the Standard Form 180.
You are eligible to get your dad records through the military at the following website and give them all the information you have on your dad. It will take some time but I got my records and my fathers also. You can also ask for his military medals but there are two different places to send the form as shown on the Standard Form 180. Hope that helps.
Does anyone know how to obtain records of those who served in the ATC ?
Peter Quinby did you ever find out how to obtain records for individuals who served in the ATC?
Hello and thank you for creating this wonderful organization. For my lifetime I have honed a rather dull talent, combing through, permits , documents , paperwork and the debris of a global bureaucracy. It has been a pleasant result of the quarantine experience that I have now found this talent can also be used to help reunite family memories and honor those who otherwise may be lost in mountains of the decaying archives. My grandfather and grandmother were ATC and employees of PanAm, venturing from Belem Brazil, Miami, to other surprising locations I am still uncovering. My Grandfather died in the crash of the China Clipper, and uncovering his legacy brought on be of the same questions I read amongst this group of peers. This is often the case there are few simple answers but almost all of the questions I read do indeed have answers though all almost certainly start with “it depends”.
First, encourage everyone with questions and discouraged, do not settle for answers that equal acquiescing to “all records of any type are gone for good”. America eagerly kept records of friends and foes the same as was done for our loved ones.
The archive burned in St Louis but no match was lit everywhere at once. If you can’t fathom why your loved one from Chicago would have a record safe in Montevideo, study the connectedness of history and ask what was written where? For example, when Pan Am was allegedly mandated to destroy all personell files, it encouraged the hoarding of all ephemera even some collections waiting at Disney, who had met with Rockefeller and Orson Welles to write the perfect scripted introduction for our flying heroes to Latin America. One diplomat was named Donald Duck.
My mother, now age 92, just told us for the first time that during 1944 she was a clerk for the Pacific Overseas Air Transit Command in Oakland, CA. She had Top Secret Security Clearance as a 16 year old. She never told anyone about her work until this week when she learned that her son-in-law also had had Army Top Secret Security Clearance during Vietnam. We need to find any document that would show her service. We want her to have the recognition as a WWII Army Clerk.
My dad’s name is John Barlow and he was in the Air Transport Command from ’43-’45 in the Pacific theater. He’s 99 and lives in Carson City, NV and still has his head on his shoulders. During that time he always had a camera and took dozens of photos of everything, I mean everything! He has them in photo albums, neatly cataloged of where, when, dates, pictures of the folks he was with and their names. Photos of Tokyo when he was flying in the G.I’s right after the surrender. He told me when he landed, he slowed done just enough so the Marines could pile out go back and do it again and again. I’ll talk to him and see about getting those pictures digitized so family members and such can see what their dad, grandfather, and uncle did in detail. Where they were, how they lived, what they saw and the terrible, terrible horrors they witnessed. The works!
Hi John,
I read your note about your father on the amcmuseum.org comment page. Sounds like he is a very interesting man. I would like to ask if he has any information on flying into Marcus Island after the end of World War 2? Marcus is a small island northeast of Guam and east of Japan. We removed the Japanese from it in August 1945 and turned it into a NATS Naval Air Station. It became a refueling stop for planes flying to Japan. I was a C130 pilot in the Pacific during 1970-80s and am compiling a history of some of the places we went. (https://pacificairlifter.com) And Marcus Island was one of them. We flew there almost every Thursday supplying the USCG LORAN station, as well as many other places in the Pacific. I am trying to get a little history on the islands, especially Marcus, and was wondering if he could provide any help. Thanks in advance
John Madden
Can anyone tell me about DFC recipient and Air Transport Command hump pilot based in India, Lt. Raymond J. Swider, of Downers Grove, IL? Lt. Swider received his DFC for flying more than 300 hrs over the Hump from Oct. 24 to Dec. 7, 1944.
Can anyone tell me more about Lt. Swider’s military career and the units he served in? Thank you.
Raymond J. Swider information may be found on page 575 of Vol. 2 of the Hump Pilot Association book, China Airlift—The Hump. He made 112 trips over the Hump. He later flew for Gen. William Tunner, last commanding general of the Hump Airlift. He was later placed in command of the Berlin Airlift. See his book Over the Hump.
The DFC was generally awarded to those flying bomber and fighter crews in combat over Europe and in the Pacific, but not to transport crews. Even though the Hump route was considered to be over the most treacherous country in the world and the crews were flying slow-moving, unarmed, and unescorted transports, their flight hours were not considered combat hours. Later it was decided that the aircrews were flying under combat conditions 100% of the time. Noted in Assam Trucking Company, Air Transport Command, Birth of AMC., pp. 65 and 248.
The Air Medal was awarded for 250 hours and the Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded for 500 hours. Additional 250 hours of flight time earned Oak Leaf clusters for each medal. These hours were later reduced for awards.
My father was a Hump pilot and has both the Air Medal and DFC, both earned in CBI.
My father Elmer Fisher flew for ATC before flying for Pennsylvania Central, Capital and then United Airlines. I really never talked with him much about his time with ATC. My question is :
Are the people who flew with ATC ever given Veterans recognization?
Hi Janet. My dad flew wounded in ww2 and by coincidence then flew for PCA Capital Airlines and then United Airlines.
Our dads definitely may have known each other. I wish I knew more about his experiences. 🙂
My father was an ATC flight engineer flying from New York to Greenland, England, France, and the Azores. He was a civilian working for American Airlines before joining the ATC. He never talked about his time with the ATC; all I know is that he flew supplies over to Europe and then flew wounded solders back to the states. I don’t even have a picture of him in uniform; I do have two buttons from his uniform. I found several of his flight records on Fold3.com.
Carol, my father, Paul Smallman (nicknamed Pappy) was also a flight engineer with ATC flying that North Atlantic route. He told us many stories of his “adventures” as well as a multitude of pictures taken in Bermuda, Scotland and North Africa.
Bonnie Smallman Duplessis
My dad, Daniel M. Cummings, was a B-24 navigator that flew the Hump between Tezpur, India and Kunming, China in 1944 and 1945. I am looking for anyone whose dad may have flown that same route who may have known my dad. Also, my dad’s military records were destroyed in the 1973 fire at the St. Louis National Personal Records Center. Does anyone know how to find copies of individual flight records at other locations than the NPRC’s?
was he wounded during his service? If yes, possibly the VA still has copies of his records. I also heard that the employees at NPRC have been pasting burnt records together, so they may search for you.
My dad was a Hump Pilot flying C-46s to China from India. His Individual flight Record shows destinations by abreviations (finally figured them all out), number of landings, type of flying (instrument, night or day). The last 2 columns for each day in the CBI campaign designates “over 400 hp” and “under 400hp”. Most notations were under the “under 400 hp” heading. Does anyone know what this means? I asked another Hump crew member, and he believes it indicates 400 horsepower. But what is the significance of this during each flight?
My Dad was a civilian in the ATC. He was stationed at Fairbanks in 1942
Does anyone know how to find his buddies’ families. I wish I knew his route.
He has Lieutenant bars on his hat.
DIXON WIGHTMAN
Hi, My Dad (Earl Eaton Bach) was a United Airlines pilot that was assigned to the ATC. He flew the Allusions until the Japanese left. Then was transferred to Miami and delivered planes and cargo to North Africa til the end of the war. It could well be that your Dad and mine were buddies. Was your Dad a pilot?
Regards, Earl, Jr.
My dad was never in the military but he delivered new bombers from the US east coast to England during WWII. I’m trying to find out who he worked for or if he was in the ATC. He worked for Sikorsky around that time. He never talked about this to anyone in the family and now I’m trying to piece it together. His name was James C. Vincent, would love to know if anyone knew him. If you have any ideas about where I can get more information, I would appreciate it. I’ve checked the records of the OSS but didn’t find him there.
I’m looking for more information on the flights from Iwo to Guam on March 7, 1945. My father talked about being transported on a plane that crashed in the ocean. The nurses got all the patients into a life raft and a ship picked them up. He said the pilots died.
I am looking for a roster of those who served in The Central African Division Air Transport Command in 1945. I found a metal cigarette case of his with the before mentioned etched inside along with the etched signatures of 8 men, including my father, Wayne Keyte Thurston. I knew that he had been in Africa during part of WW 2 but I thought it was with the CIC or Army Intelligence. I know he was in the CIC as we went to a few reunion dinners in Los Angeles where he settled after the war.
Any help would be appreciated.
Michael Keyte Thurston
I am trying to find information relating to the units stationed at Amapa Airfield and radio range (Station 7). 31 Oct 1945 to it’s closing sometime in early 1946. This station was part of the navigation network set up by the Air Transportation Command.
My father was there as a maintainer as far as I can tell from the letters he wrote.
08-Dec, 1942 ATC Flight 41-11707 took off from Natal Brazil in what I assume to be the infancy of the ATC Southern Route. The plane is listed as a C-87 Transport operated by TWA. My Mother’s husband Robert W. Dowker was the radio operator aboard the ill-fated flight which never made it to Ascension Island. It is recorded to have been lost approximately 256.3 miles West of the island 03:37 09-Dec, 1942 (Official Date of Death).
Behind this flight was another with a man to eventually become my father, E.B. Stephenson, radio operator on a flight not know to me at this time. Research is very frustrating to say the least some 70 years later, I only know that my mother who was 18 at the time was informed her husband was listed as missing. Not missing-in-action. None of the ATC were Enlisted and never received benefits from the government. The marvelous souls of the ATC provided the integral support for troops who ultimately brought freedom to the world.
I write in the hope that someone who may be related to the others lost on 41-11707 may reach out someday to connect. This is a link to a record of the lost plane recorded at https://aviation-safety.net
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19421209-0
The following is a list of the 5 crew and five Passengers lost at the time. All were listed as employees of TWA in a letter dated 19-Oct, 1945 to my Mother’s, husband’s, mother… A. Dowker
John Schultz
Capt. N.A. Wasil
H. Ruppenthal
A.H. Brown
Milton Hite
L. Pendelton
Earl Turner
H.D. Justice
Robert Hendry
Robert Wayne Dowker
Anyone with further information regarding this flight or my father Ernest Baker Stephenson’s subsequent service would be appreciated. I know my father eventually served with a high level security clearance and supported ATC flights including then Secretary of War Henry Stimson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_L._Stimson
Sincerely, Keith J. Stephenson
Side note: at 18 my mother was forced to find her own car and rail transportation back from Arlington, Virginia to Kansas City, Missouri to inform her in-laws of the loss of their son. She was not allowed to telegram or phone them, do to government communications security restrictions at the time…can you only imagine? Besides myself, the future finding of the last person to communicate with her husband that night, ended in a legacy of 5 children, 23 grandchildren and numerous other posterity. God is Great!
My father flew C-47s in Africa-Greece-Italy in ‘43-44. In his flight log was a recurring comment “Nickeled”. Does anyone know what this means?
Looking for information (service records, birthday/death and burial location) on a pilot for ATC, North Africa, 1942-45 (est.) – Sidney Little (member of crew /co-pilot) for a C-53 Skytrooper 41-20095, now in restoration processes to a flying museum/classroom – May 2020.
send me his DOB, date of death, place of birth/death or whatever you have and I might be able to help. The obvious first step is to contact the national archives and see if you can get a copy of military records. https://www.archives.gov/veterans
My dad worked for PanAm and was stationed in Africa which got taken over by the TAC.
He stayed on the west cost for 3 yrs and ended up in the counter master Corp. as a Major.
Died at 55 yrs kept most of his story’s to himself tho lots of pics and data in his files.
Same with my son who went to fight in the desert lots of metals but few stories.
My grandson is in Germany and is tight lip what goes on in side the fort.
Just be glad most come home safe.
You have to find out if he flew to China or North Africa.
Most landed in Lagos but some went east or north to Eg. or west to Dakar
My dad was QM in Lagos and saw them take off but orders to where were – need to know (only pilot)
My grandfather flew “The Hump” for the ATC. He had retired as a Navy pilot and they called him back. Then after leaving Goose Bay in a snow storm, they crash landed in Canada, (uncharted) and the story became the movie Island In The Sky. Anybody know where I can get books on the ATC? He did go to China and France during this time as well. Thanks.
My father, an ATC flight engineer, was part of the search party for that lost plane. In the book “Island in the Sky” by the author Ernest Gann he is mentioned! Ernie Gann was one of the pilots that my father flew with. My father told us many stories of the search for that plane as well as his time in Scotland, the Azores, North Africa and flying the Hump.
Did your Dad also have a “Short Snorter”; the paper money from each country with the autographs of crew members or others there at the time?
I do have a video somewhere of the rescue of the plane!!!
I am researching the service of my late husband’s uncle in the U.S. Army during WWII in Newfoundland. The uncle met a local St. John’s woman and married her in July 1942. Then, month’s later some event separated them and his wife remained in St. John’s until they were to be reunited. She eventually came to the US in spring 1943 by invitation from her mother-in-law. So for a year, more or less, they were separated. There were three American bases in Newfoundland: Stephenville (Harmon Field) built in 1941, and taken over by the North Atlantic Wing, Air Transport Command (ATC) from the Newfoundland Base Command in 1943; Argentia; and Fort Pepperrell just outside St. John’s. I believe the uncle was stationed at Pepperrell. He was a sergeant, however I cannot find a service record verifying this. I only have verification of the marriage in St. John’s. My main question is: What possible event (going overseas and where, or going back to the states) happened between July 1942 and sometime in 1943 that would have possibly separated the uncle from his loving wife left in St. John’s. If you or any of your colleagues have any idea of where he would have been sent, I would appreciate hearing back. I have read about troop landings in North Africa sent from St. John’s, whether that’s a possibility, I don’t know.
Sandra Bares
The ATC did a vital resupply to a small captured German airfield near Arnhem in 1944. If I remember correctly they flew in and out of one runway only a mile or so from the German lines while the 82nd Airborne provided cover. The stores and equipment were needed to keep the allies on the move toward the trapped British 1st Airborne Division. Can anyone tell me about it? I am writing a book that includes it
My father commanded two bases in Nigeria from summer 1942 through fall 1943 after initially ferrying twin engined aircraft from Florida via Natal.
This supply route is undervalued as pivotal for sustaining British operations in northern Africa and Middle East until Azores base could be opened.
Originally headed by United Airlines chief pilot Kris Kristofferson, my daddy was recruited as American Airlines pilot after learning to fly in 1934 at Randolph Field north of San Antonio. I still read daddy’s diary that he kept for those months in Nigeria and flying the route through Egypt, Erithrea , Arabia, to Pakistan and India.
My fathers (mhrip) unit probably built the airstrips that your dad used to land at Ascension Island and many countries in Africa. The 38th engineers never received the recognition they deserved because Ascension was a secret airfield. They tried to camouflage it but the best they could do in 90 days was making the gas tanks invisible from the Germans.
A very informative and well-researched article. Because, in 1944-45, my husband had flown the Brazil – Ascension – India route, I was familiar with it and thus I especially appreciated learning more about trans-Pacific routes.