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SAAF
Troop Carrier units had as their primary responsibility the flying of airborne
assault missions. These units were used for much more, however, which often
created impossible scheduling requirements and heated competition between Army
commanders for use of Troop Carrier.
TC crews delivered gasoline and
ammunition to Patton’s fast-moving tank units, as well as other outfits at the front lines, sometimes behind enemy lines.
The aircraft that flew the “emergency resupply” missions were
packed full of ammunition and 5-gallon jerrycans, ready for field use.
Tanks were often waiting in
the trees adjacent to a pasture or grass field that was large enough to land a
flight or a serial of C-47s.
The crews unloaded their own
aircraft and often flew a
short leg to pick up seriously wounded soldiers who were strapped to
stretchers rigged two deep in the C-47’s cabin. Many of these soldiers, who
could not be effectively treated in field hospitals, would have died without the
access to general hospitals that these TC missions made accessible. Flight nurses
and medical technicians rode to the Front seated atop
the jerrycans and ammo, then rigged the stretchers in the cabin and cared for the wounded on the return flight. Sometimes crews flew two such missions in a day.
Later
in the war, IX TCC repatriated tens of thousands of POWs on these airsupply
return legs. Between 27 Aug and 7 Oct 1944 IX TCC aircraft not only flew the
largest airborne assault in history (Holland), they also delivered to the
front lines 4 million gallons of gas, 13.5 million lbs of ammo, 4 million
lbs of rations, 14 million lbs of “other combat equipment,” and
evacuated more than 16,000 wounded soldiers. Though the Holland airborne assault missions were
noted for the accuracy of airborne drops and glider landings, the
last-minute scheduling of the air assault combined with emergency resupply
missions to preclude practice missions prior to the invasion of Holland. Also
see the Airborne Chronology.
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