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Pilots: Globemasters to the Rescue
Chapter section from:
Airbridge to Berlin --- The Berlin Crisis of 1948, its Origins and Aftermath
By D.M. Giangreco and Robert E. Griffin
© 1988
(Used with permission)
The constant need for spare parts and spare R-2000 engines for the C-54s was critical. Without a constant supply of extra engines, the ability of the maintenance crews to keep C-54s "in commission" would have been impossible. The mission of ferrying these C-54 engines was given to 6th Air Transport Squadron flying C-74 Globemasters out of Brookley Air Force Base, Alabama. There were only 12 C-74s in operation when the airlift began. One was sent over to Rhein-Main in August 1948 for test purposes and completed its 100 hour cycle on September 18, 1948, Air Force Day, when it flew eight 40 ton loads of coal into Berlin to help the US Air Force set a then one-day record for tonnage delivered. But according to Lieutenant Colonel Guy B. Dunn, Jr.:
"The big job done by the C-74 squadron out of Brookley that played a major role in the success of the "Lift" was not the one C-74 that flew the Lift, but the ten aircraft that flew R-2000 engines into and out of Rhein-Main from Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. The unit flew one flight a day from Kelly to Rhein-Main and return hauling 14 engines per trip. Without these overhauled engines the Lift would have broken down due to engine shortages in January 1949.
"When the Lift first started engines were shipped to Westover in their heavy metal cans and then airlifted by Slick Airway (a private commercial contract airline) to Rhein-Main two at a time. As the requirement increased that method could not supply adequate spare engines. Out of the can, we could get 14 engines on the C-74 and leave the cans at Kelly."
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