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ION 
[[image: B&W photograph of man in front of map captioned Briefing officer explains check points for Caribbean hop]]
[[image: B&W photograph of planes grounded captioned Fuel and additional cargo go aboard in Miami]]
TONS

From Miami the Air Reserve crews flew the LORAN equipment to San Salvador Air Force Base in the Bahamas and to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Longest overwater flight for the Air Reserve crews was the 950 mile haul from Miami to Isla Grande Airport via Andros, Exuma, Acklin, South Calcos, Navidad, Brownson and San Juan.

The Reserve aircrews themselves represented a cross section of American communities.  Among them were town mayors, farmers, businessmen, shop owners, salesmen, engineers, etc.  Most of them were World War II or Korea veterans and many of them former or present airline pilots.

Purpose behind Operation 16 Tons was to provide CONAC's Air Reserve Troop Carrier crews an opportunity to fulfill their training commitments to conduct long range overwater navigation missions as part of their training to achieve combat readiness.  (Continental Air Command, headed by Lt. Gen. Charles B. Stone, III, with head-quarters at Mitchel Air Force Base, Long Island, N.Y., trains the Air Force Reserve and supervises the training and inspects the Air National Guard.

The airlift marked the first large scale opportunity afforded the Air Force Reserve to demonstrate to the Regular Air Force and the general public its capability to execute an airlift of this magnitude.  Lt. Col. George O. Wilcox of Massapequa, Long Island, N.Y., CONAC's Chief of Flight Operations Division and project officer for Operation 16 Tons, expressed great pleasure over success of the airlift.  He said:

"Operation 16 Tons furnished excellent training for our Troop Carrier air crews," he declared.  "We endeavored to gain the maximum of training benefit out of this airlift.

"Whenever possible we limited the crews to one round trip to the Caribbean so's to extend this training opportunity to the great possible number of our flying crewmen."

Twelve of the Air Force Reserve's 13 Troop Carrier wings participated in the Caribbean airlift.  They included the 302nd Troop Carrier Wing, stationed at Clinton County air force Base, Wilmington, Ohio;  the 375th, at Greater Pittsburgh Airport, Pa.;  434th Bakalar AFB, Columbus, Ind.;  435th, Miami International Airport, Fla.;  and 436th, Floyd Bennett Naval Air Station, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Other Reserve wings flying the airlift were the 437th Troop Carrier Wing, O'Hara International Airport, Chicago, Ill.;  442nd, Grandview AFB, Grandview, Mo.;  443rd Brooks AFB, Camp Springs, Md.;  512th, New Castle County Airport, Wilmington, Del.;  and the 514th Troop Carrier Wing, Mitchel AFB, N.Y.  (The 514th Troop Carrier Wing, Long Island's own Reserve unit which is stationed at Mitchel airbase, has flown 17 million passenger miles, sky-hauled more than 5,000,000 cargo pounds, dropped 100,000 paratroopers and logged over 36,000 flying hours thus far during its active service.)

Although Operation 16 Tons was the biggest airlift in Air Force Reserve history, it was by no means the first one.

Along with its training mission as a Readiness Force to augment the Regular Air Force as a protector of national security, the Air Force Reserve logs much flying time carrying out disaster relief or mercy mission airlifts.  Take a few isolated instances:

Seventy percent of the 400 iron lung transportation missions conducted by the Air Force during 1949 polio epidemic were flown by Air Reservists.

They've airlifted vaccines to the farthermost reaches of the country during epidemics;  ferried doctors, nurses, and medical supplies to isolated disaster zones;  and hauled forest fire fighters and equipment to threatened areas.

As time goes on there'll undoubtedly be more of the same.

So the Air Force Reserve - along with its all-important role as a Ready Reserve Force to augment our air defenses - is paying its way in a humanitarian sense - and giving America a good return for every tax dollar.

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Transcription Notes:
ION and TONS are part of the headline from the previous page Reviewed