4th COMBAT CARGO ESTABLISHES PRECEDENT

COMPILED BY STAN MILLER
Tucson, Arizona

Those of us who served in the CBI Theater know that it has generally been ignored by WWII Historians. This is a shame because some innovative tactics and methods were developed and have continued to prove themselves during subsequent periods of tension. One of these was the use of airlift for logistic support of combat-fighting units.

Even before "Combat Cargo" became a recognized terminology for this support, the 1st. Air Combat Cargo Group delivered the majority of material for General Wingate's second Chindit's Campaign, and Merrill's Marauders capture of the airfield in Myitkyina, Burma. The operation proving the viability and effectiveness of using airlift to totally sustain rapidly advancing ground forces, however, was the Campaign to recapture Burma by the British XIV Army. This continuous aerial supply action was conducted during the fall and winter of 1944 and the spring of 1945.

To accomplish this unheard of mission, the Combat Cargo Task Force was created. This Task Force was composed of American C-47 Units, Canadian and Australian C-47 Units and the US 4th Combat Cargo Group.

The 4th Group contained 4 squadrons, each assigned 25 Curtis C-46 Aircraft. These were the only C-46's in the Task Force. I was a member of the 13th Squadron in the 4th Group.

The C-46, depending on trade-off between fuel requirements and cargo load could carry almost three times the payload weight of the C-47. The 4th Group's exploits and activities in contributing to the Japanese defeat in CBI are interesting enough to chronicle here. Some of these mostly unheralded accomplishments have yet to be equaled.

4th GROUP ACTIVATED

The 4th Group was activated at Syracuse AAB, N.Y. during June of 1944. Initial aircraft assigned was the Douglas C-47. About the time training was completed in the C-47's, the group was moved to Bowman Field, Louisville, KY. and converted to the larger C-46 aircraft. The Group deployed to CBI during November. An interesting note is that War Plans in Washington knew the unit's ultimate destination and mission at the time of its activation. The crews and other personnel did not find out until they were enroute to CBI and had passed the "point of no return" between West Palm Beech and Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico.

Then they were allowed to open sealed secret orders specifying destination of Sylhet, India.

Upon arriving at Sylhet, initial flying consisted of air-lifting tar and other airport construction materials from the upper Assam Valley to the recently recaptured Myitkyina in Northern Burma.

About the middle of December the Group was formally assigned to the Combat Cargo 'Task Force. The goal of the task force, a first in the annals of combat, was to provide the total logistic support of ground fighting forces; an army being completely dependent on air support for its continued existence.

4th STOCKPILES MATERIAL

As a part of the Task Force, the 4th Group started moving supplies into lmphal, India, to develop stockpiles of material for the XIV Army's imminent drive south. Return trips consisted of transporting wounded and passengers to Calcutta or Commilla. Commilla India was the Headquarters for the Task Force. Sylhet was not a British Supply Point, so the air crews had to go first to Commilla to pick up the loads destined for lmphal. It was not a very efficient operation because of the time wasted, dead-heading flying time required of the crews and planes.

Christmas 1945 was spent at Sylhet. To help celebrate the season, four or five of us sharing quarters in the same building chipped in and bought a bottle of Scotch Whiskey from our British Compatriots. They were not as full of the Holiday Spirit as we had hoped, because after serious negotiations we settled for $25.00. At that time, a bottle of Scotch in the States was about $5.00. On Christmas Eve, after sipping our expensive Scotch for a while, the single drop cord light in our room seemed to sway back and forth and a slight tremor was felt. We all looked at each other but no one would mention this phenomenon because we didn't want others to think we were affected that much by the whiskey. The next day we found out there had been a slight earthquake.

At the end of December, the 4th Group moved to Agartala, a supply point south of Sylhet. During this period the XIV Army had progressed south to the Kabaw Valley and supplies were air lifted over the 10,000 foot mountains to dirt airstrips quickly hacked out of the jungle. When the XIV Army reached Kalewa, heavy Japanese resistance was encountered. The British forces prevailed and the bridge allowing access to the Central Burmese Plain was secured. The XIV Army's two Corps split at this time, the 33rd turned East heading towards Mandalay, while the 4th Corps continued South following the Myittha River.

DIRT STRIPS TURN TO MUD

January 1945 was a busy and eventful month for the 4th Group. Much effort went into smoothing out its scheduling and loading activities, and refining forward area Operational procedures. In early January there were 3 days of unseasonably heavy rains, water-logging the forward area dirt strips. Since the landing strips were unusable, the 4th Group started its first air-drops of supplies. The C-46 was not impressive as a bundle dropping aircraft even though several records were established in the tonnage dropped on one pass. (Subsequently, C-1 19's and C-130's have far exceeded any tonnage dropped by the C-46's.) During this period, both day and night drop missions were accomplished.

The Japanese quickly figured out the number of passes a plane would make to drop it's total load. During these passes, the Japanese in the jungle surrounding the drop zone would hold their fire. After the last pass, however, small arms fire was directed at the C-46s, resulting in occasional bullet holes being discovered. No planes or crews were lost. Our intelligence people surmised that the fire was held during the drop passes because the Japanese hoped they could capture the supplies that were dropped.

The 33rd Corps, pushing southeast from Kalewa, secured the foothills and proceeded on towards Mandalay. We began rolling into dirt strips at Ye-U while nearby villages were still burning from the strafing of the P-47s and Spitfires and the 33rd Corps artillery fire. Beyond Ye-U capturing Schwebo was the next successful operation of the 33rd Corps. Schwebo was on the main north-south railroad and highway and the 4th Group used the landing strip there for a longer period of time.

MOVE TO CHITTAGONG

At the end of January, the 4th Group moved from Agartala to Chittagong, India. Chittagong, a large cosmopolitan city on the Bay of Bengal was a major port, rail and highway terminus. This move was accomplished without reduction of the cargo flights to Burma.

The day we moved, I took a load from Agartala to Burma, returning to our new location at Chittagong. All of us crew members carried our personal belongings in the C-46 belly compartment so we were ready to set up "housekeeping" when we finished our days flying.

During early February, the Task Force was supplying the 4th Corps as it moved south with Kan on the Myittha River being a major re-supply point; and the 33rd Corps further east at a constantly changing set of dirt strips. Some of these quickly developed airstrips were in use less than a couple of weeks. On one of my missions to a forward dirt strip, a wing flap follow-up cable broke during the landing sequence. With the broken cable, the left wing flaps would not retract, grounding the plane. It was going to be the next day before another plane could bring in the required repair parts.

The British Army forces offered us a place to stay with them, but someone had to stay with the plane for security reasons. After some discussions we all decided that all four of us crew members would stay with the plane. Part of the load we had hauled consisted of canned mutton stew (Ugh!) We appropriated a few cans to supplement our emergency "K' rations. To heat our dinner stew, I drained some of the plane's gasoline, mixed it with some dirt which I then stacked up around the sides of the can.

When I got ready to light the fire, I noticed some Burmese people watching from the high grass just off the parking area. As i touched a match to it, and it burst into flame, there were many surprised looks and excited chatter among the Burmese. I felt I could have been their medicine man as long as the gasoline lasted. The fire effectively heated the stew and we did return to Chittagong the next day.

FIELD IS SHELLED

As the 33rd Corps moved closer to Mandalay, Schwebo became less important and Ondaw became a major supply point. Ondaw is north of Mandalay and was the first place the 4th Group encountered 105mm artillery shells hitting the field during off-loading operations. It took several weeks to neutralize these gun emplacements in the hills along the bank of the Irrawaddy River. No casualties resulted from the shelling.

During the latter part of February, the 4th Group went on an almost constant flying schedule. Co-Pilots, Radio-Operators and crew chiefs were rushed in from B-24 and P-47 units to help support the 20 hour daily operations. Some planes would return to Chittagong after the fourth trip of the day only one hour before they were to take off on the next day's missions.

In the last weeks of February, the XIV Army's 4th Corps made a spectacular tank break-through to stand behind the Japanese lines behind Meiktila. Now the Task Force, including the 4th Group had to routinely fly over and land behind enemy lines. Some ground fire was experienced during these missions but no crew injuries or aircraft losses occurred. The first field to be used behind the lines was operational for only one week when the Japanese re-took it. The Japanese wanted to re-group and increase the size of their forces in an attempt to smash the now isolated forces of the 4th Corps. They were not successful.

AIRSTRIP OVERRUN AT NIGHT

In the first week of March the main strip at Meiktila was opened. The Japanese usually over-ran the airstrip at night. The control tower and other personnel withdrew before dusk to a perimeter of tanks a half mile west of the airfield. (Reminiscent of our wagon trains during the movement across the western plains.)

It was during this period that the first morning flights to Meiktila would first check with the control tower at Ondaw to see of the field had been cleared of land mines. Occasionally we landed there to await for a "safe" field at Meiktila. Before the Japanese finally succeeded in closing the air-strip during daylight hours, a number of C-46s off-loaded at Meiktila during 75 and 105mm shell attacks on the field itself.

The advance of the 4th Corps of the XIV Army was stalled for a short time in the Meiktila area, but they finally did manage to secure the airfield. While they were stalled, the 4th Corps established a beachhead on the rivers east bank. The Japanese destroyed the bridges, effectively cutting off those advance forces. Our C-46s flew in Bailey Bridging one night, and by morning the bridge was erected and troops poured across to relieve the cut-off forces.

While the Japanese were busy in the Meiktila area, the 33 Corps was successful in taking Mandalay. Within two weeks five air strips were built of which three were retained as supply points for the 33rd Corps. All of the 4th Group Aircrews continued to make many daily trips and log long days of flying time.

CHEAP THRILL FOR CREW

Late one afternoon after our third trip, we headed our C-46 west into the setting sun enroute back to Chittagong. The plane was on auto-pilot and all four of us crew members dozed off. When the fuel tank being used for the left engine ran dry, the resulting engine backfires and aircraft yaw brought everyone wide awake. You never saw three sets of hands reach for fuel tank selector valves so fast. About the time the engine came back, the right engine ran out of fuel. All of us stayed awake for the rest of the trip.

One interesting mission at this time was in support of Chinese forces fighting northeast of Mandalay. Four of our C-46s were tasked to move U.S. Army personnel and four Bofors anti-aircraft guns to a remote area where the Japanese were threatening to overrun a Chinese unit. The Bofors guns had proven very effective when firing white phosphorus shells horizontally into the jungle. The phosphorus would scatter like pellets inflicting many burn casualties. The place we landed our C-46s was a large grassy meadow where an occasional tree had been removed. White flags marked the corners of the landing area.

The operation made us feel like barnstorming in the early days of flying.

BURMESE MANUFACTURE GEMS

April was our busiest month when the 4th Group logged the most flying hours and delivered the most cargo of any period of the Burma Operation. Meiktila reopened and a strip was established further south at Myingyan. Both of these fields were put into a 24 hour operation. Frequently the runway lights were inoperative which added an element of chance to the landings and take-offs. The lights would be out because the Burmese would take them for the colored lenses. They would break the glass and melt it just enough so that when it cooled the pieces looked like small gems. Many of us unsuspecting crew-members traded cigarettes and candy for these "opals and rubies".

The macadam road and more open terrain going south towards Rangoon greatly facilitated the XIV Army's advance. During a 12 day period when armored columns pushed south from Meiktila, the Japanese lost 3,500 men and much material. After 20 days the XIV Army had covered 180 miles toward Rangoon. This rapid push increased the length of our flights from Chittagong and the total logged flying hours.

The 4th Group flew a total of 18,412.35 hours during April. Personally, during April, I logged 117.05 flying time. When loading, unloading and ground turnaround time were added, the result was some very long days. Considering the Group had about 90 or so planes at the time, each one had to average nearly 190 hours flying time during the month. Each plane also had the required down time for the required 50 and 100 hour inspections. The maintenance personnel did a superb job of keeping the planes in the air. March was the second highest flying hour month which was 1200 hours less than April.

In early May, the last field to be opened specifically for Task Force was at Toungoo, north of Rangoon. The rout of the Japanese forces was almost complete. Except for a few strategic points, they were in full retreat. The two pincers of the 4th and 33rd Corps continued south, cutting all means of escape for the Japanese.

PARATROOPS DROPPED

Another surprise for the Japanese occurred on May 2nd when Task Force planes dropped paratroops just south of Rangoon at Elephant Point.

As May came to an end, so did the requirement for round the clock support of the XIV Army. During the first eight days of June, the 4th Group did haul 5,192 tons of supplies, logging 3822.40 hours of flying time. The 4th Group's support of the XIV Army ceased at this time.

BAILEY BRIDGING - POOR CARGO

Of all the priority items moved by the crews of the 4th Group, Bailey Bridging was probably the one mist disliked by the aircrews. It consisted of large pre-formed metal sections resembling huge erector set pieces and way too large to throw out if the plane lost an engine. Crewmembers would have had an impossible job getting back to the door if a bailout was required. We also hauled bombs, gasoline, food and all the myriad items required to support and maintain an army.

As the Burma war took its place in history, it marked a new phase in the annals of warfare. Its success had depended solely on air-power, and more specifically that part of air-power known as Combat Cargo. It established for the future the viability of air logistic support for both static and fluid combat situations.

During the time the 4th Group supplied the British Army, 465,302.55 flying hours were logged and 133,832.6 tons (267,665,200 pounds) of material and personnel was moved. A quote from an article about the 4th Combat Cargo Group in an official British publication, "PHOENIX" published in Calcutta, dated June 16, 1945, states: "in the past' twelve weeks the 4th Group has doubled the tonnage carried by all other cargo groups, and now hauls more in a day than could be moved to the front by trucks in a month."

The flying was accomplished day and night, many times in extremely adverse weather with minimal navigation facilities. Credit and many thanks must be given to the British for their voice direction finding equipment. All of us called for a DF steer on occasion. The 4th Group's backup personnel did a marvelous job in keeping the planes flyable and in providing all the other support requirements. The aircrews delivered the loads, but it was the concerted effort of all personnel that made it possible. (The above information is from a 4th Combat Cargo Report, 4th CCG S2, 13 Sept. 1945)

MOVE TO MYITKYINA

When the Burma Campaign was finished, the 4th Combat Cargo Group moved from Chittagong to Myitkyina, Burma (a strip built from material we had hauled in during the past December.) We were assigned to the Air Transport Command and began flying the Hump. The group retained its designation but its flying hours and tonnage hauled is buried in the ATC records.

The 4th Aircrews continued to log a lot of flying hours in support of the ATC mission. I logged 101.45 hours flying over the Hump. One mission we were a part of was the moving of Chinese troops from Eastern Burma back to South China. Most of the troops were flown from Lashio Burma, to Nanking, China. There were some interesting, if unpleasant incidents associated with this operation.

One Chinese soldier decided he wanted to go back to China ahead of his assigned flight. He climbed into the wheel well of the C-46's main landing gear. Even with the wheels retracted, the engine heat and fumes, and, the lack of oxygen he survived the trip over the Hump to Nanking. When the landing gear was lowered, one of his hands became caught in the mechanism. When the plane came to a stop, the soldier was dangling unable to free himself. Even war action gunfire could be heard in the distance, the plane was jacked up, the wheels retracted and the soldier released. After all this effort, the Chinese Military Police marched him over to the side of the airport and shot him for deserting his unit.

Some of the C-47's also were used in this operation were missing their paratroop jump doors. The story is told that enroute to China, a soldier would get up to look out the door, and another would push him out. The rest of the soldier passengers would laugh because the pushed-out person would have to walk back home.

The Chinese troops were considered cargo and did not have parachutes. In the C-46 there was a crawl space under the cockpit, with access door in the cockpit and out under the right wing. We kept our crew parachutes in the cockpits and were briefed to bail out through this avenue of escape if needed. There had been reports of crews trying to bail out through the rear door, but the Chinese would not let them.

After the war ended, some units of the 4th Group were moved to Shanghai China. There they assisted in moving Chinese troops to areas in Northern China where the Communists were beginning to rebel. In February 1946, the 4th Combat Cargo Group was moved back to Panagarh, India where it was ultimately inactivated.

4th CAN BE PROUD

All of us can be proud of our contributions to the successful end of WW2. The 4th Group has a special niche in the history of the war for its contributions to the total war effort. The Group was awarded three Battle Stars, and individual crewmembers were awarded many Distinguished Flying Crosses and Air Medals for heroism in combat flying. The Task Force established the viability of Combat Cargo support and the 4th Group has subsequently been proven again during the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and during Vietnam.

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