The Great Snafu Fleet

Download or read book The Great Snafu Fleet written by Gerald A. White, Jr. and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001-04 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1st Combat Cargo Squadron, a.k.a. The Great Snafu Fleet, and the other Combat Cargo units were formed by General Hap Arnold to answer Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten´s need for airlift in Burma, one of World War II´s most primitive theaters. From August 1944, they flew C-47's from India, air-dropping supplies in Burma to Field Marshal William Slim´s 14 (British) Army. Going to China in December 1944, they spent the rest of the war there, delivering vital supplies and personnel for Gen Chennault's 14th Air Force Flying Tigers and the OSS, often behind enemy lines, and rescuing POW´s before coming home. Reorganized in late 1945 as the 326th Troop Carrier Squadron, they continue the heritage of citizen-airmen today with the C-5 in contingencies around the world. They are an almost unknown unit in a forgotten theater whose story is just being told.