On 14 August 1992, the White House, prompted by continuing reports of heavily armed, organized gangs stealing food and famine relief supplies from humanitarian organizations in the famine-ravaged east African state of Somalia, announced that US military transports would support the multi-national UN relief effort. Ten C-130s and 400 personnel were deployed to Moi International Airport, Mombasa, Kenya, in Operation ‘Provide Relief’. a multi-nation air operation involving the US, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Canada, under the leadership of the United Nations in Nairobi. Operation ‘Provide Relief’ began in late August 1992 and continued until the end of February 1993, by which time multi-national efforts had restored stability to the refugee locations in the country and it was possible to convey supplies over secure land routes from the Somali ports of Mogadishu and Kismaayu directly to the relief locations.
By the end of 1992 clans of opposing beliefs fighting for food, territory and ethnic revenge had created such a climate of violence in Somalia that ‘Provide Relief’ workers were prevented from providing aid in areas of greatest need. This came to a head on 8 December and in response, President Bush, implementing Operation ‘Restore Hope’, sent American troops to protect the relief efforts. At the peak of the operation in January 1993, Joint Task Force ‘Provide Relief’/Restore Hope’ included 1,007 Air Force, Marine, Army and Navy personnel as well as flying units from Germany to the UK, three German C-160 Transalls and five Marine KC-130 tankers sharing the ramp space, with occasional C-141s and C-5s. By 25 February 1993 the multi-national unit had flown 1,924 sorties to Somalia and 508 to Kenya and had carried over 28,000 tonnes of food for international relief organizations who operate feeding centres and clinics for the Somali people in both Kenya and Somalia.
On 28 February Colonel Thomas Samples, CO of the Air Component at Mombasa and the Dyess crew made the final US food flight from Mombasa to Mandera loaded with three pallets of powdered milk and bottled water. Other loads during the sixmonth period had included wheat, beans, rice, maize, various flours, cooking oil and a corn and soya preparation called ‘Unimix’. The food used to arrive by ship in Mombasa and was then trucked to the ‘Provide Relief’ operations centre at Moi Airport. 28 February also saw the departure of two ANG C-130s with their support equipment and personnel. Operation ‘Provide Relief’ really made a big difference. The C-130s operated from austere, dusty runways, sometimes littered with rocks and as short as 3,000 feet, but without a single accident or mission lost due to a maintenance problem - although several incidents occurred at outlying fields between helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
WOC (Wing Operations Command) Mombasa, as it was officially called (for Wing Operations Centre), continued to operate as an air component under the JTF Headquarters in Mogadishu, Somalia, moving support supplies, including food and water for the troops, construction items, equipment and personnel throughout Kenya and Somalia. The MAC transport fleet at Mombasa consisted of four C-130Hs of the 463rd TAW, 773rd ALS, from Dyess AFB at Abilene, Texas. The 773rd, which is part of Air Mobility Command, replaced its sister squadron, the 772nd ALS, which redeployed Stateside in the second week of February.
On 1 March Captain Paul Britton, check pilot Captain Mike P. Brignola, from Westchester, Pennsylvania and the three-man flight crew boarded the sweltering cabin of the C-130 for an ‘Absolution’ trooping and supply mission to combat units to Kismaayo and Mogadishu. Almost at once the cabin and massive hold filled with refreshing icy blasts from the air-conditioning system; cargomasters sealed the rear ramp door and soldiers and Red Cross girls on board settled down into the rows of sideways-facing seats for the 510-mile flight up the coast to Mogadishu. Tail-number, souls on board and fuel endurance were relayed to ground control. All around the field were aircraft of every size and type: light aircraft, airliners, Southern Air Transport L-100 Hercules and a few German and Belgian C-160s and 130s were parked on the apron. An all-white Hawker Siddeley 748 of the Royal New Zealand Air Force which had flown in from Auckland looked like a polar bear in the desert. Highly colourful Kenyan Air Force Puma and Tucano aircraft threaded their way to the ramp, adding to the spectacle. An African Safari Airways DC-8 roared noisily into the air.
The C-130 rumbled along the uneven concrete to the threshold; permission to take off was sought and given. The four massive 4,508-shp Allison T56-A-7 turboprops lifted the C-130H effortlessly into the cloudy sky and the nose-wheel engaged in the well beneath the cockpit with a reassuring thump. Soon the C-130 was on its briefed course at a cruising altitude of 17,000 feet at 200-300 knots. Over the Indian Ocean it flew parallel to the lush green coastline of Kenya, then the Murrum red desert floor of Somalia. It was essential that the aircrew gave frequent position reports so as to avoid flying into any conflict, because the E-2C ‘King Control’ had been withdrawn in December. Before entering Somalian airspace, all aircraft gave a position report on 127.45MHz and loadmasters frequently joined the crew on the flight deck for a quick look or consultation. Down below, the islands of Jofay and Koyaama appeared and then the navigator pointed into the heat haze past the islands: ’ Kismaayo!’ he said, above the thundering clamour of the four engines and rushing slipstream.
C-130Hs of the 772nd ALS, 463rd RTAW from Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas and C.Mk.1P XV185 and C IP XV293, the two RAF Hercules used in Operation ‘Vigour’ at Moi International Airport, Mombasa, Kenya, 28 February 1993, the day before they routed home to Lyneham. In three months these two RAF Hercules and four crews of 38 Group delivered 3,500 tons of supplies to all areas of Somalia, flying just short of 1,000 hours in the process. (MWB)
Captain Britton checked his map and UHF contact with Kismaayu, call-sign ‘Tailpipe Kilo’, was established. Bill Murray, the flight engineer, sat like a father confessor immediately behind the two pilots. He smiled and then shouted that the C-130 would be going straight in and turning before landing. Armed battles had taken place in Kismaayo on 22 February between an Aidid backer, warlord Omer Jess and his rival Hersi, known as ‘Morgan’, who had taken over the town from the Belgians. At least eleven people had been killed and Jess’s USC/SSDF forces had retreated from the city they had controlled since shortly after the 1991 overthrow by Rebels of Somali dictator Mohammed Siad Aarre. Britton put the C-130H into a 45-degree descent; it lost altitude rapidly and the altimeter passed through several thousand feet until it read ‘1’. The young Texan concentrated intensely as he dived for the single paved runway. Up to now the only threat had been a high flying stork or crane - birds such as these caused the deaths of two light-aircraft pilots in 1991. Down and down the C-130 plummeted, until finally Captain Britton levelled off and the Hercules zoomed along the runway at a very exciting 150 feet at 260 knots. He was not showing off however: this procedure was designed to scatter any cattle, camels or the odd Somali who might have decided to cross the runway. But none had and the C-130 whizzed past the control tower and assembled multitude of Cobra helicopters. Captain Britton peeled off to the left at the end of the runway in a beautiful ‘fighter’ turn and circled for an assault landing. He pulled up within 3,000 feet using the powerful reverse thrust, in doing so producing quadraphonic sound all around the flight deck.
The Hercules’ massive four-bladed props were still turning as cargo-masters eased the pallet out and the C-130 was off again, trundling down the length of the runway in the other direction this time. The pilot’s seat was taken now by Captain Mike Brignola. He pointed out a herd of camels to the left - they were not disturbed by the subsequent take-off, which was remarkable, since taking off from rudimentary Somali airstrips in the intense heat with four, let alone two engines, called for strong nerves. Once off safely and when they had reached 100 nautical miles distance away, contact was made with Mogadishu approach and their intention stated. At sixty nautical miles Mogadishu approach placed the Hercules under positive radar control for a radar service to Mogadishu International. The heart-stopping landing at Kismaayu had been dramatic, but Mogadishu produced an incredible view for
an awestruck observer. Dark grey warships were anchored offshore of the war-torn Somali capital. Large breakers pounded the beaches and sand-coloured Humvees and construction vehicles dotted the landscape inland of the dunes. It looked like a scene from a Normandy beachhead, except that Marines were jogging around the airport perimeter and handball games were in full swing on the beach.
The C-130 taxied to just in front of the tower and the troops and supplies were disembarked. A long file of ‘grunts’ took their place, flopping wearily into the bucket-seats in the cargo hold. A Nigerian C-130 taxied out, returned along the runway at speed and turned sharply onto 270 degrees, away from the town as machine-gun fire had been reported in the area.
At 0535 hours Captain Britton followed exactly the same pattern and the C-130 was off again and climbing away without incident. The faithful Allison turboprops beat a pulsating rhythm and the tension in the cockpit evaporated with the diminishing heat as the C-130 climbed gradually to 23,000 feet. The crew settled back as the Hercules droned above the coast at a steady 300 knots. Copies of Stars and Stripes were being read until the sun went down below the right wing and the orange-red instrument lights and green computer CRTs began to light up the pilots’ smiling faces.2 Darkness descended. The stable Hercules headed ‘home’ and the crew relaxed, knowing that after their exertions, in a few hours they would be enjoying ‘field conditions’ again at their plush hotel in Mombasa.3
For the relief operation from Rhein-Main to Bosnia, the 37th ALS were joined by C-130E/H crews on TDY (temporary duty) from the 317th ALW and the 40th ALS, 23rd Wing - both from Pope AFB North Carolina - as well as other stateside-based, active duty AFRes ‘mix and match’ rather than a ‘hard’ crew. On 23 March 1994 C-130E 62-1834 was used for a ‘Provide Promise’ flight (UN Flight 17) to Sarajevo; the aircraft was crewed by AFRes personnel. Pilot and airplane commander 1st Lieutenant Ross Becker, pilot 1st Lieutenant Eric L. Meyers and Captain Thomas D. Mims, navigator were from the 815th Airlift Squadron, 403rd Wing, at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi Staff Sergeant Ronald A. Downer, the flight engineer, 327th AS, 403rd Wing, was from Willow Grove Air Reserve Station at Horsham, Pennsylvania. It was Ross Becker’s sixteenth mission to Bosnia, Eric Meyers’ sixty-seventh and Mims’ twenty-third. Staff Sergeant Dorothy ‘Bobbie’ Bach - in the 60th ALW from Travis AFB, the Sat Comm operator at the ‘black box’ - was flying her 100th air-land/airdrop mission to Sarajevo; she wore a patch commemorating the event on the arm of her flight suit.
1st Lieutenant Ross Becker, 815th ALS, 403rd ALW, AFRes at the controls of C-130E 62-1834, a 96th TAS, 934th Air Guard, AFRes aircraft on TDY at Rhein-Main, as it crosses the Alps en route to Sarajevo on 23 March 1994. (MWB)
1st Lieutenant Eric L. Meyers at the controls of C-130E 62-1834 en route to Sarajevo. (MWB)
Brigadier General James Eldon Sehorn, director of operations, HQ 14th AF (AFRes) at Dobbins AFB, Georgia, was also on board; he wore the red triangular ‘Flying Jennies’ badge on his jacket. General Sehorn began his air force career in 1963 in primary pilot training. Upon graduation in 1964, he was assigned as an F-100 Super Sabre pilot at RAF Wethersfield, England. He then volunteered for F-105 Thunderchief duty in South-East Asia and was assigned to the 469th TFS, 388th TFW at Korat RTAFB, Thailand. He received combat-crew training for the F-100 in 1965 and the F-105D in 1967. On 14 December 1967 when the Ham Rong (‘Dragon’s Jaw’) Bridge was once more the target for an F-105 on a ‘Wild Weasel’ strike, Captain Sehorn’s aircraft F-105D 59-1750 The Flying Anvil IV was lost when it was hit by AAA as it pulled up off the target.4 He ejected and was captured to spend over five years as a PoW in the notorious Hỏa Lò prison built in Hànôi by the French in 1896 which American PoWs held there until 29 March 1973 would nickname the ‘Hànôi Hilton’ or the ‘Hànôi Slammer’, as General Sehorn described it. Captain Sehorn was only on his seventh mission when he was shot down. After repatriation on 14 March 1973 he continued his military career and eventually retired with the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserve.
Staff Sergeant David A. Caldwell, flying his fortieth mission to Bosnia and assistant loadmaster senior airman Eric J. Hebb on his twenty-fifth mission, both from Pittsburgh, were from the 758th ALS, 911th ALG, AFRes. A miner for fifteen years, Dave Caldwell worked in the construction industry during the summer months, between tours of duty; this was his fourth tour in Germany. He did not disguise his delight in being able to make a worthwhile contribution to events in Bosnia by delivering food and medical supplies, his reassuring no-nonsense approach no doubt handed down from his father who served in Patton’s 7th Armoured Division in World War II.
UN 17 lifted off from Frankfurt with a take-off load of 23,000lb. Vibration and noise were intense - it was like sitting in a tube train running without wheels. David Caldwell and Eric Hebb - brave men - were unseen in the rear of the hold. Tied with green webbing, the bundles of food and medical supplies stacked securely behind the raised ramp looked like goods wagons behind railway buffers.
UN 17 levelled off and headed towards Augsburg, then Innsbruck, Vicenza and Ancona. From the flight deck the snow-covered Alps looked stunning, their black, jagged peaks protruding menacingly through the high cloud layers below. Radio chatter crackled through the headphones: there was mention of ‘Magic’ (AWACS) and ‘egress’ speeds out of Sarajevo in the event of an emergency. General Sehorn was in discussion with the engineer. After delivering the load to Sarajevo the C-130E would fly on to Split on the Aegean coast in Croatia and deliver more supplies before returning to Sarajevo with another load. This was to be the pattern throughout the day, finishing in a third flight to Sarajevo when the fuel remaining would determine whether the C-130E would return to Split to refuel or be flown straight home. The general discussed the arrival at Sarajevo with the pilots, querying the predictability of the flight plan - it was long and slow into the Bosnian enclave and he wondered if a fast run in wouldn’t be better. Ross Becker explained that the very nature of the mission was its predictability: ‘That’s the idea and that’s what has been agreed,’ he said. The crew had only been together for two weeks, but it did not show: they worked well.
Nearing the war zone, camouflaged flak vests were donned; the crew pressed the front Velcro strip firmly. Flying down high valley walls, the C-130E skirted snow-covered mountain peaks. In front a Hercules toppled over on its left wing and disappeared into the murk for landing as Ross Becker took his turn for Sarajevo Airport. In the distance the long runway appeared: behind it appeared to be a solid mountain wall and the Hercules a sitting duck for any bored sniper or antiaircraft gunner.5
Landing was accomplished without incident, however, though ears ached with the descent and the pressure squeezed the yellow ear-plugs until the pain moved to the cheekbones. It could now be seen that some of the white-walled and orangeroofed houses which had looked so picturesque from high altitude were in fact burned-out hulks, with blackened openings where windows had once looked onto pleasant vistas. UN 17 raced past them, hit the runway perfectly and taxied to the shattered terminal building. Nearby, a white and blue Ilyushin IL-76 was parked and a French Air Force Transall taxied in. Evidence of the terrible war was everywhere.
David Caldwell said, ‘You should have been here in December - it was like the Fourth of July!’ White UN trucks and carriers milled around and forklift drivers wearing blue UN helmets unloaded the pallets; in minutes these were all pushed along the rollers in the floor and out of the Hercules. General Sehorn clambered over the top and helped two soldiers push out the pallets too!
Take-off for Split was made in sunshine and blue sky and soon the deep blue waters of the Croatian coast appeared again. Near Split the crew was advised to look out for a Triple A emplacement, fortunately friendly; it tracked every plane in. The C-130E dashed across the built-up area of Split. It was eerie: there were no boats or surfers offshore and certainly no tourists and on a road in the distance just two cars could be seen travelling along it. The runway at Split was covered in bl
ack tyre marks where a Hercules had burst a tyre but taxied in without problems.
UN 17 was loaded and took off again. Climbing away, the mission seemed almost routine now and but for the flak vests it could almost have been a training flight. Dave Caldwell said that in the event of an emergency the load could be jettisoned in ten seconds. The only drama came on the last flight of the day into Split when 62-1834 sprang a hydraulic leak and had to be left at the Croatian airport. The crew hopped aboard C-130H 91-1231 (the 2,000th Hercules, which was rolled out on 16 May 1992) for the flight ‘home’ to Rhein-Main - at last they could relax. Caldwell got out his hammock and draped it across the width of the Hercules and soon he was swinging gently to and fro as the aircraft headed back to Germany. The hangar door welcomed the C-130 with appropriate letters: ‘MISSION SUCCESS’.
View from C-130E 62-1834 of the 96th TAS, 934th AG, AFRes on TDY at Rhein-Main, Germany as it crosses the Alps en route to Sarajevo on 23 March 1994. (MWB)
In addition to the air-land missions, as of March 1994 over 2,720 airdrop missions (which had begun on 28 February 1993) had been flown and over 31,000 bundles had been dropped. The normal method used was the high-velocity Container Delivery System (CDS) in which supplies and equipment were delivered from an aircraft in flight using a stabilizing parachute, approximately 26 feet in diameter when opened. At first two parachutes had been used per bundle, but after well in excess of 25,000 parachutes had been used and since they could not be recovered, each CDS bundle was fitted with just one 1950s-style, G-12 low-velocity parachute because the manufacturer could produce only fifty a month - enough for just two nights’ work. The parachute deploys automatically after exiting the aircraft and ensures that the bundle remains upright; it cushions the bundle’s impact, as does the corrugated honeycomb cardboard base.
C-130 Hercules Page 35
