WWII ATC (Air Transport Command, AAF) "Senior Supervisor Wings" PB, Senior Pilot with the "Wreath and Star", nhm

RARE! RARE! RARE!

Mint NOS Unissued

"The Hump... and in every theater of the war in which the Army Air Force (AAF) served, the Air Transport Command (ATC) was also involved!

+  Of all the variant ATC wings, this is a RARELY encountered pair with the 'Wreathed Star" indicating this pilots command seniority!!!
+ No hallmark! As with the majority of original's this pair of wings is UNMARKED.  Note: It is believed that many of the wings marked with the shield logos of Whitehead and Hoag ("WH") were made in the early 1950s.
+ Extremely fine, detailed "feathering" on the wings!
+ The pin is straight with ZERO bends or 'waviness.'
+ The 'rolling lock' safety catch and hinge function perfectly.
+ These have the authentic dark Bronze finish. PERFECT finish! ZERO wear!
+ This pair appears to have been die struck and not cast.
+ Provenance and age unknown, but appear to be of wartime manufacture.

*****
Background from the Air Mobility Command Museum:

Air Transport Command – Airlift During WWII

by Jack Kinyon, ATC, 1942-1947

The Beginning

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the United States was suddenly involved in two major wars, one in the Pacific against Japan and the other in Europe against Germany. Troops were deployed overseas, and combat air forces were formed and located in strategic areas of the world.

Major Challenges

To support the overseas forces and U.S. allies, a military air transport system was needed. The major airlines helped with the organization, and the aircraft manufacturers came through with the planes needed for the difficult missions.

Worldwide Organization

To meet the airlift requirements in these large areas, the Air Transport Command (ATC) was divided into nine wings (or in 1944, divisions) and were assigned geographical sectors. Each division was responsible for the movement of supplies, equipment, and key personnel within its sector and coordinated its activities with other divisions to provide a worldwide delivery system. The Navy provided a similar operation to its forces with the much smaller Naval Air Transport Service (NATS). This report focuses on the activities of ATC.

Principal Aircraft

The Douglas C-47, a conversion of the successful commercial DC-3 airliner, proved to be a mainstay in all theaters of operation. Its mission was enhanced by the Curtiss C-46 which had twice the carrying capacity of the C-47. For the long over-water flights, B-24 bombers were modified as cargo planes and designated C-87s. The premier long-range plane, originally to be a Douglas DC-4 commercial airliner, became the C-54.

Europe, Africa, and the Middle East Theaters

North African Campaign and the Middle East

The oldest of the air routes under ATC jurisdiction (and throughout 1942 the most important) reached from Florida, south to Natal, Brazil, then across the South Atlantic to Africa and the Middle East. It provided a Lend-Lease supply line to British forces fighting in the Near East. The battle lasted from 10 June 1940 until the German surrender on 13 May 1943. After the U.S. entry into the war on 7 December 1941, ATC participated in the North African Campaign, called Operation Torch, by bringing supplies to U.S. forces as well. It also supported Fifteenth, Twelfth, and Ninth Air Forces operating from locations along the Mediterranean coast and Cairo, Egypt.

Transport aircraft often stopped at Ascension Island in the South Atlantic on the flight from Natal, Brazil; to Accra, Ghana; or Kano, Nigeria. Eastbound flights continued through Central Africa to Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and to India to link up with the China-Burma-India Division. After Lagens Field (now known as Lajes) in the Azores was opened in late 1943, flights went from the U.S. east coast via Newfoundland and the Azores to Casablanca, French Morocco, and then across North Africa to Egypt, Iran, and India. This new route to India was much shorter than the 14,000-mile flights from Florida across the South Atlantic.

European Campaign

One of the difficulties ATC had was the winter weather over the North Atlantic. Until Lagens Field in the Azores was opened in late 1943, eastbound operations over the North Atlantic ceased because of very high winds and other adverse conditions. When the field became operational, all eastbound flights resumed, and by March of 1944 most transport flying between the United States and Great Britain or North Africa went by way of the Azores.
Bermuda was used as a weather alternate to Newfoundland. When able, flights to Prestwick, Scotland, continued to be flown via Labrador and Iceland. Through the winter of 1943-44, ATC provided a sizable eastward lift for the movement of key personnel, mail, and critical cargoes to the European and Mediterranean theaters. From January 1944 the monthly lift increased from 350 tons and 785 passengers to 1,178 tons in June and 1,900 tons and 2,570 passengers by July. Seventy percent went to Great Britain and 30% to North Africa.

ATC provided emergency airlift to Eighth Air Force, delivering incendiary-bomb fuzes, jettisonable fuel tanks for fighter planes, and other equipment. Pontoons were hastily carried to the Fifth Army in Italy.

In addition to their typical cargo, ATC carried 3,570 pounds of whole blood daily to Paris. Thousands of battle casualties were returned to the U.S. for medical care.

In the last five months of the war in Europe, over 10,000 tons of air cargo were carried overseas by ATC. It proved to be a safe, dependable airlift service.

Asiatic Pacific Theater

The Aleutian Islands Campaign (June 1942 – August 1943)

The Japanese believed that control of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, was of strategic importance to prevent a possible U.S. attack across the Northern Pacific. They bombed Dutch Harbor on 3 and 4 June 1942 and occupied Kiska and Attu.

ATC responded and sent many planes to Edmonton, Canada, a major railhead and U.S. Army supply depot. There they loaded troops, ammunition, medical supplies, food, weapons, and other vital equipment and made daily round trips to Dutch Harbor. They also flew in a complete hospital as the one in Dutch Harbor had been partially demolished by Japanese bombing.

Throughout the ongoing battle with the Japanese occupation of Kiska and Attu, American and Canadian forces and Eleventh Air Force were supplied by ATC until all Japanese forces withdrew on 15 August 1943.

The India-China Airlift (July 1942 – December 1945)

In 1942, shortly after the United States entered the war, China stood between more than a million Japanese troops and the southeast Asia region, including American forces. After China’s ocean, rail, and road supply routes were blocked, all supplies had to be moved by air over the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains, an area named "The Hump" by Allied pilots.
The India-China airlift was dangerous because there were no radio navigation aids, maps were unreliable, and the weather was unpredictable.

Daily operations for 42 months resulted in delivery of 650,000 tons of materiel. Most of the personnel were from ATC with support from Britain, India, Burma, and China. Thirty-four thousand military personnel and 640 aircraft were involved. Five hundred forty-nine aircraft (86%) were lost or destroyed, and 1,659 personnel (5%) were killed or missing.

ATC was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation at the personal direction of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944–the first such award made to a non-combat organization.

Australia and the Pacific Islands

With the loss of the Philippines to the Japanese, Fifth Air Force and other U.S forces were relocated to Australia. This was vital for the defense of Australia as well as to provide a base to launch offensive operations to retake lost ground from the Japanese. In addition to Fifth Air Force, ATC supported Thirteenth Air Force at New Caledonia.

The Pacific route operation at the end of 1942 was still without proper organization, standardization, maintenance, or discipline. Staffing was increased, and by the end of 1943 the Pacific’s roster showed approximately 5,000 personnel. By September 1945, the size had increased to 41,600 officers and enlisted personnel.

In 1943, there were 29 aircraft assigned to Pacific operations, and at the end of December scheduled traffic amounted to 20 round-trip flights a week. The westbound lift from California, 107 tons in December 1942, had risen to 355 tons in December 1943. In addition, ATC performed special missions. One such mission was to send eight sets of B-24 modified horizontal stabilizers to Fifth Air Force at Port Moresby, Australia, to keep their B-24s flying.

As combat operations moved further north, the Australian terminus shifted from Brisbane to Townsville and Port Moresby, 1300 miles north of Brisbane. Sometimes, ordered equipment arrived at its destination after the ordering unit had moved to another location requiring trans-shipping the equipment.

With the rapid movement of combat activities northward, the Central Pacific route became the primary focus of transpacific operations rather than the Southwest Pacific route to Australia.
Air evacuation planes carried cargo and passengers on their westward flights and evacuation of the wounded eastward. In the battle at Saipan alone approximately 800 wounded were evacuated.

Throughout 1944 and 1945, ATC played an increasingly important role. In December 1943, the actual westbound lift amounted to 494 tons. The next December it was 1,618 tons, and in July 1945 it reached 3,483 tons. Bomber Command flew hundreds of B-29 bombers to the western Pacific for action against the Japanese homeland. An enlarged ATC played an important role in supporting strategic bombing by bringing in equipment and additional crews.

After the war with Japan ended on 30 August 1945, 1,336 C-54 flights brought over 23,000 troops, 924 jeeps, 9 disassembled liaison aircraft, 329 other vehicles and pieces of equipment, gasoline, and rations to Atsugi Airdrome, Japan. More than 7,000 released prisoners were flown to Okinawa, Japan, to begin their repatriation journey to the U.S.

Size of the Air Transport Command

When operations began on 1 July 1942, ATC’s military strength was approximately 11,000 officers and enlisted men. By August 1945, it had reached over 209,000 with an additional 104,000 civilian personnel. ATC’s fleet of 3,700 planes operated an aerial network stretching 180,000 miles reaching virtually everywhere in the world. In July 1945, the month preceding the termination of hostilities, ATC planes carried almost 275,000 passengers and delivered just under 100,000 tons of mail and freight.

Size of the Naval Air Transport Service (NATS)

While ATC supported the Army, NATS supported naval fleet forces worldwide. Its planes were R4D (C-47) and R5D (C-54) aircraft, and several types of flying boats. At its peak strength it totaled four wings of 18 squadrons that had 540 aircraft with 26,000 personnel.

Air Transport Command Legacy

On 18 September 1947, the U.S. Air Force became a separate branch of the military, and on 1 June 1948 the Air Transport Command and the Naval Air Transport Service merged into one organization, the Military Air Transport Service (MATS).

ATC had built a highly effective worldwide military delivery system through its pioneering efforts of building bases and establishing routes and navigation aids. The Military Air Transport Service inherited a very successful operation and continued the mission of military airlift to our forces and those of our allies.


*****
Background from the National Air and Space Museum:

Air Transport Command and the Airlines During World War II
by Bob van der Linden, June 26, 2020

The ATC was designed to move and deliver airplanes throughout the various theaters of operations. When the war started, it was (like most everything else), understaffed, underfunded, and overworked. Like the pilot training programs, it was felt that civilians could be used to pick up some of the slack. The first and most obvious source of trained and experienced pilots where those civilians who were flying or associated with the US commercial aviation companies. The military contracted with these airlines for pilots and crew.

These ATC wings were worn by civilian pilots of US airlines (TWA, United, Pan AM, et al.) who were assigned to the military (AAF) and were typically used for ferrying air planes. Not being in the military, they didn't wear typical USAAF uniforms (but officers' uniforms with buttons with the letters 'ATC' on them), nor was it appropriate for them to wear their civilian airline uniforms/insignia, so the ATC uniforms and insignia were designed and worn. Somewhere I have a nice photo of a TWA pilot wearing his ATC wings.

In England, the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) had some success using women pilots to ferry aircraft. Following some heavy lobbying by Eleanor Roosevelt, and some political maneuvering by Jackie Cochran and Nancy Love, the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots) were formed 

The WASPs arose from two predecessor organizations, the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) and the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS), they were a paramilitary organization and had their own organizational structure, uniforms, and insignia--although they did fall under the ATC.

Military personnel in the ATC (including pilots) wore US military officer's uniforms, but with their own buttons and wings.

*****

During World War II, airlines worked closely with the military to further the war effort by transporting people and materiel. The airlines were well-prepared to play their part in the war effort — plans for their wartime mobilization had been drafted in 1937 by Edgar Gorrell of the industry’s Air Transport Association. 

When the United States entered World War II four years later, the plan was put into action, and the airlines immediately began working closely with the military to coordinate the transport of aircraft, cargo, and personnel throughout the country and around the world. 

Two hundred of the nation’s 360 airliners – particularly the superlative Douglas DC-3s - were drafted for the war effort and placed under the control of the Air Transport Command (ATC). The ATC was formed in June 1942 at the order of U.S. Army Air Forces leader Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, who wanted to unify civilian and military air transport operations. Airline pilots and flight crew, many of whom were reserve officers in the military, were also called into the ATC and joined their military counterparts. The airline pilots possessed critical knowledge and experience in how to operate a regularly scheduled service over long distances. The ATC was organized by Gen. Robert Olds and later Gen. Harold George. They benefited immensely from the experience of American Airlines president Maj. Gen. C. R. Smith, who served as executive officer.

During World War II, airlines worked closely with the military to further the war effort by transporting people and materiel. The airlines were well-prepared to play their part in the war effort — plans for their wartime mobilization had been drafted in 1937 by Edgar Gorrell of the industry’s Air Transport Association. 

When the United States entered World War II four years later, the plan was put into action, and the airlines immediately began working closely with the military to coordinate the transport of aircraft, cargo, and personnel throughout the country and around the world. 

The ATC functioned as an enormous international airline, combining the efforts of the Ferry Command, which moved combat aircraft around the world, and the Air Service Command, which moved cargo and personnel.

The ATC’s Ferrying Division, which included the famous Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), replaced the Army Air Forces Ferrying Command and delivered newly-built aircraft from their factories to training bases or ports of embarkation. From there, the aircraft were flown to overseas destinations including war zones.

The ATC’s Air Transportation Division quickly established a vast national and international route network. The ATC built chains of airfields with concrete runways around the world so that heavy transports could operate anywhere. The first major route opened in 1942 to Brazil and across the south Atlantic to Africa and the Middle East, flying much needed weapons, ammunition, and supplies to the British and other Allied forces who were fighting the German Afrika Corps. 

In 1943, the ATC opened regular service across the north Atlantic, despite treacherous weather conditions, to support the operations of the Eighth Air Force and the huge Allied build-up to the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Following the landings, the ATC supported the Allied advances in western Europe and Italy, delivering supplies and evacuating the most severely wounded. During the liberation of France, they carried almost 3,600 pounds of whole blood into Paris to treat wounded combatants.

The Air Transport Command directly supported Allied operations in the Pacific, reinforcing Australia while supporting America’s advance through the central and southwest Pacific, particularly resupplying the Boeing B-29s in the Marianas, as the 20th Air Force opened its devastating bombing attacks on the Japanese mainland beginning in late 1944.

Perhaps the ATC’s greatest feat was in the China-Burma-India theater. Using C-47s, larger Curtiss C-46s, four engine Consolidated C-87s, and Douglas C-54s, the ATC flew from bases in India across the treacherous “Hump” of the Himalayan Mountains, fighting unpredictable weather and with no navigation aids, to reinforce Nationalist Chinese and American forces solely by air, as the Japanese had cut off all land and sea routes used by the beleaguered Chinese forces. From July 1942 until December 1945, the ATC delivered 650,000 tons of desperately-needed cargo. The cost was high and 549 aircraft and 1,649 crew members were lost. But China did not fall. Although the ATC was theoretically a non-combat organization, President Roosevelt awarded them the Distinguished Unit Citation for their herculean accomplishment. 

By the end of the war, the ATC operated a huge fleet of 3,700 aircraft with 209,000 military and 104,000 civilian personnel. In its last full month of operation (July 1945) alone, the ATC delivered 100,000 tons of cargo and transported 275,000 high-value passengers, particularly VIPs and wounded servicemen, with most on overseas flights.

The Air Transport Command lasted until June 1, 1948, after the formation of the U.S. Air Force. At that time, it was merged into the comparable, though smaller, Naval Air Transport Service, to create the Military Air Transport Service. This unified America’s airlift capability in time to confront another challenge, the Berlin Airlift. But that is another story.

F. Robert van der Linden is Curator of Air Transportation and Special Purpose Aircraft.