The Great Snafu Fleet

About the Book

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.

About the Author

Gerald White has spent more than 25 years in various defense and aviation related work. A career Reservist, he has been an intelligence specialist on active duty and with the California Air National Guard, a business (undergraduate) and history (graduate) student, and a defense contractor in the communications analysis and unmanned aerial vehicle area. He also has 12 years as a C-5 loadmaster in the Air Force Reserve with more than 4500 flying hours and combat support missions for Operations JUST CAUSE and DESERT SHIELD/STORM. He currently serves as a Master Sergeant in the Air Force Reserve as a historian and is also employed as a civilian historian by the Air Force. This is his first book.