The plan would organize, staff,
equip, transport, test and evaluate, and (in the event of war) activate and
deploy Mobile Maintenance Teams consisting of U S civil service
volunteers. The teams would provide on-site emergency repairs
sufficient to continue flights of US/NATO combat-damaged or
otherwise disabled aircraft compelled to land in the Middle East, on Med
islands, or in North Africa on return flights from battle zones.
Strategic Air Command bombers and their direct support aircraft in the
active and -- at that time -- programmed inventory during the early-1950s
included the B-47 Stratojet, a six-engine 4,000 mile range medium
bomber which entered service in 1950; the B-52 Stratofortress, an eight-
engine 8,000+ mile range heavy bomber scheduled to enter operations
about 1955, and the C-97 Stratofreighter cargo and tanker versions with
four piston-driven engines which had been in SAC fleet operations since
about 1950, also late models B-50 and earlier B-29s from WW2.
Context
During the period covered by this memoir, the probability of a
worldwide nuclear conflagration, sparked by a Cold War incident
between US/NATO and the USSR, was considered to be high.
Pages:
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282