ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE

426 "THUNDERBIRD" SQUADRON

A North Star of 426 "Thunderbird" Squadron
Courtesy 426 "Thunderbird" Squadron Association	"Thunderbirds" over the Peace Tower in Ottawa

War broke out on the Korean Peninsula on 25 June 1950. Approximately one month later it was confirmed that "Thunderbirds" would deploy to McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Washington. From there they would operate as a unit of the USAF Military Air Transport System (MATS). Six aircraft with twelve crews and 180 support personnel on board left Dorval Airport in formation over Montreal, then over the Peace Tower in Ottawa, where the body of The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon W. L. MacKenzie King was lying in state. After over flying to Toronto, the Squadron broke formation and the aircraft proceeded individually to McChord arriving early on 26 July. The operational plan called for one departure every morning; aircraft would be flown at 150 hours and aircrew at 110 hours per month. Three aircraft departed McChord on 27 July with slip crews and servicing personnel to set up the North Pacific route through Anchorage and Shemya to Haneda AFB at Tokyo. The round trip was 10,000 miles, the flying time was in the order of 50 hours depending of course on the weather conditions and enroute winds. Flying operations involved long crew days and particularly challenging weather conditions at the terminals along the Aleutian chain of islands where high winds and low clouds or fog were the norm. Many aircrew flew in excess of the planned rate of 110 hours per month and on occasion some individuals exceeded the 200 hour mark.

The statistics for the Squadron on the Korean airlift are impressive. In just under four years, 599 round trips were made to the Far East. This entailed a total of 34,000 flying hours without loss of cargo or a single passenger. No one was injured on flight operations which was a miracle when one considers the numerous incidents and "near misses".