Description Unlike the Berlin Airlift, Operation New Tape required C-124 Globemaster and C-130 Hercules’ launches from several points throughout the world into numerous terminals within Africa. UN soldiers from countries including Sweden, Ireland, Ethiopia, India, Morocco and Pakistan had to be transported quickly and safely to the African heartland.
Many of these troops were unfamiliar with modern air transport and most were leaving home for the first time. Apart from the language barrier, almost all of them presented racial and cultural problems sometimes outpaced by US Air Force policy and planning which was normally available for airlift support operations. Sanitary conditions became a matter of grave concern. UN soldiers from the African countries were entirely unfamiliar with in-flight lavatory conveniences. Disinfecting the aircraft at the end of a long flight became the unpleasant task performed by the aircrew.
To better illustrate Operation New Tape, lets go through a typical C-124 Globemaster mission to the Congo—Trip Number 227:
This particular mission involved the airlift of Pakistani troops and their equipment from Karachi to Leopoldville. First it was necessary to obtain diplomatic clearance to over-fly and transient various countries en-route. A support team was deployed to Karachi which, with teams already in place at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; Khartoum, Sudan and Leopoldville, handled the ground support function for the mission. The plan called for the aircraft to depart Chateauroux Air Base, France as to arrive at Karachi at a specific time to meet the UN requirements. Leaving Chateauroux, the crew flew for 14 hours direct to Dhahran where they crew rested for 15 hours. The next leg, 9 hours duration, took them to Karachi. The Pakistani troops, wearing berets and field packs, boarded the airplane with carbines and automatic weapons and with gear necessary for the long stay they would have in the Congo. After a three hour ground time, Trip Number 227 was again airborne with its contingent of passengers heading back to Dhahran for crew rest and aircraft servicing.
The next segment of the flight, Dhahran to Khartoum, took seven hours. At Khartoum the plane spent minimum ground time for inspection and servicing. Nine hours after leaving Khartoum the airplane arrived at Leopoldville where the Pakistani troops and their gear were offloaded.
The crew spent its crew rest at Lovanium University in Leopoldville in dormitories vacated by the Belgian students and professors when they fled the country following its independence.
With Leopoldville now behind them their next stop is Kano, Nigeria for a minimum ground time refueling stop. The town of Kano is hundreds of years old and is surrounded by a wall 40 feet thick and in some places 50 feet high. Kano had always been a big trading center and a junction point for the old caravan routes.
After twelve more hours in the air, with a refueling stop at Wheelus Air Base in Libya, the crew was back in Chateauroux having traveled more than 13,000 miles and logging 57 flying hours with an elapsed time of six days. Congo Trip Number 227 was now over.
The positioning of the initial cadres of UN troops and equipment was accomplished by September 1960 and operations decreased. During the next year the Congo Airlift was handled almost solely by the 15th, 20th and 31st Air Transport Squadrons of the 1607th Air Transport Wing (Dover AFB), assigned temporary duty with the Provisional Squadron at Chateauroux, France. In September 1961, operational control reverted back to MATS and USAFE and the provisional squadron was disbanded. All aircraft would now be scheduled from their home bases and the first such mission departed Dover on October 12, 1961.
Virtually all airlift was provided by the C-124 up until the end of 1961, when the Naval Transport Wing at McGuire AFB, New Jersey entered the operation with their C-118s. Other aircraft types entered New Tape as requirements dictated and facilities became available. On January 10, 1962, a cargo mission requirement sent five C-133 Cargomasters to Stockholm, Sweden and then on to Leopoldville.
In 1962, the UN requested the use of the C-135 Stratolifter jet aircraft to be used in troop rotation. On October 10, 1962 a MATS C-135 departed Stockholm on its first Congo airlift mission. The flight stopped at Wheelus Air Base on the south bound leg; future stops were found to be unnecessary due to the aircraft’s extended range. Several days and up to 30 hours of flying time were cut off of this 5,000 mile trip. One C-135 returned to McGuire AFB nonstop from Leopoldville setting a new un-refueled distance record.
There was a marked increase in MATS activities in April 1963 with a general reduction of UN forces in the Congo. Eighty eight MATS aircraft were involved with the C-130Es being used for the first time in the operation. These C-130s and the C-135s were used for the long distance flights whereas the C-124s shuttled troops and equipment to the on-load stations.
In late December 1963 MATS crews began the roll-up of Operation New Tape. On January 3, 1964, a C-135 departed Leopoldville and onboard were Indian troops returning to Bombay. This mission concluded 3½ years of MATS’ participation in Operation New Tape.
Epilogue
During the airlift, MATS transports flew 2,310 missions, airlifting 63,884 personnel plus 37,202,000 pounds of cargo from 33 different countries. In so doing, the aircraft and crews covered 25½ million miles along some of the world’s most isolated air routes.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
August / 1960
To Month/Year
September / 1960
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories Flew C-130E missions in support of UN Ethiopian troops
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_2023.png?ixlib=java-2.3.0&w=100&s=2103abbc2c284c7c454e21867ff87eff "Strategic Command (Pre 2002)")
