“It was the biggest dedicated troop carrier formation of its type to operate during the war, and even dwarfs many modern-day derivatives.”
By Adam Berry
MUCH HAS BEEN written about the airborne element of D-Day. The men of the three paratrooper divisions — two American, and one Commonwealth – that leapt from their C-47s into the darkness over Normandy in the early hours of June 6, 1944, are famously remembered as the spearhead of the Allied assault on Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.
But comparatively little ink has been expended on the story of the forgotten pilots and air crew that transported the airborne that fateful night — IX Troop Carrier Command.
A new book aims to change that. A Breathtaking Spectacle from Overlord Publishing is the first title in a three-volume series that tells the story of the men and women of IX Troop Carrier Command.
To mark the release of the book, here are nine fascinating facts about one of the most important albeit lesser-known units of the Second World War.
It was the biggest troop carrier formation of WW2
Established in October of 1943 with veteran pilots and staff who planned and carried out the airdrops into Sicily and Italy and, IX Troop Carrier Command became the biggest dedicated troop carrier formation of its type to operate during the war. It still dwarfs many modern-day derivatives. At its peak, the unit had 1,189 C-47’s and C-53 Skytroopers (the non-cargo variant of the C-47) at its disposal and more than 1,600 CG4A Waco Gliders. In the lead up to Overlord, it acquired 301 of the larger British-built Horsa gliders. By the end of 1944, it comprised 41,000 personnel, ranging from its commanding officer, Major General Paul L. Williams, to privates who operated the mess facilities at the bases. It also had hundreds of flight nurses who, as part of assigned Medical Air Evacuation Squadrons (MAES), were vital to the evacuation of wounded soldiers from the battlefield.
It would take part in four major campaigns in Europe before the war ended
IX Troop Carrier Command carried out the aerial delivery of airborne troops in four major Allied operations beginning with Overlord. After the D-Day drops, its planes would resupply troops on the ground for two days by parachute or glider, or using forward landing strips built behind the front-lines. In August, its planes were redeployed to Italy for the invasion of southern France – Operation Dragoon. Its third campaign was Market Garden, the failed airborne invasion of Holland in September of 1944 — the largest multiday airborne operation in the history of warfare. Finally, there was Operation Varsity, the March 1945 airborne drop across the Rhine River near Wesel and Hamminkeln. It was the largest single-day airborne operation ever, and involved two entire divisions delivered by air in a single 24-hour period.
Its planes were available at a moment’s notice
Although its best-known missions involved massive airborne drops, only a fraction of IX Troop Carrier Command’s flying hours can be attributed to such operations. In December of 1944, the command carried out Operation Repulse, the aerial resupply of beleaguered troops of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne and the 106th Infantry Division at Marcouray, Belgium. The missions helped both divisions hold out in the face of considerable odds. In fact, without the low-level airdrops of food, ammunition and medical supplies by the IX Troop Carrier Command’s planes, the Screaming Eagles would surely have been overrun and one of the most famous episodes in the history of American arms would have ended much differently.
It could deliver more than just troops
The command was capable of carrying or deliver supplies in several ways. It could fly them into forward runways, known as advanced landing grounds, drop them from the air, or carry out air landing missions to improvised landing strips on the front lines. In 1944 alone, it delivered 22,000 tons of ammunition, 5,000 tons of rations, 1,300 tons of medical supplies, and combined with the various other supplies and personnel delivered, carried a total of 172,000 tons of supplies to the front lines.
It sometimes used bombers to deliver supplies
After D-Day, the command’s aircraft were stretched so thin it turned to the bombers of the U.S. 8th Army Air Force to carry out resupply missions. In July 1944, the supply section of the unit began testing supply drops with B-17 and a B-24. The Flying Fortresses proved of no use, but the Liberators could deploy more than twice the number of supply bundles than the C-47 and in half the time. Later, during operations Market Garden and Varsity, B-24s of the 2nd Air Division flew resupply missions to the airborne forces under the direction of IX Troop Carrier Command.
It carried troops from many nations
During Operation Market Garden, aircraft of IX Troop Carrier Command delivered all the parachute element of the British 1st Airborne Division, minus the Pathfinders, to the drop zones near Arnhem, as well as elements of the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade.
It was the first to use some of the Allies’ newest planes
In March 1945, the 313th Troop Carrier Group and elements of the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing became the first and only sections of IX Troop Carrier Command to use the new Curtiss C-46 Commando in an actual combat mission. Having completely replaced its C-47s with the newer aircraft from January 1945, the group carried elements of the U.S 17th Airborne Division to Germany as part of the mission, losing 20 aircraft in the process. Representing a 26 per cent loss rate, it was the costliest mission in terms of aircraft and crew lost for any group during a combat operation. The C-46 Commandos proved less able to sustain damage than the Skytrain, which led Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway (commanding the XVIIIth Airborne Corps) to declare that the Commando should never again be used in a combat parachute deployment.
It flew missions of mercy too
In June 1944, the number of medical air evacuation flights flown by the command increased dramatically. During the Normandy campaign, nearly 5,000 wounded soldiers were evacuated from frontline field hospitals to medical facilities in the U.K. By August 1944, the number of casualties evacuated had peaked at 25,000 in just one month, underlining the importance of these flights.
It was the subject of unfair criticism
The pilots and aircrew of IX Troop Carrier Command often bore the brunt of negative press for the widely reported mis-drops that took place on D-Day. Historians often cite the criticisms of paratroopers, without ever bothering to consult the pilots themselves. Of course, airborne soldiers are not aviators nor navigators. Few of them would be familiar with the difficulties associated with low-level flying at night, over unfamiliar territory, amid high winds, heavy cloud cover and scattered flak. All are factors that contributed to the scattering of paratroopers on D-Day.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Adam Berry is the author of A Breathtaking Spectacle, a three-volume series focused on the three Wings of IX Troop Carrier Command. The first volume focuses on the 52nd Troop Carrier Wing. Readers will see never-before-published images of the aircrew, aircraft and bases, as well as first-hand accounts, original testimony and historical information on the missions flown. For more information please visit www.overlord-publishing.com, where the first volume is currently available to pre-order before its release in April 2019.
