After three years of service with the
Military Airlift Command, by 1973 the C-5 GALAXY was turning into a
reliable airplane. Most of the problems that had occurred in the first
production models had been rectified, and the airplane was becoming considerably
more reliable. It was a good thing, too, for the C-5 was on the verge of proving
its value to the skeptical press.
By October, 1973 all MAC C-5s had been
consolidated at Dover AFB, Delaware on the East Coast and at Travis AFB,
California on the West Coast. The de-escalation of the war in Vietnam had
lessened the demand on MAC's C-141 an C-5 fleet. But a new problem was developing in
Israel - an Egyptian/Syrian coalition had launched a two-prong attack on tiny
Israel and this time the situation was far different than it had been in the
past. The Egyptian and Syrian attacks were the strongest ever endured by the
Israelis and even though they were meeting them, the country was depleting its
supply or artillery shells at a rapid rate. With only a two-weeks supply left,
Prime Minister Golda Meir turned to the United States for help. President
Richard Nixon quickly agreed to come to Israel's aid, but a problem arose. The
Israelis lacked the airlift to move the cargo by air and it would take at least
a month for the first loads to arrive by sea. The president did not want to
involve the United States military, but when the American airline industry
refused to submit bids to contract to carry the cargo he had no choice but to
order the Military Airlift Command to begin an airlift.
The loads were to
come out of several US arsenals at diverse points within the United States. MAC
immediately dispatched C-5s and C-141s from each of its bases to onload points
near the various arsenals, then sent them to East Coast bases for refueling in
preparation for the flight to Lod Airport outside Tel Aviv. But there was still
a problem to contend with - none of the governments of the countries in which
MAC's overseas bases were located would allow the American airplanes to use them
while carrying cargo destined for Israel out of fear of Arab reprisals. Finally,
the United States negotiated permission from the Portugese government to use
Lajes, an airfield in the Azores. (Portugal had its own oil sources in Africa.) Even before permission was granted, the first
C-5s and C-141s were on their way to Lajes.
The airlift began in
mid-October, and continued for 32 days until the first ships began arriving in
Israel from the United States. Fortunately, like the Berlin Airlift, the
operation was routine, though the first crews flying into Lod
Airport were apprehensive due to threats of interception by the Arabs. The
routes from Lajes to Lod lay in close proximity to countries that were
unfriendly toward Israel. Some crews, mostly those in C-141s, reported spurious
radio transmissions and some unidentified aircraft were reported during the
airlift. But the United States Navy had several carriers positioned along the
route of flight to provide fighter protection if needed, while the Israeli Air
Force picked up each airplane 190 miles out and escorted it safely into
Lod.
Cargos carried included artillery shells for tanks, as well as
anti-tank missiles, armor and other military cargo. Unlike the Berlin Airlift,
NICKEL GRASS was a military airlift designed to prevent the defeat of a nation
the United States considered to be a friend. Throughout the airlift, the people
of Israel were outspoken with their compliments toward the United States and MAC
in particular. The huge C-5 was a source of excitement for the Israeli
population because the airplane had not been seen in Israel before. EL Al, the
Israeli national airline, provided a hospitality suite at the airport for the
MAC crews while a bus staffed by pretty El Al flight attendents met each
airplane to offer sandwiches and soft drinks to the enlisted crewmembers, who
remained with their airplanes during the off-loading process. Each crewmember
was presented with a key-chain medallion as a momento of their
participation.
(The Israeli gratitude, though undoubtedly genuine on the
part of the population as a whole, ended on a sour note. After the airlift was
over, EL AL presented the United States with a bill for the goodies it had
"given" the MAC crews. The Jewish personnel among the MAC crews and support
personnel who served at Lod were highly offended when they learned the
news!)
Though the C-5 was undoubtedly the star of the show, the smaller
C-141 was no stranger to the airlift. By the time the airlift ended in
mid-November, 1973 a total of 421 missions had brought in 11,632 short tons of
cargo. The larger C-5s brought in 10,763 short tons, but had only required 145
missions to do so. El Al 707s and 747s brought in another 5,500 short tons in
140 missions.
While NICKEL GRASS was going on, the Soviets were running
their own airlfit to support the other side. Using AN-12 and giant AN-22
turboprop transports, the Soviet Air Force flew 930 missions into Cairo and
Damascus to bring in 15,000 short tons over a 40 day period. The Soviet planes
operated in close proximity to the same routes used by the MAC transports. Often
the same Air Traffic Control center was controlling both American and Soviet
airplanes at the same time.
There were conversations between the American
and Soviet crews on the radios. One thing the MAC crews learned was that their
Soviet counterparts were as apprehensive of the Arabs as they were. Both sides
were afraid Arab fighters would attack a MAC transport, which would prompt a
retaliation against the Soviets from the Israelis. Washington had allegedly also
told Moscow that if any American planes were attacked, US fighters would enter
the fray.
NICKEL GRASS accomplished its objective of keeping Israel
supplied until surface transportation could reach the country. But it also did
more. Newspaper columnists who had devoted many inches of newsprint to criticism
of the C-5 in previous years now admitted that they were wrong. Though the
C-141s had performed yoeman's service throughout the airlift, it was obvious
that without the C-5 their effort would not have been enough. The favorable
publicity lessened criticism of the airplane in Congress, and led to the
appropriation of funds for improvements. MAC learned that without aerial fueling
capabilities, the command would be hard-pressed to full-fill its purpose of
providing rapid movement of military and cargo throughout the world. Aerial
refueling training was resumed for MAC C-5 crews. MAC's airlift capabilities
were further increased by the up-grading of the fleet. In the early eighties the
C-5B was contracted for, while the C-141 fleet was converted to B-model status
by stretching the fuselage and adding aerial refueling
capabilities.
Perhaps the best testimonial to NICKEL GRASS, and
especially to the C-5A, is that the Soviets very quickly began working on new
transports modeled along the lines of the C-5.
Click here AIRLIFT HISTORY to return
to Table of Contents.