Sept. 1992: Travis Airmen support eight humanitarian relief operations simultaneously

  • Published
  • By Mark Wilderman
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing History Office
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  Travis Airmen have a proud tradition of humanitarian service dating back to the Berlin Airlift of 1948 and '49.

This tradition was most recently demonstrated in mid-March when the 60th Air Mobility Wing participated in Operation Tomodachi, "Friends", the effort to provide relief to the people of Northeastern Japan following the March 11 earthquake and tsunami and Operation Pacific Passage, the voluntary evacuation of more than 2,600 military members, their families and 150 pets from military installations in Northern Japan to the U.S. These relief operations were expertly carried out while Travis Airmen continued to support the Global War on Terror and Operation Odyssey Dawn, the Libyan air campaign.

In September 1992, the 60th Airlift Wing, then equipped with Lockheed C-141B Starlifter and Lockheed C-5 Galaxy aircraft, simultaneously supported no less than eight humanitarian airlift operations around the globe. These missions were:

- Operation Provide Comfort. U.S. and coalition forces protected the Kurds in Iraq from attack by Saddam Hussein's military forces and provided humanitarian aid following the January 1991 Coalition and Iraqi Cease Fire ending the first Gulf War.

- Operation Provide Hope. The Air Force delivered medical equipment to the former Soviet Republics during their transition from communism to democracy and free-market economies. Two 60th AW C-141Bs, positioned at Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, delivered relief supplies to Tblisi, Republic of Georgia.

- Operation Provide Promise. The joint Air Force and Navy humanitarian relief effort in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the Yugoslav civil war.

- Operation Provide Relief. The United Nations effort to provide humanitarian relief following a famine and civil war in Somalia.

- Operation Phoenix Uffo. The humanitarian relief effort to repatriate refugees from the island nation of Haiti to their homeland from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

- Hurricane Andrew Relief. The massive humanitarian relief effort to Florida after devastation by Hurricane Andrew.

- Hurricane Iniki Relief. The humanitarian relief effort to Hawaii after devastation by Hurricane Iniki.

- Typhoon Omar Relief. The humanitarian relief effort to Guam following Typhoon Iniki. A 22nd Airlift Squadron C-5B delivered relief supplies to Guam and then continued to Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, to deliver relief supplies to the Mongolian people.

Travis missions during the July to September 1992 surge period resulted in 19,000 flying hours, a feat second only to the wartime surge of the 1990 to '91 Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations. Travis aircrews were put on 12-hour crew rest, followed by telephone Bravo alert for 48 hours. Many aircrews left Travis on one-day missions, only to be diverted, on the runways in some cases.

The proven ability of Travis Airmen past and present to handle the toughest humanitarian operations, sometimes several at once, is one reason why Travis remains "America's First Choice."