Great Snafu Fleet: 1st Combat Cargo/344th Airdrome/326th Troop Carrier Squadron in World War II's CB

The 1st Combat Cargo Squadron, a.k.a., The Great Snafu Fleet, was organized in 1944 as part of the larger Air Commando project for delivering supplies by air to British and American forces in Burma using the Douglas C-47/Dakota. Initially in service there, they moved to China and spent 1945 delivering supplies and personnel for Maj Gen Claire Chennault's 14th Air Force's Flying Tigers and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) activities across China, often behind enemy lines. The Second World War was a period of significant advances in aviation including transport, with almost real-time delivery of everything a modern army required, even by parachute where no ground transport existed. Just as importantly, where landing was possible, sick, injured & wounded troops could be rapidly evacuated for hospital treatment. Behind the glamorous and headline-grabbing American Flying Tigers and RAF Spitfires, American Combat Cargo and Troop Carrier squadrons flew side by side with RAF Transport squadrons, supplying British, Chinese and American forces pushing the Japanese out of Burma and China, forging a new way of war. AUTHOR: Gerald White is an Independent Researcher. He retired in 2019 as a USAF civilian historian since 2000 with service at all levels from unit/base to Air Force Reserve Command, including service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He previously retired as a USAF Master Sergeant with 27 years service across the active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve with various assignments including 12 years as a C-5 Loadmaster and his last assignment as a historian. 57 b/w illustrations, 55 b/w photos, 12 colour profiles, 1 colour illustration, 2 b/w maps