Keywords: Lot-926-5: The Navy’s Own Airline. Any mention of aircraft in war time invariably connotes the deadly use of planes as offensive and defensive weapons – bombers, fighters, and the varying adaptations of these two general classes. Yet, even in war, the plane is filling the function which was its biggest role in peacetime – and will be even more important when peace comes again. That is, the task of delivering passenger and freight. Flying under the aegis of the Naval Air Transportation Service (NATS), giant R4D planes (the equivalent of DC-5’s) transport men and material of war all over the world to the fronts where they are needed the most. Founded five days after the Pearl Harbor attack, NATS today links five continents, spans many seas in its unending traffic runs. Its ever-growing staff of pilots and groundsmen now includes 2,500 men. Run in business-like fashion, according to minutely-timed schedules, NATS operates 60,000 miles of flight, stopping at every type of field from jungle “whistle-stops” to metropolitan airports. Shown: Panama Delivery. A heavy cargo of supplies for the U.S. Naval Base at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, is unloaded from the roomy hull of a NATS plane after a speedy flight from the United States. Official Navy Photograph, released October 5, 1943. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. (2016/04/14). Note, photographed through Mylar sleeve. Lot-926-5: The Navy’s Own Airline. Any mention of aircraft in war time invariably connotes the deadly use of planes as offensive and defensive weapons – bombers, fighters, and the varying adaptations of these two general classes. Yet, even in war, the plane is filling the function which was its biggest role in peacetime – and will be even more important when peace comes again. That is, the task of delivering passenger and freight. Flying under the aegis of the Naval Air Transportation Service (NATS), giant R4D planes (the equivalent of DC-5’s) transport men and material of war all over the world to the fronts where they are needed the most. Founded five days after the Pearl Harbor attack, NATS today links five continents, spans many seas in its unending traffic runs. Its ever-growing staff of pilots and groundsmen now includes 2,500 men. Run in business-like fashion, according to minutely-timed schedules, NATS operates 60,000 miles of flight, stopping at every type of field from jungle “whistle-stops” to metropolitan airports. Shown: Panama Delivery. A heavy cargo of supplies for the U.S. Naval Base at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, is unloaded from the roomy hull of a NATS plane after a speedy flight from the United States. Official Navy Photograph, released October 5, 1943. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. (2016/04/14). Note, photographed through Mylar sleeve. |