Praise the Load!
At one time, the
response, “Cabin Report - Secure Loadmaster” was added to the crew checklist so
the aircrew would not forget that they had a loadmaster; this was done to keep
the loadmaster from being inadvertently left behind, whether the stop was an enroute or an RON. Later in the history of the loadmaster,
he would be referred to as the member who was paid perdiem and salary to be flown from party to party by two
college graduates on a multimillion aircraft. It must be remembered that while
overlooked in past history, the loadmaster, despite not being recognized as
such, was a member of a team. This “not really part of the crew image” has faded
over the years, and its demise is extremely evident today. Responsible for just about anything that might
happen aft of the flight station bulkhead; configuring the cargo compartment to
carry anything from a missile to the President’s limos to the Army’s armor,
configure to carry bulk cargo in the palletized or airdrop mode and dropping it
if in airdrop mode, or reconfiguring to a hospital plane or troop carrier.
As late as World
War II, crew chiefs were responsible to check loading of gliders and aircraft,
with weight and balance officers ascertaining that cargoes were distributed
evenly, and other crewmembers supervised the actual loading. Today’s Loadmaster seems to have originated in
the early forties in the China-Burma-India theater. Flight traffic clerks were the cargo experts aboard
C-46 and C-47 aircraft. When the first airdrops began in this theatre in March
1943, a separate position for a Kicker was created. After World War Two,
Loadmaster duties, as we know them today, were performed by the flight traffic
clerk, exclusive of airdrop duties which was still performed by Kickers on
C-119s during the Korean War. The term Loadmaster was born in 1951, with
delivery of the first C-124s, with the career field itself established in 1953.
By the late sixties, Loadmasters would
be very wide spread; C-130s, C-141s, and C-5s for starters. The C-124s and
C-133s were being retired, but Loadmasters also flew, with more specialized
duties on AC-47s, C-119s, C-123s, and AC, LC, MC, and HC-130s. Boom Operators,
used aboard KC-135 and KC-10 aircraft, are nothing more than air refueling
qualified Loadmasters. As the aircraft get newer, the crews get smaller;
seventies technology made the Navigators obsolete, and eighties technology
initiated the same trend to the Flight Engineers. But the Loadmasters are still
there. Cassa 212s, C-27s, C-17s, and C-130 J-models
have three member crews; two Pilots and one Loadmaster.
Loadmasters truck
their way through time zones, eating and sleeping when they can and typically
are away from home two weeks at a time.
Current Air Force policy is to attempt to limit annual TDY days to 120 a year;
this is something Loadmasters laugh at, averaging closer to the 160 mark, and in
some cases in excess of 200 days a year.
And this doesn’t include flying locals or completing block training; most
Loadmasters would rather be gone. TDY days have historically been hardest on
C-130 Loadmasters, both of slicks and special ops birds, who lived in the
wonderful world of rotations, 60 to 90 days at a time. Desert Shield and Desert Storm introduced the
concept of rotations in excess of 180 days. Previously limited to the tactical
side of the house, rotations are now a fact of life in the strat side with the advent of the C-17.
Almost everyone who has traveled in an
Air Force transport has seen a Loadmaster grappling with the 463L pallets that
are made to fit the airlift fleet. The development of a roll-on, roll-off system
for rapid movement of freight revolutionized the concept of “trash-hauling”.
This system, developed initially for the first C-130 A-models in the fifties, is
firmly relied upon today on the C-17 and C-130J, both of which are destined to
take us well into the 21st century. Loadmaster expertise and
leadership is not limited to the aircraft. Deployed Tanker-Airlift Control Elements are
often headed by a Loadmaster. Numerous controller and functional positions
at the
The Loadmaster is
also the pack rat of the crew. He often rounds up the box lunches and usually
has an extra stash for those long legs through the changing time zones. Most
real Loadmasters will be able to feed the crew something when arrivals at
locations reveal a closed snack bar. Really dedicated Loadmasters who find
themselves on good crews will make commissary runs before the long legs and cook
for the crew. This was particularly fun during the days of the so-called
Military Customs Pre-Clearance; virtually any food other than a box lunch had to
be hidden for US bound trips. Praise the Load! Reprinted with permission. Complied by George Faris from several sources, read by Mel Gibson at the Professional Loadmaster Association Convent in 2000
|