Military Air Transport Service takes part in history as it unfolds

By Lella Stone
Few people are aware that MATS (Military Air Transport Service) contracts with many charter airline services throughout the USA which at the time (1968) included Kalitta, Zantop, and Dave Clark based at Willow Run Airport with close ties to the Belleville and Van Buren Township communities.
These charter services are awarded contracts by individual corporations including automotive, shipping, medical, and disaster relief services (at this point, would expand to: Puerto Rico, Florida, Houston and California) as well as the military contracts from MATS. Their cargo could include anything from thoroughbred race horses or fire fighters to Muslim pilgrims or Saudi oil workers on leave. They might even include bringing shipment of strawberries or shrimp to your favorite five-star restaurant.
As I struggled to recount my husband Bill’s personal participation and experience, I watched a PBS documentary on the Vietnam War, by acclaimed historian, Ken Burns. It explicitly portrayed not only the pain from the loss of so many lives, but also the agony of a country torn apart. It became clear this story needed to be told, and I believe Bill would want their participation and efforts to be shared with all those men and women who served in this effort, and continue to do so. From the Berlin airlift, Korean Conflict, Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Alaska, and Antarctica. These crews flew in the most brutal weather conditions men and aircrafts can encounter. Even as you read this somewhere a charter plane and crew is taking off filled with needed personnel, food, materials, and medical supplies.
In 1968, in the height of the TET offensive, MATS awarded contracts to charter airlines at Willow Run to furnish aircraft and crews flying necessary supplies and personnel. Crews were made up of volunteers. The aircraft assigned for their missions was a stretch DC8 stripped down to allow for maximum cargo, passengers, and a crew of six (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, navigator and two flight attendants); no champagne, caviar or in-flight movies were offered. It was a long, exhausting, and dangerous flight from here to Saigon and back. After the final refueling in Subic Bay, the remainder of the flight to Saigon and back was flown without military escort or assistance. Once on the ground in Saigon, ground crews swarmed the air craft to refuel and prepare the plane for the return flight. The crews would receive the flight manifest for their returning flight and prepare for take-off. All materials, supplies and passengers were loaded before the assigned medical team could bring aboard the wounded for the long flight back to Travis Air Force base, where they would be transferred to the nearest VA Hospital.
The planes and equipment have evolved and for the most part have been modernized and up-graded, but if you watch and listen somewhere rolling down the runway is the beloved work horse WWII DC3 and the widely used C130 cargo. I believe Bill would say “To all you no-skedders (non-scheduled), ‘Happy Landings, Guys.’ We got the job done.”