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at Enyu to support special missiona at Bikini Atoll during the build-up
phase,
The airlift support of Bikini Atoll was provided by HMR~-363, a Marine
Helicopter Squadron with a complement of 15 HRS-1 (H-19A) aircraft. The
squadron initially provided eight aircraft with the remainder arriving on the
USS Badoeng Strait,
Additional support by one Air Force L-20 was avail~
able during early phases of the operation; this waa increased to a total of
two, immediately preceding|_
~} (Zuni) to support the Tare complex,
Following Zuni, the L-20’s were no longer required.
On March 27, the Marine Squadron at Bikini lost a helicopter owing to
engine failure. With the cause undetermined and with a history of similar
trouble, all helicopters were grounded. Subsequently, Hmited numbers were
made available but were used for freight only following the decision of
CTG 7.1 that personnel would not be airlifted by Marine helicopter until the
engine deficiency was corrected or replacement aircraft were available. A
decision was made to use the Air Force helicopters from Eniwetok until
later-model replacements were made available, This was considered es<
sential due to critical requirements at Bikini. On March 29, the Air Force
was flying necessary support. On April 25, HRS-3’s (H-19B’s) were ava{lable at Bikini as replacement aircraft for grounded aircraft and took over
responsibility for Bikini airlift.
Uelecopter support at Eniwetok Atoll was curtafled effective March 27
with the movement of the AF H-19's to Bikini to support airlift requireywents there. The AF helicopters were returned to Eniwetok on April 26
ater the arrival of the new Marine helicopters.
The Eniwctok islands: were supported by air as follows:
Runit - L-20 and H-19
Rojoa complex - L-20’s primarily
Teiteiripucchi complex ~- L-20 and H-19
ott
ad
The Bikini islands were supported as follows:
Romurikku complex and north islands of atoll ~ helicopter.
Eninman complex and south islands - helicopters and L~20.
Procedures were established at both atolls for providing airlift for
TG 7.1 personnel. For published scheduled flights, tt was normal for tIndividuals to request space by direct contact with the appropriate TCA dispatcher, For all special flights which regular scheduled service could not
accomodate, requests were submitted to J-3 for approval and booking,
The short airstrip at Runit necessitated using H-19's for airlift any
time the wind velocity dropped to less than 10 mph or became a cross
wind,
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