that prevailed earlierMay and June were the peak months for the L~20's.
In May, the L-20's nies) hours and 1,992 missions.
4,128 passengers and 8,575 pounds of cargo.
During the entire operation
from March through August, these aircraft flew 2622
15,587 passengers and 5,210 pounds of cargo.
These missions carried
hours and carried
See Figure 15 for a sum-
mary of L-20 flying activities.
Detachment #4 of the 24th Helicopter Squadron was enlarged from its
permanent complement of four (4) aircraft to fifteen (15) aircraft for
Operation HARDTACK.
operation.
These aircraft performed yeoman service during the
The fifteen (15) were divided into a flight of six (6) H-19's and |
another flight of nine (9) H-21's.
The H-19's were preferred for rad-safe sur~
veys because the aircraft afforded greater protection from radiation and the
H-21's were preferred for normal airlift because of their greater carrying -
capability.
The unique performance characteristics of the helicopter made
it an invaluable tool in the accomplishment of inter-island airlift at Eniwetok |
in support of the scientific projects.
The helicopters also consistently
overflew their programmed flying hours.
In spite of the -high maintenance
cost in man-hours to produce a helicopter flying hour, the“in-comuission
rate of these craft was very high.
The average of 69 hours per month for
zach of the assigned H-21's for the month of Lay is believed to be an
Air Force record for helicopter utilization.
The flow of normal scheduled traffic was smooth, interrupted only
by veather.
The special airlift requirements, however, were difficult
during the first half of the operation due to Task Group 7.4 receiving
jate requests for scientific recoveries, and many other special missions,
109