Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2012 Civilian Involvement in the 1990-91 Gulf War Through the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Charles Imbriani Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCE CIVILIAN INVOLVEMENT IN THE 1990-91 GULF WAR THROUGH THE CIVIL RESERVE AIR FLEET By CHARLES IMBRIANI A Dissertation submitted to the Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2012 Charles Imbriani defended this dissertation on October 4, 2012. The members of the supervisory committee were: Peter Garretson Professor Directing Dissertation Jonathan Grant University Representative Dennis Moore Committee Member Irene Zanini-Cordi Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Fred (Freddie) Bissert 1935-2012. I first met Freddie over forty years ago when I stared working for Pan American World Airways in New York. It was twenty-two year later, still with Pan Am, when I took a position as ramp operations trainer; and Freddie was assigned to teach me the tools of the trade. In 1989 while in Berlin for training, Freddie and I witnessed the abandoning of the guard towers along the Berlin Wall by the East Germans. We didn’t realize it then, but we were witnessing the beginning of the end of the Cold War. It wasn’t long after, on August 2, 1990 that Saddam Hussein the Iraqi dictator invaded Kuwait in a brazen act of aggression. The world, elated with the end of the Cold War, was shocked out of it reverie. Soon after, the U.S. Department of Defense activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet along with its twenty-seven member U.S. air carriers. Pan Am began its call for volunteer crews. Freddie and I were asked if we would be willing to take “off line” assignments to work the Pan Am flights picking up U.S troops for deployments to the Persian Gulf. As a team, we worked Pan Am’s CRAF flights at: Fort Hood, Fort Campbell, Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Langley Field, Charleston, Volks Field, San Antonio, and Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. On January 20th shortly after the war began to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait, Freddie and I were asked if we would be willing to fly into the war theater on board Pan Am’s flights. We flew numerous troop and cargo flights out of Rome, the U.S. air base in Ramstein and the NATO air station in Sigonella Sicily. Our destinations into the desert were: Riyadh, Dhahran, Al Jubail, and Bahrain; all during the height of the war. We would remain to fly our troops home on the redeployment. Twenty years after those events, when I told Freddie that I was writing a dissertation on the Civil Reserve Air Fleet’s participation in that war, he couldn’t do enough to assist me. He made several important contacts for me to interview, and provided me some useful written accounts. In January 2012, I asked Freddie if he would share his personal recollections of those events for inclusion into my dissertation. He was elated, and began setting them down. Freddie passed away unexpectedly that month and was not able to get anything to me. I hope this dedication pays proper tribute to Freddie for his professional and dedicated service to his country, to the experiences we shared, and to our longtime friendship. Freddie remains part of this work. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincerest appreciation goes to Dr. Peter Garretson, my major professor. First and foremost, Peter has always encouraged me during those frustrating and difficult times that invariably popup when taking on a research project of this size. Peter has spent many hours going over numerous drafts of my work and has always been positive and constructive in his critiques. I am not sure if I would have reached this point without the support and time that Peter has so generously afforded me. I remain indebted to him. My appreciation and thanks also extends to my committee members: Dr. Jonathan Grant, Dr. Dennis Moore and Dr. Irene Zanini- Cordi for their encouragement, support, and time they take out of their busy schedules to serve on my committee. They have always been professional, gracious, and understanding in all of our dealings. There are of course, many others, within and without of academia, who have encouraged me and supported my research efforts. A special thanks is due to all those who volunteered to be interviewed for this project; and to the many who contributed written and oral accounts of their experiences flying the CRAF missions into the Persian Gulf during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. It is to them that this work owes a true debt. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………. ...............................................................ix ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................xi CHAPTER ONE – THE CIVIL RESERVE AIR FLEET ................................................................1 Introduction ...................................................................................................1 Importance of This Study ..............................................................................5 Methodology .................................................................................................6 The Sources ...................................................................................................10 Getting to War, Ships and the Merchant Fleet ..............................................13 CHAPTER TWO – HISTORY AND BACKGROUND ..................................................................17 Airlift .............................................................................................................17 The Beginning of a Relationship ..................................................................20 World War II Airlift ......................................................................................22 A Case Study: Pan Am and Its People, WW II in the Pacific Theater .........27 The Context at the Outbreak of War .............................................................29 War in the Pacific ..........................................................................................31 Across the Pacific .........................................................................................39 Flying the Himalayas, India to China, aka Flying the “Hump” ....................47 Testimony from a Pan Am Radio Operator ..................................................51 CHAPTER THREE – HISTORY AND BACKGROUND II - BERLIN TO 1990 .........................54 The Berlin Airlift (June 1949 - July 1949) ...................................................54 The Korean Airlift (June 1950 – July 1953) .................................................56 The Vietnam Airlift (1961 – 1975) ...............................................................57 v The CRAF from Conception to Reality ........................................................58 The Composition of the CRAF 1950-1959 ...................................................63 The Military’s Organic Aircraft and the CRAF ............................................64 The CRAF 1960 – 1979 ................................................................................66 The Yom Kippur War 1973 ..........................................................................67 The CRAF in the 1980s ................................................................................68 CRAF Incentives ...........................................................................................70 The Structure and Makeup of the CRAF ......................................................72 CHAPTER FOUR - CONTEXT: DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM 1990 – 1991 ..................74 The Context Leading up to War ....................................................................76 Diplomatic and Political Initiatives ..............................................................81 Cultural – Religious Influences ....................................................................89 Diplomacy Continues ....................................................................................93 Road to War - CRAF Stage II - The Buildup Continues .............................94 Summary and Conclusion .............................................................................96 CHAPTER FIVE - THE CRAF IN THE PERSIAN GULF WAR 1990-1991 ................................100 Introduction ...................................................................................................100 Initial Problems.. ............................................................................................102 The CRAF at the Outbreak of War ...............................................................104 The Activation (Phase I) ...............................................................................107 Insurance Lapses ...........................................................................................109 Other Problems .............................................................................................111 Phase II Deployment .....................................................................................113