American Military Transport Aircraft Since 1925
by E.R. Johnson, drawings by Lloyd S. Jones, McFarland and Company, Jefferson, N.C., 2013, $45.
Although military transports seldom generate the same degree of interest that books about fighters or even bombers do, this book should be an exception, for it covers more little-known types than any other on the subject. Author E.R. “Buddy” Johnson has teamed up with Lloyd S. Jones to create a vital reference book that also makes for fascinating reading.
It is also extremely important, for transport aircraft have taken on a totally new role in today’s world of far-flung asymmetric warfare. Modern transports have become the baggage train of earlier eras, keeping the armies supplied in the field. In the past, moving a division took months of buildup, dozens of ships and lots of waiting. Today jet transports can place an imposing force halfway around the world within a matter of days, if not hours.
The modern U.S. Army, and to a lesser but similar extent the Marine Corps, depends on the capacity of America’s air forces to secure air superiority first, and then begin an unending assembly line of supplies. The curious thing is that this exercise of air power tends to relegate the Air Force to the back burner in terms of credit for successful operations. Thus while air power, particularly transport aircraft, shortens wars by shortening supply lines, tank columns get the headlines.
Johnson introduces his topic with a very satisfying description of how American military airlift came into being, highlighting its role in war and peacetime. He divides military transport aircraft into two periods, from 1925 to 1962, and from 1962 to the present. Many readers will find the book’s third focus, the story of utility and miscellaneous transport aircraft since 1962, the most surprising. How many of you can honestly say you know what a U-11A, a U-28 or an M-28 is? Neither could I.
Aviation researchers may liken Johnson’s efforts to the work that pioneers such as James Fahey and Peter Bowers did in the early days. But Buddy Johnson is doing it with vastly improved writing, bigger photos and, perhaps most important, footnotes, a bibliography, a glossary and an index. American Military Transport Aircraft is nicely illustrated with excellent drawings by Lloyd Jones. It will win a place in serious libraries the world over.
Originally published in the September 2013 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
