William H. Tunner | |
|---|---|
 William H. Tunner in 1943 | |
| Birth name | William Henry Tunner |
| Nicknames | Willie the Whip Tonnage Tunner |
| Born | (1906-07-14)July 14, 1906 Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | April 6, 1983(1983-04-06) (aged 76) Ware Neck, Virginia, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Branch |  United States Air Force United States Army Air ForcesUnited States Army Air Corps |
| Years of service | 1928–1960 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant General |
| Commands | |
| Battles / wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards | |
William Henry Tunner (July 14, 1906 – April 6, 1983) was ageneral officer in theUnited States Air Force and its predecessor, theUnited States Army Air Forces.[1] Tunner was known for his expertise in the command of large-scale military airlift operations, first inAir Transport Command (ATC) during World War II, commandingThe Hump operation, and later inMilitary Air Transport Service (MATS) during theBerlin Airlift in 1949–1951. He eventually rose to the rank ofLieutenant general and commanded MATS itself.
Tunner appointedNancy Love to the staff of his first major command in 1942 and was a key figure in the planning and creation of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Service.
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Tunner entered theUnited States Military Academy on July 1, 1924, appointed from the5th District of New Jersey by United States RepresentativeErnest R. Ackerman. He was commissioned on June 9, 1928, as asecond lieutenant offield artillery, then selected theAir Corps as his branch of service, commissioned 2nd lieutenant AC on September 8, 1928, when he entered flight training atBrooks Field,Texas. At the Advanced Flying School atKelly Field, he received his final flight check from Capt.Claire Chennault and was awarded his pilot's wings in September 1929.
His first assignment was toRockwell Field, California, as a pilot in the11th Bombardment Squadron of the7th Bomb Group, flying a bi-wingKeystone LB-5 bomber. There he was introduced to transport aircraft, ferrying aFokker tri-motor toSacramento with passengers aboard.
In October 1931 he was assigned toRandolph Field as a flying instructor, but was ill-suited to the task. After a board of review, Tunner was assigned to squadron officer duties during his tour so that he could continue flying. He was promoted tofirst lieutenant on July 1, 1934. In January 1935 he transferred toFrance Field,Panama Canal Zone, as a pilot with the 7th Observation Squadron. Again he worked a variety of staff duties in his squadron and as assistant operations officer of the 19th Composite Wing, advancing to the temporary rank ofcaptain on September 26, 1935. In February 1937, back in his permanent rank of 1st lieutenant, he returned to the United States as adjutant atLawson Field,Georgia, and as an observation pilot with the 16th Observation Squadron, which performed duties as the school squadron for theInfantry School atFort Benning. He was promoted to the permanent rank ofcaptain on June 9, 1938.
Tunner attended the thirdAir Corps Tactical School "short course" in 1939, followed by his first command, the tinyMemphis Air Corps Detachment of the 1st Military Department, largely a recruiting billet. On January 31, 1941, he was promoted tomajor and began duties in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps (OCAC) atWashington, D.C., in the Personnel Division, assigning himself collateral flying duties at nearbyBolling Field.
Prior to World War II on June 8, 1941, Major Tunner became a key figure in the creation of what became theAir Transport Command (ATC) when he was the second staff officer selected by Col.Robert Olds for the headquarters of the new Air Corps Ferrying Command. He advanced from adjutant and personnel officer of ACFC to executive officer on November 26. He was promoted tolieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942, and fullcolonel on March 1, 1942.
He was thus in a key position when ACFC, originally intended to deliver aircraft from factory to their point of embarkation overseas, had its name and mission changed under its second commander, Brig. Gen.Harold George, to support of U.S. and Allied operations worldwide by aerial transportation of supplies, personnel, and equipment using multi-engine aircraft. The first wartime organizational tables for ACFC (officially the Army Air Forces Ferrying Command after February 1942), were drawn up by Tunner, who organized and became commander of its Domestic Division on April 1, 1942. On July 1, 1942, the Domestic Division was renamed the Ferrying Division under ATC and continued its mission of aircraft delivery.
Under the aegis of the Ferrying Division, Tunner was responsible for organizing the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) in September 1942, a program ofcivil service female pilots to shuttle planes from factory to Army airfields. The WAFS program, developed from a plan first drawn up by Tunner's executive trouble-shooterNancy Harkness Love, merged in August 1943 withJacqueline Cochran's Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD) to become theWomen Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS).
Tunner was promoted toBrigadier general on June 30, 1943, and tapped for command of theairlift supply operation from India to China in the spring of 1944. He made an inspection trip in theCBI theater with his prospective staff in June, where he piloted aC-46 Commando over "The Hump". He went back to the CBI in August and took command of what had become theIndia-China Division (ATC) on September 4, 1944. Tunner's orders were to increase cargo tonnage levels flown by the airlift but also to reduce an alarmingly high accident level. Tunner incorporated four-engined DouglasC-54 Skymaster cargo planes into a second route to China called the "Low Hump" that widened the airlift corridor from 50 to 200 miles to increase efficiency.[2] He instituted maintenance and flying safety programs that reduced the deadly accident rate to less than a quarter of what it had been when he took command, despite more than doubling the tonnage and hours flown.
On November 10, 1945, he returned to the United States, where he became Air Inspector of ATC on January 1, 1946. He held a series of division commands in the post-war ATC beginning February 1, 1946, and was promoted toMajor general on July 10.
When the Army Air Forces became the United States Air Force in September 1947, theMilitary Air Transport Service was formed by combining ATC and theNaval Air Transport Service. Maj. Gen.Laurence S. Kuter selected Tunner to be his deputy commander for operations in March 1948.
Almost immediately, Tunner's reputation for managing airlift recommended him to bring efficiency to theBerlin Airlift. The organization of the five-week-old operation was haphazard becauseUSAFE was a tactical organization without experience in running transport operations, trying to feed the city using 54C-54 Skymasters supplemented by a section ofC-47 Skytrains, basically using bomber operation methods. On July 22, 1948, theNational Security Council met with European commander Gen.Lucius D. Clay and concluded that expansion of the operation was essential. Gen.Hoyt S. Vandenberg immediately appointed Tunner to the job, and he arrived inWiesbaden, Germany, on July 28, 1948. By mid-August Tunner had added 72 C-54s to the effort and brought in two-thirds of all USAF C-54 aircrews worldwide to fly the airlift 24 hours a day.
Tunner brought such a level of organization to the Berlin operation that the per-day tonnage brought into Berlin by the planes eventually exceeded the amount of material that had been brought in by train. Tunner is credited with organizing each western ally controlled air corridor into a one way path, which improved the efficiency of the airlift. His strict control of his subordinates along with his unorthodox solutions to problems earned him the nickname Willie-the-Whip.[3] This included taking advantages of opportunities to enhance the operation such as upon learning about pilotGail Halvorsen's dropping of candy mid-flight for the children of Berlin. Tunner ordered this activity expanded to "Operation Little Vittles" in which tons of candy would be dropped over Berlin in small parachutes created by American civilians, producing a major propaganda success for the Western Allies.[4] Unfortunately for Tunner, much of the credit for the success of the airlift, and the innovations that led to that success, were given to GeneralCurtis LeMay, the Air Force commander in Europe until October 1948.[5]
The airlift program was gradually wound down as squadrons were broken up and reassigned to their regular MATS duties. Tunner returned to his post in MATS on September 5, 1949. The outbreak of theKorean War took him toTokyo, Japan, to command a new airlift organization in theFar East Air Forces, Combat Cargo Command (Provisional) on September 10, 1950.
Combat Cargo Command had the initial job of providing the airlift for theInchon invasion and subsequentairborne operations. Tunner's success in meeting the commitments is attested to by theDistinguished Service Cross awarded him on the spot by GeneralDouglas MacArthur. Combat Cargo Command was discontinued on January 25, 1951, when a permanent organization,315th Air Division, was activated. In its four-and-a-half months under "Tonnage Tunner", it had made 32,632 sorties; delivered 130,170 tons of cargo; carried 155,294 passengers including paratroopers; and evacuated 72,960 casualties.
In February 1951 Tunner was assigned to theAir Materiel Command atWright-Patterson Air Force Base,Ohio, as deputy commander. In 1953, he was appointed commander,United States Air Forces in Europe, a post he held four years during the buildup ofNATO air forces.
In 1957, he was reassigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy chief of staff for operations. On July 1, 1958, concurrently with the assumption by theMilitary Air Transport Service of the "Single Managership for Airlift", he returned to the air transport field as commander, MATS, with headquarters atScott Air Force Base,Illinois. He became a prime and impassioned spokesman for the development and deployment of theLockheedC-141 Starlifter as the primary jet airlift transport for MATS, and supported the election ofJohn F. Kennedy as president to achieve that end when theEisenhower administration rejected it.
Tunner retired from the Air Force on May 31, 1960 after a heart problem was diagnosed.[6]
In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross, Tunner received theDistinguished Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters, theLegion of Merit, theDistinguished Flying Cross, theBronze Star Medal with one oak leaf cluster[6] and theAir Medal with two oak leaf clusters.[7] His foreign awards included Honorary Companion of theOrder of the Bath from the United Kingdom,Order of Pao Ting (Tripod) Yun Hui from China and the Knight Commander's Cross with star of theOrder of Merit from West Germany in 1982. He was also conferred an honorary doctor of military science degree by theUniversity of Maryland in 1956.[6][8]
The Lieutenant General William H. Tunner Award is presented annually by the commander of theAir Mobility Command to the "outstanding strategic airlift crew" in the United States Air Force.
In 1997 the USAF began procurement of the 60K Tunner Materiel Handling Equipment (MHE), a diesel-driven aircraft loader built by Systems & Electronics, Inc. for loading and unloading wide-body cargo transports, designed to be deployed by C-5, C-17 and C-141 transports. It has the capability to load and unload the C-130, C-141, C-5 and C-17, as well as the commercial DC-10, L-1011 and B-747 freighters. The equipment was named to honor Tunner by an industry naming contest.[9][10]
First recipient of theAirlift/Tanker Association Hall of Fame Award in 1989.[11]
A street in the Berlin borough ofSteglitz-Zehlendorf is named after him.[6]
Tunner was the fourth of five children of immigrants fromLeoben,Austria. His ancestorsPeter Tunner the Elder (1786–1844) andPeter Tunner (1809–1897) were metallurgists, mining specialists and montanists who co-founded Austria's famous "Bergakademie" (Mining Academy) at Leoben.[12] His father was an engineer as well and settled inRoselle, New Jersey, where Tunner was raised.[13]
Tunner married twice, the first to Sarah Margaret Sams ofMeridian, Mississippi. They had two sons, Joseph C. and Dr. William H. Tunner, Jr. Sarah was diagnosed with an inoperablebrain tumor following surgery on November 12, 1945, and remained in a coma for a year and a half. After her death in 1947, Tunner married a former WASP pilot Margaret Ann (Ann) Hamilton ofEnid, Oklahoma in 1951, and they had a daughter, Hamilton Suzanne Tunner Hudson.
Tunner died at his farm inWare Neck, Virginia on April 6, 1983, and was buried atArlington National Cemetery.[14]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.A name-the-60k contest voted to call it the Tunner, after General William H. Tunner who directed the Burma Hump, Korean, and Berlin Airlifts.
