Airlift/Tanker Association

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Airlift/Tanker Association
AbbreviationA/TA
Formation1969; 57 years ago (1969)
Type501(c)(3) organization
Location
Websitewww.atalink.org
Formerly called
Airlift Association (1968–1991)

The Airlift/Tanker Association (A/TA), formerly the Airlift Association, is an American non-profit organization that supports the United States Air Force's airlift and air mobility operations. The A/TA is a partner of the Air Mobility Command.

History

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In July 1969, members of the 834th Airlift Division who served in the Vietnam War convened for a reunion in Las Vegas, where they formed the Airlift Association.[1][2] The association was chartered in 1975. It later formed a partnership with the Air Force to train and develop airmen.[3]

The association was renamed the Airlift/Tanker Association in 1992.[2]

The A/TA's leadership included personnel like Air Force general Duane H. Cassidy, who served as Chairman of the Board of Officers from 1999 to 2003.[4]

Activities

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The association is structured into chapters, which are typically formed on or adjacent to military bases. The chapter needs at least 20 A/TA members and a drafted charter that is presented to the association before it can be approved.[5] Chapters include Robins Air Force Base that was formed in 1992,[6] the Huyser Chapter at Scott Air Force Base named after Robert E. Huyser,[7] and overseas chapters like Luftbrücke and Berlin for air crew who flew in the Berlin Airlift.[8][9][10]

Events vary between chapters. Some collaborate with other societies for charity events on base, such as a golf tournament on Dyess Air Force Base between the A/TA's Big Country chapter and Meals on Wheels Plus in Abilene in 1987.[11] Other chapters own and operate historic aircraft like a Douglas DC-4 owned by the Berlin Airlift Association[8] and a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar on display at Pope Field after its chapter raised money to acquire the plane from the Florence Air & Missile Museum in 1988.[12]

The A/TA hosts the Airlift/Tanker Association Symposium annually in partnership with the Air Mobility Command.[13] Other activities by the association included sponsoring the Air Force Ball in 2012.[14]

The headquarters are located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is a 501(c)(3) organization.[15]

Hall of Fame

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The A/TA maintains a Hall of Fame, which has 37 inductees as of 2024.[16] The Hall of Fame was founded in 1989.[10]

Those enshrined have busts placed at Scott AFB.[17] The sculptures are part of the Airlift Association Hall of Fame Memorial and Walk of Fame, which opened in 1991 as part of the larger Berlin Airlift Memorial Garden.[18] It features a three-ton, eight-foot-by-four-foot slab of the Berlin Wall that was delivered by the association's German chapter Luftbrücke.[19][10] Founding members of the A/TA also receive busts.[1]

Year Inductee Rank Ref
2024 Paul K. Carlton General (Ret.) [20]
2023 Civil Reserve Air Fleet N/A [21]
2022 No inductee
2021 Donald D. Brown Major General [22]
2020 Lawrence Lane Colonel (Ret.) [23]
2019 Aerial port squadrons N/A [23]
2018 Walter Kross General (Ret.) [19]
2017 Paul L. Williams Major General (Ret.) [24]
2016 Alan Cobham N/A [17]
2015 The C-17A Pathfinder Loadmasters[a] N/A [25]
2014 Earl B. Young Colonel (Ret.) [26]
2013 Ronald R. Fogleman General [27]
2012 William H. Pitsenbarger Staff Sergeant [28]
2011 Thomas M. Ryan Jr. Major General (Ret.) [29]
2009 The Pioneers of Aerial Refueling[b] N/A [30]
2008 Robert B. Patterson Major General (Ret.) [31]
2007 Aeromedical Evacuation Legacy Team[c] N/A [32]
2006 Duane H. Cassidy General (Ret.) [33]
2005 James I. Baginski Major General (Ret.) [34]
2003 John F. Shea N/A [35]
2002 Carl Spaatz General [36]
2001 Roy W. Hooe Master Sergeant [37]
2000 Winston P. Wilson Major General [38]
1999 Gail Halvorsen Colonel (Ret.) [39]
1998 John Levitow Sergeant [40]
1997 Joe M. Jackson Colonel [41]
1997 William G. Moore Jr. General [42]
1996 Nancy Harkness Love N/A [43]
1995 Joseph Smith Lieutenant General [44]
1994 Robert E. Huyser General [45]
1993 Ira C. Eaker Lieutenant General [46]
1992 C. R. Smith Major General [47]
1991 Harold L. George Lieutenant General [48]
1990 Donald Wills Douglas Sr. N/A [49]
1990 Laurence S. Kuter General [50]
1989 William H. Tunner Lieutenant General [51]
  1. ^ Chief Master Sgts. William Cannon, Marion Fincher, James Lis, Mark Smith, Michael Welch, Theodore Venturini (Ret.)
  2. ^ Crews responsible for the first American aerial refueling flights in 1923 and 1929: 1st Lts. Virgil Hine and Frank W. Seifert (1923); Capt. Robert G Erwin, 1st Lt. Oliver R. McNeel, Capt. Lowell H. Smith, and 1st Lt. John Paul Richter (1929)
  3. ^ Lt. Paul K. Carlton Jr. (Ret.), Col. Regine Aune (Ret.), Col. Bud Traylor (Ret.), Col. Bob Brannon (Ret.), Col. Jay Johannigman, Capt. Reba Tobiason (posthumous), Chief Master Sgt. Rodney Christa, and Master Sgt. Mark McElroy (Ret.)

References

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