Col Charles D. Farr Spooky 1944

Prior to be assigned as the Commanding Officer of the 3rd Combat Cargo Group, Col. Charles D. Farr was with the 443rd Troop Carrier Group. It was while with the 443rd Troop Carrier Group, that Col. Farr had an idea to help in the defense of the the then defenseless C-47's while on their low level drop missions. While his aircraft were supporting British Brigadier General Orde Wingate's Chindit operation in Burma, C-47's of the group had come under fire from Japanese infantrymen, who were used to shooting a stationary targets. When they fired at these low flying C-47's, they usually aimed at the cockpit area, not allowing for the aircraft speed and managed mostly to kill or wound the kickers and pushers in the rear.

The Colonel and Capt. John A. McCann, Group Intelligence Officer, had an idea, that if a 'gun-ship' (twenty years prior to the AC-47, 'Spooky' of Vietnam fame), was fed into these drop patterns, a good spray job with a large caliber gun might keep the Japanese infantrymen's heads down. Naturally .50 heavy machine gun was the gun of choice for this idea. Initial thought began as to the mounting of these weapons, the nose, the first thought, was quickly dismissed due to the amount of equipment located there. Second thought was to mount them in the cargo compartment, firing out through a side window, this idea was also dismissed due to the fact that it took up valuable cargo area. Finally it was decided to rig tripod mount and cut a hole in the aft section of the cargo door for one gun and then cut a similar hole on the opposite side of the fuselage, but moved forward somewhat to prevent the gunners from interfering with each other (similar to the later model B-17G's, with staggered waist gun positions).

C-47, Sn# 315054, of the 315th Troop Carrier Squadron was the first C-47 to be converted for this use. A large hole was cut in the aft section of the cargo door from waist level to about eye level. A similar hole was cut in to the fuselage on the opposite side but staggered forward. The tripod made of heavy angle iron was attached with set screws to the floor and the bottom of hole cut in the cargo door and fuselage. These guns would have radius of action of about 160 degrees in transverse and about 80 degrees in elevation and declination, minus of course the contour of the tail and wings which the gunners would have to miss on his own. Initial experiments with the .50 machine guns mounted were very successful and it was determined that a second C-47 would be modified in this manner. Modifications to these C-47's was made on or about May 1944 just prior to the Col. taking Command of the 3rd Combat Cargo Group.

At this point I have no other knowledge of the Col. or his exploits in the CBI and with the 3rd Combat Cargo Group.

Bill Bielauskas, March 2000 Reference 'The Amazing Gooney Bird' by Carroll V. Glines 1996

I am looking for former members of the 3rd Combat Cargo Group, 1st, Combat Cargo Group, 2nd Combat Cargo Group and the 4th Combat Cargo Group. In fact I would like to hear from anyone who flew over the Hump during WW II, or flew any Combat Cargo Missions at any time (Berlin Air-Lift, Korea, etc)

Please e-mail comment, suggestions, corrections,etc to: bill@comcar.org

Notice to all Viewers:

All stories and images within "Imphal, The Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F Combat Cargo Units of the Second World War", are Copyright Š1999-2000, to the Veteran who submitted the text and/or photographs and to Bill Bielauskas, Webmaster at "Imphal, the Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F. Combat Cargo Units of the Second World War". All rights reserved. No part of this page, or those connected via links, either text, or images may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Storage, reproduction, modification on a retrieval system or transmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without prior written permission of the Copyright Š holder(s) is prohibited.

This includes storage on another Internet Website other than "Imphal, the Hump and Beyond, U.S.A.A.F. Combat Cargo Groups of the Second World War"

Bill Bielauskas 10 Cayuga Trail, Wayne, NJ. 07470-4406