William H . Tunner William Henry Tunner ( July 14 , 1906 - April 6 , 1983 ) was a general officer in the United States Air Force and its predecessor , the United States Army Air Forces . Tunner was known for his expertise in the command of large - scale military airlift operations , first in Air Transport Command ( ATC ) during World War II , commanding The Hump operation , and later in Military Air Transport Service ( MATS ) during the Berlin Airlift in 1949 - 1951 . He eventually rose to the rank of Lieutenant general and commanded MATS itself . Tunner appointed Nancy 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 . Military career . Air Corps . Tunner entered the United States Military Academy on July 1 , 1924 , appointed from the 5th District of New Jersey by United States Representative Ernest R . Ackerman . He was commissioned on June 9 , 1928 , as a second lieutenant of field artillery , then selected the Air Corps as his branch of service , commissioned 2nd lieutenant AC on September 8 , 1928 , when he entered flight training at Brooks Field , Texas . At the Advanced Flying School at Kelly 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 to Rockwell Field , California , as a pilot in the 11th Bombardment Squadron of the 7th Bomb Group , flying a bi - wing Keystone LB - 5 bomber . There he was introduced to transport aircraft , ferrying a Fokker tri - motor to Sacramento with passengers aboard . In October 1931 he was assigned to Randolph 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 to first lieutenant on July 1 , 1934 . In January 1935 he transferred to France 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 of captain on September 26 , 1935 . In February 1937 , back in his permanent rank of 1st lieutenant , he returned to the United States as adjutant at Lawson Field , Georgia , and as an observation pilot with the 16th Observation Squadron , which performed duties as the school squadron for the Infantry School at Fort Benning . He was promoted to the permanent rank of captain on June 9 , 1938 . Tunner attended the third Air Corps Tactical School " short course " in 1939 , followed by his first command , the tiny Memphis Air Corps Detachment of the 1st Military Department , largely a recruiting billet . On January 31 , 1941 , he was promoted to major and began duties in the Office of the Chief of Air Corps ( OCAC ) at Washington , D . C . , in the Personnel Division , assigning himself collateral flying duties at nearby Bolling Field . Army Air Forces . Prior to World War II on June 8 , 1941 , Major Tunner became a key figure in the creation of the Air Transport Command ( ATC ) , the second member chosen by Col . Robert Olds to be part of the Air Corps Ferrying Command . He advanced from adjutant of ACFC to executive officer on November 26 . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on January 5 , 1942 , and full colonel on March 1 , 1942 . Originally intended to deliver aircraft overseas , ACFC ' s second commander , Brig . Gen . Harold George , oversaw its redesignation and change of mission to that of supporting U . S . and Allied operations worldwide by delivering supplies , personnel , and equipment using multi - engine transport aircraft . Tunner set up the original organizational table for the ACFC , with himself commanding the Domestic Division on April 1 , 1942 . On July 1 , 1942 , the Domestic Division was renamed the Ferrying Division of Air Transport Command , and continued the 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 of civil 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 - shoooter Nancy Harkness Love , merged in August 1943 with Jacqueline Cochran ' s Women ' s Flying Training Detachment ( WFTD ) to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots ( WASPS ) . Tunner was promoted to Brigadier general on June 30 , 1943 , and tapped for command of the airlift supply operation from India to China ( the India - China Wing of ATC ) in the spring of 1944 . He made an inspection trip in the CBI theater with his prospective staff in June , where he piloted a C - 46 Commando over " The Hump " . He went back to the CBI in August and took command of what had become the India - 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 newly arrived Douglas C - 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 . 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 to Major general on July 10 . United States Air Force . When the Army Air Forces became the United States Air Force in September 1947 , the Military Air Transport Service was formed by combining ATC and the Naval 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 the Berlin Airlift . The organization of the five - week - old operation was haphazard because USAFE was a tactical organization without experience in running transport operations , trying to feed the city using 54 C - 54 Skymaster s supplemented by a section of C - 47 Skytrain s , basically using bomber operation methods . On July 22 , 1948 , the National 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 in Wiesbaden , 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 . Unfortunately for Tunner , much of the credit for the success of the airlift , and the innovations that led to that success , were given to General Curtis LeMay , the Air Force commander in Europe until October 1948 . 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 the Korean War took him to Tokyo , Japan , to command a new airlift organization in the Far East Air Forces , Combat Cargo Command ( Provisional ) on September 10 , 1950 . Combat Cargo Command had the initial job of providing the airlift for the Inchon invasion and subsequent airborne operations . Tunner ' s success in meeting the commitments is attested to by the Distinguished Service Cross awarded him on the spot by General Douglas 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 the Air Material Command at Wright - 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 of NATO 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 the Military Air Transport Service of the " Single Managership for Airlift " , he returned to the air transport field as commander , MATS , with headquarters at Scott Air Force Base , Illinois . He became a prime and impassioned spokesman for the development and deployment of the Lockheed C - 141 Starlifter as the primary jet airlift transport for MATS , and supported the election of John F . Kennedy as president to achieve that end when the Eisenhower administration rejected it . Tunner retired from the Air Force on May 31 , 1960 . Legacy . The " Lieutenant General William H . Tunner Award " is awarded annually by the commander of the Air 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 . Personal biography . Tunner was the fourth of five children of immigrants from Leoben , Austria . His father was an engineer and settled in Roselle , New Jersey , where Tunner was raised . Tunner married twice , the first to Sarah Margaret Sams of Meridian , Mississippi . They had two sons , Joseph C . and Dr . William H . Tunner , Jr . Sarah was diagnosed with in inoperable brain 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 of Enid , Oklahoma in 1951 , and had a daughter , Hamilton Suzanne Tunner Hudson .