Transport aircraft were aircraft employed to transport men and equipment by air. They were rarely armed and differed from their civilian counterparts primarily by sacrificing creature comforts for carrying capacity.
Transport by air is the most expensive way of
moving men and supplies, but it
is also the fastest. In the far reaches
of the Pacific, where rail and road nets were almost nonexistent, it
was often the most flexible form of transport as well. A C-47 could transport 28 men a
thousand miles in under six hours and still have fuel to return to its
base. However, this sortie would consume a thousand gallons of aviation
fuel.
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007 by Kent G. Budge. Index