Airlift/Tanker Association

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.

Airlift/Tanker Association

Abbreviation	A/TA
Formation	1969; 56 years ago (1969)
Type	501(c)(3) organization
Location	Chattanooga, Tennessee
Website	www.atalink.org
Formerly called	Airlift Association (1968–1991)

History

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

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

The A/TA maintains a Hall of Fame, which has 37 inductees as of 2024^[update].^[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.)