18. Aviators in Operation Magic Carpet
Both the US Army Air Force’s Air Transport Command (ATC) and the US Navy’s Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) participated throughout Operation Magic Carpet, but their role was limited by the passenger capacities of the aircraft they operated. Once the servicemen were back in the United States their role expanded somewhat, though informally. The 1946 film The Best Years of Our Lives depicted part of the role of the ATC, which shuttled returning servicemen on a space-available basis on flights which were being conducted for other purposes. Nonetheless, the number of men moving on aircraft was miniscule compared to those who returned to the mainland on ships and moved inland on trains.
In the Pacific, NATS often moved officers and non-commissioned officers from their location when the war ended to the areas where units were assembled for embarkation to the United States. Once sailors and naval officers were on the mainland NATS’s role diminished, though it too conducted routine flights which made space available to recently discharged servicemen, who were allowed to remain in uniform for up to one year following their separation from the service. Those traveling in ATC and NATS aircraft were required to do so in uniform, and officially were supposed to have orders sending them to the flight’s destination or one of its stops along the way, though in practice few did.