Wright-Patterson cargo unit completes Hurricane Sandy relief effort

The Air Force Reserve 445th Airlift Wing carried dozens of passengers and hundreds of tons of cargo to the East Coast during 10 relief missions to aid victims of Hurricane Sandy.

The C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets, based at Wright-Patterson, carried 69 passengers and 685 tons of cargo during the cross-crountry trips, said Lt. Col. Cynthia Harris, a 445th Airlift spokeswoman.

Among the cargo hauled aloft were 21,000 pounds of blankets, power generators, fuel pumps and utility trucks.

Air crews traveled to bases in California, Washington state, New Mexico and Arizona to transport cargo to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J.; John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Stewart Air National Guard Base in New York.

On one trip, for example, the unit transported 26 workers from utility company Southern California Edison and five vehicles at March Air Reserve Base near riverside, Calif., to Stewart Air National Guard Base.

The Wright-Patterson cargo unit has nine C-17s and about 2,000 reservists.

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