Shoe-In For "Oddest Use Of A Globemaster III" Award?
A 326th Airlift Squadron aircrew landed at Dover Air Force Base,
DE July 11 carrying a highly unusual payload -- two giant squids --
in its cargo compartment.
The two sea creatures were transported in a C-17 Globemaster III
cargo aircraft from Europe and will be delivered to the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The female
preserved specimen, which will become the largest on display in the
United States, measures 24 and a half feet long. The male is nine
feet long.
"My daughter is going to think I am the coolest dad ever," said
Air Force Master Sgt. Phillip Vicker, a 326th AS loadmaster whose
mission was to load and balance all of the cargo, including the
squids, onto the aircraft.
Even though none of the aircrew or passengers could physically
see the squids, Vicker said, everyone could still see the long box
labeled with 'giant squids' stickers.
"They were really pumped up about it; they kept asking, 'Are
those really squids in there?'" he said. "Even we didn't believe it
when we first saw it on the cargo manifest."
The shipping container for the pair of squids was not as long as
the actual bodies inside. The project manager at the Smithsonian,
Elizabeth Musteen, said this was because the specimens' arms and
tentacles were folded over the top of their mantles. However, when
on display, the female will be fully expanded horizontally, and the
male will be encased in a vertical state, she added.
"These specimens, brought up in deep-sea fishing nets off the
coast of northern Spain, are expected to be a main attraction,"
Musteen said.
The giant squids will make their public debut September 27, when
the Smithsonian opens its new Sant Ocean Hall, an exhibition area
designed to support ocean education.
"I can't wait to take the family to the display," said Air Force
Maj. Mark Chagaris, one of the C-17 pilots who brought the deep
ocean dwellers to the United States. "I can say, 'Your daddy helped
bring that over here.'"
After unloading the squids from the C-17, four 436th Aerial Port
Squadron airmen prepared the squids for transport to the
Smithsonian by truck.
"There's nothing we can't handle," said Air Force Airman 1st
Class David Strong, one of the four ramp services specialists who
moved the 10-tentacled creatures. "If there's anything that needs
to be shipped, we take care of it."
Dover's porters work for the world's largest aerial port, and
are trained to load or unload cargo weighing 5 to 2 million pounds,
and many have experience moving odd objects.
Air Force Senior Airman Michael Goicoechea, a ramp services
specialist who helped to move the giant squids, said he has moved
cargo ranging from submarines and Stryker vehicles to helicopters
and Humvees.
"I was stationed previously at Kadena Air Base, Japan," he said.
"But, I've moved more cargo working at Dover Air Force Base in five
months than my two years in Kadena, and this is my first
squid!"
While not trained to receive every single package, aerial port
airmen here deal with all kinds of unexpected cargo. "That is why
our job is never boring," said Tech. Sgt. Steven Braddick, ramp
services specialist shift supervisor, who has seen Air Force jets
transport dolphins and parts for the space shuttle. "We're always
learning and training throughout our career field, because who
knows what else we'll be loading?"
(Aero-News salutes Air Force Master Sgt. Veronica A.
Aceveda, with the 512th Airlift Wing, and Air Force Airman 1st
Class Shen-Chia Chu, with the 436th Airlift Wing.)