Operation Hajji Baba
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Operation Hajji Baba was a humanitarian airlift operation performed by the United States Air Force between 25 and 29 August 1952. The mission of the operation was to airlift Hajj pilgrims stranded in Beirut, Lebanon to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia before the closing of the gates to Mecca.
The name for the operation was derived from the title of the book The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan, written by James Justinian Morier in 1824.
Several thousand Muslim pilgrims making the annual Hajj to the Muslim holy city of Mecca became stranded in Beirut, Lebanon when they arrived to find their flights to Saudi Arabia had been grossly overbooked. Saeb Salam, a member of the Parliament of Lebanon and future prime minister, saw the potential for a minor humanitarian crisis in the making. Most of the stranded travelers were poor and had spent their life savings on what was basically a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Furthermore, the vast majority of the pilgrims did not speak the local language. These two issues combined into a very real possibility that they would not be able to find nor afford adequate food, water, and accommodations.
Salam quickly formed an idea to have the pilgrims airlifted out of Beirut and into Saudi Arabia. However, with all of the airlines serving Beirut overbooked, he had to look elsewhere. He settled on the US Air Force and, putting aside the fact that the US had supported Israel during the Mideast War of 1948, Salaam reached out to the US ambassador in Beirut, Harold B. Minor, on 21 August for help. Minor quickly realized the positive diplomatic benefits this assistance could have and he promptly forwarded the request to his superiors.
Prelude
The request was eventually approved by then-Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett and on 23 August 1952, the alert orders for the operation were sent to two airlift wings, the 1602nd Air Transport Wing at Wiesbaden Air Base, West Germany and the 1603rd Air Transport Wing at Wheelus Air Base, Libya. The 1602nd tasked the 86th Air Transport Squadron and 1629th Support Squadron at Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany, to take part in the operation, while the 1603rd tasked the 41st Air Transport Squadron. Brigadier General Wentworth Goss, commanding general of the 1602nd, was appointed as commanding officer for this task force.
Goss assembled a team of 209 personnel, 80 officers and 129 enlisted members, to operate and maintain the 12 Douglas C-54 Skymaster aircraft that would be ferrying the pilgrims. Except for a small team of two officers and two airmen in Jeddah, the entire team would be based out of the Beirut airport.
Goss' plan called for each C-54 to carry 50 passengers plus double crew from Beirut to Jeddah, on a route that would take them over Damascus, Syria, Amman, Jordan and a point on the Red Sea just north of Jeddah. This circuitous route was required because Israel would not grant overflight permission due to the nature of the operation. Flying time would be about five hours.
Once the passengers were off-loaded in Jeddah, the ground crew would quickly service the plane and it would begin its return trip to Beirut within 45 minutes of landing. This short turn-around time was due partly to the lack of need for refueling; each C-54 would carry enough fuel (2,700 gallons) to make the round trip. Once the aircraft returned to Beirut, it would be fully inspected and refueled then returned to service all within 90 minutes of landing. If the aircraft was found to be unserviceable, it would be pulled from the flight schedule for repair and a spare aircraft would substitute.
By 25 August, Goss had his team and aircraft in place. At 0700 that morning, the operation officially began.
