Santa came early this year for dozens of island communities in the South Pacific, powered not by nine reindeer, but instead four Rolls-Royce turboprop power plants, each generating 4,700 horsepower.
Last week, U.S. Air Force crew members concluded an annual weeklong airdrop of food, tools, fishing equipment, and clothing out the back of C-130 Hercules to more than 55 remote islands in the southeastern Pacific. The drop zones, which include the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau, stretch across a 1.8 million square nautical mile operating area, according to the service.
