Military Air Transport Service
| Military Air Transport Service | |
|---|---|
 MATS Navy Lockheed R7V-1 BN 131654  MATS Air Force Douglas C-133A-5-DL Cargomaster 54-0139 |
|
| Active | 1948–1966 |
| Country |
 United States
|
| Type | Major Command |
| Role | Strategic Airlift |
| Part of | Department of Defense Unified Command |
| Insignia | |
| Emblem of the Military Air Transport Service |  |
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) is an inactive Department of Defense Unified Command. Activated on 1 June 1948, MATS was a consolidation of the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command (ATC) into a single joint command. It was inactivated and discontinued on 8 January 1966 when the Air Force and Navy set up separate strategic airlift commands.
In 1982, the World War II Air Transport Command (ATC) (1942-1948) and the Military Air Transport Service were consolidated with Military Airlift Command (MAC) (1966-1992).
The Military Air Transport Service (MATS) was activated under United States Air Force Major General Laurence S. Kuter, in order to harness interservice efforts more efficiently. It was an amalgamation of Navy and Army air transport commands, jointly placed by the Department of Defense under the control of the newly created United States Air Force (USAF) as a unified command.
During World War II, the Army Air Force's aerial transportation requirements were performed by the Air Transport Command which had a dual function of ferrying new aircraft from factories to combat theaters and transportation of troops and supplies, also organized by Tunner. The Naval Air Transport Service focused on supporting deployed Naval and Marine personnel transporting vital cargo, specialist personnel and mail to the Fleet and ground forces, especially in advanced areas of operation.
MATS was the first Joint-Service command and Naval aircrews participated in every major MATS airlift operation. MATS would organizationally be under the Department of the Air Force, as the vast majority of its equipment and personnel of ATC had been inherited by the Air Force with the inactivation of the USAAF.
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