Airmen from Yokota Air Base, Japan, deliver boxes of humanitarian aid to the Yap Islands during Operation Christmas Drop on Tuesday. More than $93,000 in goods will be dropped over various Micronesian Islands throughout the week. (Nichelle Anderson/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)

Airmen from Yokota Air Base, Japan, deliver boxes of humanitarian aid to the Yap Islands during Operation Christmas Drop on Tuesday. More than $93,000 in goods will be dropped over various Micronesian Islands throughout the week. (Nichelle Anderson/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)

Loadmaster, Staff Sgt. Keo Khamone, 36th Airlift Squadron, loads up supplies for Operation Christmas Drop at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, on Tuesday. The Air Force particapates each year in dropping thousands of pounds of donated supplies over the Micronesian Islands. (Nichelle Anderson/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)

Senior Airman Joseph Doria, 36th Airlift Squadron, casts off a box of humanitarian assistance goods out of a C-130 to its drop-zone in the Yap Islands on Tuesday during Operation Christmas Drop. (Nichelle Anderson/Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force)

Capt. Phillip Newman, a C-130 Hercules pilot with 36th Airlift Squadron takes in the beauty of the Yap Islands during a flight for Operation Christmas Drop on Tuesday. (Nichelle Anderson/Courtesy of U.S. Air Force)

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Tokyo — Santa once again paid an early visit to the islands of Micronesia, as “Operation Christmas Drop” shifted into high gear Tuesday and Wednesday.

Airmen from Yokota and Andersen Air Force Base on Guam have teamed up this week to drop thousands of pounds of donated supplies over the islands.

When the training exercise wraps up on Friday, more than 60 boxes weighing in excess of 20,000 pounds and filled with bundles of food, supplies and toys will have been dropped from C-130 cargo doors to 55 islands in the region, military officials said.

The Christmas drop started in 1952 when the aircrew of a WB-29 bomber from Anderson flew over the Micronesian atoll of Kapingamarangi and noticed the islanders waving to them. The crew quickly gathered some items they had on the plane, placed them in a container with a parachute attached and dropped the cargo as they circled back over, according to the Air Force.

From staff reports