The Last Flight

The Airmen behind the Berlin Airlift thwarted authoritarianism’s expansion in their day through a combination of competent Airpower and the resourcefulness of free men. As the Airlift concluded, the United States Air Force took stock of its role in the accomplishment and what it took to accomplish the mission in its final report to the Pentagon. The United States Air Force in Europe Commander, Lieutenant General John Cannon said the following of it:

The Berlin blockade created a need for imagination, joint planning, know-how, and ingenuity, all of which were required to supply by air a city of more than two million people. The successful accomplishment of the Airlift was possible only through the combined efforts of all the Armed Forces and various governmental and industrial agencies of the Western Democracies.