Richly illustrated throughout, this focused study reveals how the greatest airlift of the 20th century was sparked, organized, and flown, and why it succeeded.

The Berlin Airlift was the first battle of the Cold War, and arguably its most decisive operation. As the Iron Curtain descended across Europe, the USSR blockaded free West Berlin in an attempt to force its surrender. Its only chance was a Western airlift on a scale never before attempted, to supply and sustain a major capital city through air power alone.

In this book, aviation historian Mark Lardas studies the Berlin Airlift on strategic, technical, and operational levels. Berlin would starve if the campaign was not flown relentlessly and at maximum efficiency, eking the most out of World War II technology. Flown by US and British forces with French and local German assistance on the ground, the airlift was initially improvised, but its systems were rapidly streamlined to maximize capacity and speed at all costs. At its height, one transport reached Berlin every 30 seconds, although the operation cost more than 100 fatalities.

This is the story of an airlift that forged West Germany out of the rubble of the occupied zones, led to the West banding together in NATO, proved the capability of Anglo-American air forces to flexibly project power, and saved the West Berliners from the grip of Stalin.