"The Berlin Airlift was an enterprise of epic proportions that demonstrated the power of air logistics as a political instrument. What began as a hastily organized operation by a small number of war-weary cargo airplanes evolved into an intricate bridge of aircraft that flowed in and out of Berlin through narrow air corridors. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, a stream of airplanes delivered everything from food and medicine to coal and candy, in defiance of breakdowns, inclement weather, and Soviet hostility. And beyond the airlift itself, a complex system of transportation, maintenance, and supply stretching around the world sustained operations.". "Historians, veterans, and general readers will welcome this history of the first Western victory of the Cold War. Maps, diagrams, cartoons, and more than forty magnificent photographs illustrate the mechanical inner-workings and the human faces that made that triumph possible."--BOOK JACKET.