Page "Curtis LeMay" Paragraph 23

After World War II, LeMay was briefly transferred to The Pentagon as deputy chief of Air Staff for Research & Development.

In 1947, he returned to Europe as commander of USAF Europe, heading operations for the Berlin Airlift in 1948 in the face of a blockade by the Soviet Union and its satellite states that threatened to starve the civilian population of the Western occupation zones of Berlin.

Under LeMay's direction, Douglas C-54 Skymasters that could each carry 10 tons of cargo began supplying the city on July 1.

By the fall, the airlift was bringing in an average of 5, 000 tons of supplies a day.

The airlift continued for 11 months — 213, 000 flights — that brought in 1. 7 million tons of food and fuel to Berlin.

Faced with the failure of its blockade, the Soviet Union relented and reopened land corridors to the West.

Though LeMay is sometimes publicly credited with the success of the Berlin Airlift, it was, in fact, instigated by General Lucius D. Clay when General Clay called LeMay about the problem.

LeMay initially started flying supplies into Berlin, but then decided that it was a job for a logistics expert and he found that person in Lt. General William H. Tunner, who took over the operational end of the Berlin Airlift.