Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, which became a hub of Western resolve against communism during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49, closed yesterday, after 85 years of operations. The future of the site is uncertain, according to US and German press reports. Tempelhof, which opened in 1923, served as one of the main landing points for US and British aircraft bringing in the supplies that kept West Berlin’s resident’s from starving and freezing during the Soviet blockade that started in June 1948 and ran into May 1949. That airlift remains the largest humanitarian air bridge in history. (For more read the Associated Press report, Bloomberg piece, and Deutsche Welle entry.)
The Air Force overall reduced its size by 120 aircraft in fiscal year 2021, but kept about the same number of fighter, bomber and attack aircraft, according to data supplied by the service. The F-35 fleet saw the biggest increase while the B-1B bomber fleet saw the largest decline.