From the archives: Troops leaving for the States, 1949

Rhein-main Air Base, Germany, Aug. 11, 1949: Seventy-two airmen — all Berlin Airlift veterans — board a Military Air Transport Service (MATS) C-74 Globemaster bound for the United States at Rhein-Main Air Force Base.

The flight inaugurated a new schedule for MATS of three flights a week to carry redeployed air-lift personnel back to the U.S. The operation — scheduled to take three months and described by MATS officials to be the largest troop-evacuation movement ever undertaken by air — was handled by the 1629th MATS Air Base Squadron, based at Rhein-Main.