During the Berlin airlift. with only 5 percent of the Nations civil air transport capacity. these carriers moved approximately 25 percent of the passengers and 57 percent of the cargo carried by civilian aircraft. In 1950 the supplementals supported the Korean airlift by supplying over half the commercial capability requested by the military. The supplementals flew the first planes to Vienna in 1956 to provide airlift for the Hungarian refugees. In the Lebanon crisis the supplementals offered the military 38 fourengine aircraft within 4 hours. In a letter to the committee. the Department of the Air Force stated: The continued existence of the irregular air carrier fleet is of real value in terms of national defense. and it is evident that the future ability of the irregular air carriers to service the military. as they are doing now and have done so ably in the past. depends upon their ability to operate their planes in commercial activities when not engaged in service for the military.
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refugees