It is a great relief for me to put everything aside and write this long overdue newsletter report to bring
our National Support Group up to date with what has been happening over the past few years. The culprit for this long gap in providing a newsletter can be attributed to an unprecedented “daisy chain of massive adversities” combined with the time, distance, and costs associated to overcome these adversities. In addition to the quagmire of issues, we encountered a sudden and unexpected demand for our C-54 at various events beginning in July of 2024, which was certainly a welcome blessing as we struggle for recovery to normalcy.

Of course, with this unexpected increase in events came a curse in that the more we flew the C-54,
the more maintenance was required to repair many items associated with it. We are still learning the quirks associated with this C-54D replacement airplane and what’s normal and what’s not normal. This created an additional set of problems to keep the C-54D airworthy to complete the increased missions. While this may seem like a negative, the plus side of this exercise is the increased knowledge gained making repairs plus getting a better feel for this particular C-54 and learning more about its dependability.

We are looking forward to completing the required heavy # 3 Service Inspection over the course of the
winter and continue to improve the dependability of this airplane. Once again, our C-54D will winter at the Elizabeth City Regional Airport, NC. We owe our gratitude, appreciation, and thanks to the Elizabeth City Regional Airport and Airport Manager, Scott Hinton, for their generosity to allow us to park there for the winter and perform the mandatory #3 Service Inspection. We look forward to 2025 as we move the BAHF organization onward and upward to improve our purpose and mission of history, education, and remembrance about the great Berlin Airlift and to honor those veterans who served.