Setting up a combined task force

On 15 October 1948, the Combined Anglo-American Airlift Task Force (CALTF) was set up. The decision to establish an air transport organisation under central command was significant for the success of the airlift. US General William H. Tunner was appointed Supreme Commander, with Commodore J.W.F. Merer from the British air force (RAF) as his second-in-command, operating from the CALTF headquarters located in Wiesbaden. The CALTF was dissolved on 1 September 1949, three months after the blockade ended.