Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.

And just getting into East Berlin in the air corner, and suddenly, a yak was right in front of it,

and the disc pulled up in time.

I came out of the cloud and the yak was in the clear right on this side of the cloud.

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Today we speak with 98-year-old Gail Halverson, who flew in the Berlin airlift in 1948.

The Soviets had started an 11-month land blockade against West Berlin,

and this blockade was broken by a massive US and British airlift of vital supplies to West Berlin.

Gail tells an incredible story of an iconic humanitarian mission at the dawn of the Cold War.

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Now back to today's episode, the line wasn't great, but I felt so honored to be able to speak with Gail.

Why did you want to join the Air Force in particular?

Well, I always wanted to fly.

And, of course, I got my wings with the Civil Air Patrol

and got a pilot license before the war started.

So I raised on the farm and working with the horses, and we didn't have a tractor.

And I always wanted to do something better in an airplane,

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