Sec. Austin: ‘We Planned to Execute Between 70 and 80,000 – We Planned to Evacuate Between 70 and 80,000 People’

EXCERPT:

AUSTIN: “We planned to execute between 70,00 and 80,000 — we planned to evacuate between 70 and 80,000 people. They evacuated more than 124,000. We planned to move between 5,000 and 9,000 people more day. On average they moved slightly between more than 7,000 per day. On military aircraft alone, we flew more than 387 sorties, averaging nearly 23 per day. At the height of this operation, an aircraft was taking off every 45 minutes. And not a single sortie was missed for maintenance, fuel or logistical problems. It was the largest airlift conducted in the U.S. history and it was executed in 17 days.”