Description
The first edition of Operation Lifeline: History and Development of the Naval Air Transport Service, signed by Forrestal, Nimitz, Radford, and Reeves on the limitation page.
Quarto, [5], 171pp, [4]. Publisher’s blue cloth, title printed on spine, emblem of the Naval Air Transport Service on front cover. Pictorial endpapers. Bumped lower left corner of front board. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $5.00 on the front flap, tape repairs to closed tears on verso, shelf wear to boards, a scarce jacket in this condition.
Includes the signed limitation page from the De-Luxe Edition, tipped-in before the half title, numbered 972 of 1000. The limitation page is signed by James Forrestal (Secretary of the Navy), Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (Chief of Naval Operations), Vice Admiral A.W. Radford (Deputy Chief of Naval Operations) and Rear Admiral J.W. Reeves (Commander, Naval Air Transport Services).
The Naval Air Transport Service was a part of the United States Navy from 1941 – 1948. With the reorganization of the military following World War II, the Naval Air Transport Service merged into the Military Airlift Command (MAC). James Forrestal would go on to serve as the first Secretary of Defense; Admiral Chester Nimitz was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet during World War II; and Admiral Radford was in command of forces attacking Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and Tarawa.
