Over the objections of the Navy, the USAF is created out of the remnants of the WWII Army Air Forces. American military leaders came back from World War II convinced of the importance of air power and the need for expansion in the future. On September 18th, 1947 the Air Force was split off from the Army and a new branch of the military was born. Within a year, the new service conducts the Berlin Airlift in its first Cold War test.