 By the end of June 1944 more than 1,900 American aircraft had passed through Lajes Air Base.Using Lajes, the flying time relative to the usual transatlantic route between Brazil and West Africa was cut nearly in half from 70 to 40 hours.Lajes also served as one of two main stopover and refuelling bases for the first transatlantic crossing of non-rigid airships (blimps) in 1944.