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The
Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major
international crisesAn international crisis is a crisis between states. There are many definitions of an international crisis. Snyder "...a sequence of interactions between the governments of two or more sovereign states in severe conflict, short of actual war, but involving the perception of a dangerously high...
of the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
and the first such crisis that resulted in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
under their control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the
SovietThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.
In response, the Western Allies organized the
Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. The over 4,000 tons per day required by Berlin during the airlift totaled, for example, over ten times the volume that the encircled German 6th Army required six years earlier at the
Battle of StalingradThe Battle of Stalingrad was a battle of World War II between Nazi Germany and its allies and the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943....
. The
United States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare branch of the U.S. armed forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on 18 September 1947 under the National Security Act of 1947 - 80 P.L....
,
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
, and other
CommonwealthThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
nations flew over 200,000 flights providing 13,000 tons of food daily to Berlin in an operation lasting almost a year. By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding, and by April the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously flowed into the city by rail.
The success of the Airlift was humiliating to the Soviets, who had repeatedly claimed it could never work. When it became clear that it did work, the blockade was lifted in May. One lasting legacy of the Airlift is the three airports in the former western zones of the city, which served as the primary gateways to Berlin for another fifty years.
Postwar division of Germany
When hostilities in the European theatre of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended on 8 May 1945, Soviet and Western troops were stretched across Germany on a line running roughly along the
ElbeThe River Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in the Krkonose Mountains of northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
, although branching off in several locations. Units of the (re-forming)
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
army were also present in southwest
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
From 17 July to 2 August 1945, the victorious
Allied PowersThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
reached the
Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement was an agreement on policy for the occupation and reconstruction of Germany and other nations after fighting in the European Theatre of World War II had ended with the German surrender of May 8, 1945...
on the fate of postwar Europe, calling for the division of defeated
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
into four temporary occupation zones (thus re-affirming principles laid out earlier by the
Yalta ConferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
). These zones were located roughly around the current locations of the allied armies. Additionally, the German capital of Berlin was to be divided into four sectors. Berlin was located 100 miles inside the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet zone produced much of Germany's food supply, while the territory of the
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
zones had to rely on food imports even before the war. In addition, Soviet leader
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
ordered the incorporation of part of eastern
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
into the Soviet Union, compensating Poland by ceding to it a large portion of Germany east of the
Oder-Neisse lineThe Oder-Neisse line was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Poland. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
. This area had contained much of Germany's fertile land. The administration of occupied Germany was coordinated by the Four Power Allied Control Council (ACC).
Morgenthau Plan
The agreement at Yalta was partly based on the
Morgenthau PlanThe Morgenthau Plan was a plan for the occupation of Germany after World War II that advocated measures intended to remove Germany's ability to wage war...
, which stipulated that Germany's economy under the
"level of industry"The Level of Industry plans for Germany were the effected Allied plans to lower and control German industrial potential after World War II.-Background:At the Potsdam conference, with the U.S...
plans should be reduced to 50% of its 1938 capacity, to prevent a remilitarized Germany from emerging in the future. The Soviets and French were in favor of the plans, while the British - who were occupying the region least capable of providing food for its population - were opposed. United States Joint Chiefs of Staff ("JCS") directive 1067 embodied the Morgenthau Plan's goals, but implementation proved impractical because it prevented the effective functioning of the occupation, not least because it proscribed personal contact between Germans and Americans. Former
US PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
Herbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted government intervention under the rubric "economic...
in one of
his reports from Germany"The President's Economic Mission to Germany and Austria" was a series of reports commissioned by US President Harry S. Truman and written by former US President Herbert Hoover....
, argued for a change in occupation policy, amongst other things stating::"There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the
annexationsThe Oder-Neisse line was drawn in the aftermath of World War II as the eastern border of Germany and the western border of Poland. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
can be reduced to a 'pastoral state'. It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it."
The Soviet zone and the Allies' rights of access to Berlin
In the Soviet-controlled eastern zone, the major task of the ruling communist party in Germany was to channel Soviet orders down to both the administrative apparatus and the other permitted political parties, while pretending that these were initiatives of its own. The Soviet authorities forcibly unified the
Communist Party of GermanyThe Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period...
and
Social Democratic PartyThe name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by a large number of political parties in various countries around the world...
in the
Socialist Unity Party ("SED")The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a Communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
, claiming at the time that it would not have a Marxist-Leninist or Soviet orientation. The SED leaders then called for the "establishment of an anti-fascist, democratic regime, a parliamentary democratic republic" while the Soviet Military Administration suppressed all other political activities. Factories, equipment, technicians, managers and skilled personnel were removed to the Soviet Union. In a June 1945 meeting, Stalin told German communist leaders that he expected slowly to undermine the British position within their occupation zone, that the United States would withdraw within a year or two and that nothing would then stand in the way of a united Germany under communist control within the Soviet orbit. Stalin and other leaders told visiting Bulgarian and Yugoslavian delegations in early 1946 that Germany must be both Soviet and communist.
A further factor contributing to the Blockade was that there had never been a formal agreement guaranteeing rail and road access to Berlin through the Soviet zone. At the end of the war, western leaders had relied on Soviet goodwill to provide them with a tacit right to such access. At that time, the western allies assumed that the Soviets' refusal to grant any cargo access other than one rail line, limited to ten trains per day, was temporary, but the Soviets refused expansion to the various additional routes that were later proposed. The Soviets also granted only three air corridors for access to Berlin from
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
,
BückeburgBückeburg is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It was once the capital of the tiny principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and is today located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge...
and
FrankfurtFrankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000. The urban area had an estimated population of 2.26 million in 2001...
. In 1946 the Soviets stopped delivering agricultural goods from their zone in eastern Germany, and the American commander, General Clay, responded by stopping shipments of dismantled industries from western Germany to the Soviet Union. In response, the Soviets started a
public relationsPublic relations is the practice of managing the communication between an organization and its publics. Public relations gains an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment...
campaign against American policy, and began to obstruct the administrative work of all four zones of occupation.
The focus on Berlin and the elections of 1946
Berlin quickly became the focal point of both US and Soviet efforts to re-align Europe to their respective visions. As Molotov noted, "What happens to Berlin, happens to Germany; what happens to Germany, happens to Europe." Berlin had suffered enormous damage, its prewar population of 4.6 million people was reduced to 2.8 million, and the city could only produce 2% of its food needs. The western allies were not permitted to enter the city until two months after Germany's surrender, during which time the local populace suffered brutal treatment at the hands of the Soviet army.
After harsh treatment, forced emigration, political repression and the particularly hard winter of 1945-1946, Germans in the Soviet-controlled zone were hostile to Soviet endeavors. Local elections in mid-1946 resulted in a massive anti-communist protest vote, especially in the Soviet sector of Berlin. Berlin's citizens overwhelmingly elected democratic members to its city council (with an 86% majority) — strongly rejecting Communist candidates.
The Marshall Plan
Concurring with the view of the commander of the United States occupation zone, General
Lucius D. ClayGeneral Lucius Dubignon Clay, USA was an American officer and military governor best known for his administration of Germany immediately after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany 1946; commander in chief, U.S. Forces in Europe and...
, the Joint Chiefs declared that the "complete revival of Germany industry, particularly coal mining" was now of "primary importance" to American security. In January 1947, Truman appointed General
George MarshallGeneral of the Army George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served...
as Secretary of State, scrapped JCS 1067 and supplanted it with JCS 1779, which decreed that an orderly and prosperous Europe required the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany. Administration officials met with Soviet Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav MolotovVyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
and others to press for an economically self-sufficient Germany, and demanded a detailed account of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure previously removed by the Soviets. After six weeks of negotiations, Molotov refused the demands and the talks were adjourned. Marshall was particularly discouraged after a personal meeting with Stalin, who expressed little interest in a solution to German economic problems.
The United States concluded that, for Europe's sake, a solution could not be delayed any longer. In a June 5, 1947 speech, Marshall announced a comprehensive program of American assistance to all European countries wanting to participate, including the Soviet Union and those of Eastern Europe. This was to be called the European Recovery Programme, but it became more widely known as the
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
.
Stalin opposed the Marshall Plan. He had built up a protective belt of Soviet-controlled nations on his Western border, the
Eastern blocThe terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, including the countries of the Warsaw Pact, along with Yugoslavia and Albania, which were not aligned with the Soviet Union after 1948 and 1960...
, which included
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
,
HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
and
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. Stalin wanted to maintain this buffer zone of states, combined with a weakened Germany under Soviet control. He felt that American aid would "buy" a pro-US re-alignment of the new Europe. He stated "This is a ploy by Truman. It is nothing like
Lend-LeaseLend-Lease was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland,...
— a different situation. They don't want to help us. What they want is to infiltrate European countries." While Molotov was initially interested in the program and attended its early meetings, he later described it as "
dollar imperialismDollar imperialism was a term coined by the Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov at the start of the Cold War; it was used in reference to the American government's Marshall Plan....
". Fearing American political, cultural and economic penetration, Stalin eventually forbade Soviet Eastern bloc countries of the newly formed
CominformCominform is the common name for what was officially referred to as the Information Bureau of the Communist and Workers' Parties...
from accepting the aid. In Czechoslovakia, this demand resulted in the Soviet-backed
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades of dictatorship...
, the brutality of which shocked Western powers more than any event so far and briefly provoked fear of a new war. This swept away the last vestiges of opposition to the Marshall Plan in the United States Congress.
Moves towards a West German state
Meanwhile, to coordinate the economies of the British and United States occupation zones, these were combined into what was referred to as "Bizonia". (to be re-named the Trizone, when
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
later joined in). Representatives of these three governments along with the
BeneluxThe Benelux is a union in Western Europe that comprises three neighboring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg , which lie in the north western European region between France and Germany...
nations --
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
-- met twice in London in the first half of 1948 to discuss the future of Germany, going ahead despite Soviet threats to ignore any decisions taken. In response to the announcement of the first of these meetings, in late January 1948, the Soviets began stopping British and American trains to Berlin, in order to check the identities of the passengers. As outlined in an announcement on 7 March 1948, all of the governments present approved the extension of the
Marshall PlanThe Marshall Plan was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the countries of Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II...
to Germany, finalized the economic merger of the western occupation zones in Germany and agreed upon the establishment of a federal system of government for them.
After a March 9 meeting between Stalin and his military advisers, a secret memorandum was sent to Molotov on March 12, 1948, outlining a plan to force the policy of the western allies into line with the wishes of the Soviet government by "regulating" access to Berlin. The ACC met for the last time on 20 March 1948, when
Vasily SokolovskyVasily Danilovich Sokolovsky , Soviet military commander, was born into a peasant family in Kozliki, a small town in the province of Grodno, near Białystok in Poland . He worked as a teacher in a rural school, where he took part in a number of protests and demonstrations against the Tsar...
demanded to know the outcome of the London Conference and, on being told by negotiators that they had not yet heard the final results from their governments, he said, "I see no sense in continuing this meeting, and I declare it adjourned." The entire Soviet delegation rose and walked out. Truman later noted, "For most of Germany, this act merely formalized what had been an obvious fact for some time, namely, that the four-power control machinery had become unworkable. For the city of Berlin, however, this was the curtain-raiser for a major crisis."
The April Crisis and the Little Air Lift
On March 25, 1948, the Soviets issued orders restricting Western military and passenger traffic between the American, British and French occupation zones and Berlin. These new measures began on April 1 along with an announcement that no cargo could leave Berlin by rail without the permission of the Soviet commander. Each train and truck was to be searched by the Soviet authorities. On April 2, General Clay ordered a halt to all military trains and required that supplies to the military garrison be transported by air, in what was dubbed the "Little Lift". The Soviets eased their restrictions on Allied military trains on 10 April 1948, but continued periodically to interrupt rail and road traffic during the next 75 days, while the United States continued supplying its military forces by using cargo aircraft. At the same time, Soviet military aircraft began to violate West Berlin airspace and harass, or what the military called “buzz”, flights in and out of West Berlin. On April 5, a
Soviet Air ForceThe Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union...
Yakovlev Yak-3The Yakovlev Yak-3 was a World War II Soviet fighter aircraft regarded as one of the best fighters of the war. It was one of the smallest and lightest major combat fighters fielded by any combatant during the war, and its high power-to-weight ratio gave it excellent performance...
fighterFighter may refer to:*Warrior, a person habitually engaged in combat*Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy other warplanes in combat*Starfighter, the science-fiction equivalent of a fighter aircraft...
collided with a
British European AirwaysBritish European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...
Vickers VC.1B VikingThe Vickers VC.1 Viking was a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. In the aftermath of the war, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines pending the...
airlinerAn airliner is a large fixed-wing aircraft for transporting passengers and cargo. Such planes are owned by airlines....
near
RAF Gatow airfieldKnown for most of its operational life as Royal Air Force Station Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, this former Royal Air Force military airbase is in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau...
, killing all aboard both aircraft. The
Gatow air disasterThe 1948 Gatow air disaster occurred on Monday 5 April 1948 when a British European Airways Vickers VC.1B Viking airliner crashed near RAF Gatow, Berlin, Germany after a mid-air collision with a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter...
exacerbated tensions between the Soviets and the other allied powers. Internal Soviet reports in April stated that "Our control and restrictive measures have dealt a strong blow to the prestige of the Americans and British in Germany" and that the Americans have "admitted" that the idea of an airlift would be too expensive.
On April 9, Soviet officials demanded that American military personnel maintaining communication equipment in the Eastern zone must withdraw, thus preventing the use of navigation beacons to mark air routes. On April 20, the Soviets demanded that all barges obtain clearance before entering the Soviet zone.
The Currency Crisis
Creation of an economically stable western Germany required reform of the unstable Reichsmark German currency introduced after the war. The Soviets had debased the Reichsmark by excessive printing, resulting in Germans using cigarettes as a de facto currency or for bartering. The Soviets opposed western plans for a reform. In February 1948, the Americans and British had proposed to the ACC that a new German currency be created, replacing the over-circulated and de-valued Reichsmark. The Soviets refused to accept this proposal, hoping to continue the German recession in keeping with their policy of a weak Germany. Anticipating the introduction of new currency by the other countries in the non-Soviet zones, the Soviet Union in May 1948 directed its military to introduce its own new currency and to permit only the Soviet currency to be used in their sector of Berlin, if the other countries brought in a different currency there. On June 18, the United States,
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and France announced that, on June 21, the Deutsche Mark would be introduced, but the Soviets refused to permit its use as legal tender in Berlin..
The beginning of the Blockade
The day after the June 18 announcement of the new Deutsche Mark, Soviet guards halted all passenger trains and traffic on the autobahn to Berlin, delayed Western and German freight shipments and required that all water transport secure special Soviet permission. On June 21, the day the Deutsche Mark was introduced, the Soviets halted a
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military supply train to Berlin and sent it back to western Germany. On June 22, the Soviets announced that they would introduce a new currency in their zone. This was known as the "Ostmark". That same day, a Soviet representative told the other three occupying powers that "We are warning both you and the population of Berlin that we shall apply economic and administrative sanctions that will lead to the circulation in Berlin exclusively of the currency of the Soviet occupation zone." The Soviets launched a massive propaganda campaign condemning Britain, the United States and France by radio, newspaper and loudspeaker. The Soviets conducted well-advertised military maneuvers just outside the city. Rumors of a potential occupation by Mongolian troops spread quickly. German communists demonstrated, rioted and attacked pro-Western German leaders when these attended meetings of the municipal government in the Soviet sector.
On June 24, the Soviets severed land and water communications between the non-Soviet zones and Berlin. That same day, they halted all rail and barge traffic in and out of Berlin. On June 25, the Soviets stopped supplying food to the civilian population in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin. Motor traffic from Berlin to the western zones was permitted, but this required a 23 kilometer detour to a ferry crossing because of alleged "repairs" to a bridge. They also cut off the electricity relied on by Berlin, using their control over the generating plants in the Soviet zone.
Surface traffic from non-Soviet zones to Berlin was blockaded, leaving open only the air corridors. The Soviets rejected arguments that the occupation rights in the non-Soviet sectors of Berlin, and the use of the supply routes during the previous three years, had given Britain, France and the United States a legal claim to use of the highways, tunnels, railroads, and canals. Relying on Soviet good will after the war, Britain, France and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
had never negotiated an agreement with the Soviets to guarantee these land-based rights of access to Berlin through the Soviet zone.
The Soviets refused to honor the new currency, in Berlin or elsewhere, but the Allies had already transported 250,000,000 Deutsche marks into the city and it quickly became the standard currency in all four sectors. This new currency, along with the Marshall Plan that backed it, appeared to be have the potential to revitalize Germany, even against the wishes of the Soviets. Further, the introduction of the currency into western Berlin threatened to create a bastion of western economic resurgence deep within the Soviet zone. Stalin considered this a provocation and now wanted the West completely out of Berlin.
At the time,
West BerlinWest Berlin was the name given to the western part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors established in 1945. It was in many ways integrated with, although legally not a part of, West Germany...
had thirty-five days' worth of food, and forty-five days' worth of coal. Militarily, the Americans and British were greatly outnumbered due to the post-war scaling-back of their armies. The United States, like other western countries, had disbanded most of its troops and was largely inferior in the European theater, though it still possessed its nuclear deterrent. The entire United States Army had been reduced to 552,000 men by February 1948. Military forces in the western sectors of Berlin numbered only 8,973 Americans, 7,606 British and 6,100 French. Soviet military forces in the Soviet sector that surrounded Berlin totaled one and a half million. The two United States regiments in Berlin could have provided little resistance against a Soviet attack. General
Lucius D. ClayGeneral Lucius Dubignon Clay, USA was an American officer and military governor best known for his administration of Germany immediately after World War II. Clay was deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1945; deputy military governor, Germany 1946; commander in chief, U.S. Forces in Europe and...
, in charge of the US Occupation Zone in Germany, summed up the reasons for not retreating in a cable to Washington, D.C., on 13 June 1948: "There is no practicability in maintaining our position in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
and it must not be evaluated on that basis... We are convinced that our remaining in Berlin is essential to our prestige in Germany and in Europe. Whether for good or bad, it has become a symbol of the American intent."
Believing that Britain, France and the United States had little option other than to acquiesce, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany celebrated the beginning of the blockade. General Clay felt that the Soviets were bluffing about Berlin since they would not want to be viewed as starting a Third World War. Stalin did not want a war, and Soviet actions were aimed at exerting military and political pressure on the West to obtain concessions, relying on the West's prudence and unwillingness to provoke a war.
The decision for an airlift
Although the ground routes had never been negotiated, the same was not true of the air. On 30 November 1945, it had been agreed in writing that there would be three twenty-mile-wide air corridors providing free access to Berlin. Additionally, unlike a force of tanks and trucks, the Soviets could not claim that cargo aircraft were some sort of military threat. In the face of unarmed aircraft refusing to turn around, the only way to enforce the blockade would have been to shoot them down. An airlift would force the Soviet Union into the position of either taking military action, in a morally reprehensible fashion, breaking their own agreements, or else to back down.
Enforcing this would require an airlift that really worked. If the supplies could not be flown in fast enough, Soviet help would eventually be needed in order to prevent starvation. Clay was told to take advice from General
Curtis LeMayCurtis Emerson LeMay was a General in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of American Independent Party candidate George Wallace in 1968....
, commander of
United States Air Forces in EuropeThe United States Air Forces in Europe is the United States Air Force component of U.S. European Command, a Department of Defense unified command, and is one of two Air Force Major Commands outside of the continental United States, the other being the Pacific Air Forces...
(USAFE), to see if an airlift was possible. LeMay, initially taken aback by the inquiry which was "Can you haul coal?", replied "We can haul anything."
When American forces consulted Britain's
Royal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
(RAF) about a possible joint airlift, they learned the RAF was already running an airlift in support of British troops in Berlin. General Clay's counterpart, General
Sir Brian RobertsonGeneral Brian Hubert Robertson, 1st Baron Robertson of Oakridge, GCB, GBE, KCMG, KCVO, DSO, MC , known as Sir Brian Robertson, 2nd Baronet, from 1933 to 1961, was a British Army General....
, was ready with some concrete numbers. During the Little Lift earlier that year, British Air Commodore
Reginald WaiteAir Commodore Reginald Newham Waite CB CBE RAF was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the middle of the 20th century....
had calculated the resources required to support the entire city. His calculations indicated that they would need to supply seventeen hundred calories per person per day, giving a grand total of 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat, 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, five tons of whole milk for children, three tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt and ten tons of cheese. In total, 1,534 tons were needed daily to keep the over two million people alive. Additionally, the city needed to be kept heated and powered, which would require another 3,475 tons of coal and gasoline.
Carrying all this in would not be easy. The post-war demobilization left the US forces in Europe with only two squadrons of
C-47 SkytrainThe Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
aircraft, which could each carry about 3.5 tons of cargo. Clay estimated these would be able to haul about 300 tons of supplies a day. The RAF was somewhat better prepared, since they had already moved some aircraft into the German area, and they expected to be able to supply about 400 tons a day. This was not nearly enough to move the 5,000 tons a day that would be needed, but these numbers could be increased as new aircraft arrived from the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
, the United States, France, and Canada. The RAF would be relied on to increase its numbers quickly. It could fly additional aircraft in from Britain in a single hop, bringing the RAF fleet to about 150 C-47s and 40 of the larger
Avro YorkThe Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
s with a 10 ton payload. With this fleet the British contribution was expected to rise to 750 tons a day in the short term. For a longer-term operation, the US would have to add additional aircraft as soon as possible, and those would have to be as large as possible while still able to fly into the Berlin airports. Only one such aircraft type was suitable, the four-engine
C-54 SkymasterThe Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II.-Design and development:Like the C-47 Skytrain, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian airliner ....
, and its
US NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
equivalent, the R5D.
Given the feasibility assessment made by the British, an airlift appeared the best course of action. One remaining concern was the population of Berlin. Clay called in
Ernst ReuterErnst Rudolf Johannes Reuter was the German mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War.- Early years :...
, the Mayor-elect of Berlin, accompanied by his aide,
Willy BrandtWilly Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
. Clay told Reuter, "Look, I am ready to try an airlift. I can't guarantee it will work. I am sure that even at its best, people are going to be cold and people are going to be hungry. And if the people of Berlin won't stand that, it will fail. And I don't want to go into this unless I have your assurance that the people will be heavily in approval." Reuter, although skeptical, assured Clay that Berlin would make all the necessary sacrifices and that the Berliners would support his actions.
General
Albert WedemeyerAlbert Coady Wedemeyer was an American soldier, who served primarily in World War II in Asia. His most notable command was the China theater in the South-East Asia Theater. During the Cold War, Wedemeyer was a chief supporter of the Berlin Airlift.-Early Life and military career:Albert C....
, the
US ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
Chief of Plans and Operations, was in Europe on an inspection tour when the crisis occurred. He had been the commander of the
US China-Burma-India TheaterChina Burma India Theater was the name used by the United States Army for its forces operating in conjunction with Allied air and land forces in China, Burma, and India during World War II...
in 1944–45 and he had a detailed knowledge of the World War II American airlift from
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
over
The HumpThe Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew from India to China to resupply the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces based there...
of the
HimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalayas for short , meaning "abode of snow", is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
to China. He was in favor of the airlift option, giving it a major boost. The British and Americans agreed to start a joint operation without delay; the US action was dubbed "Operation Vittles," while the British one was called "Operation Plainfare". The Australian contribution to the airlift was designated "Operation Pelican."
The Airlift begins
On 24 June 1948, LeMay appointed Brigadier General Joseph Smith, headquarters commandant for USAFE at
Camp LindseyWiesbaden Army Airfield is located southeast of the city of Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany. It was selected as the site for Headquarters, United States Air Forces in Europe on 28 September 1945, in large part due to its proximity to Frankfurt am Main, where the U.S. Seventh Army was headquartered...
, as the Provisional Task Force Commander of the airlift. Smith had been chief of staff in LeMay's B-29 command in India during World War II and had no airlift experience. On 25 June 1948, Clay gave the order to launch Operation Vittles. The next day thirty-two C-47s lifted off for Berlin hauling 80 tons of cargo, including milk, flour, and medicine. The first British aircraft flew on 28 June. At that time, the airlift was expected to last three weeks.
On the 27th, Clay cabled
William DraperWilliam Henry Draper Jr. was a U.S. army officer, banker, and diplomat.Draper was born in Harlem, New York City, and received a B.A. and M.A. in economics at New York University....
with an estimate of the current situation:
By July 1 the system was getting underway. C-54s were starting to arrive in quantity, and the
Rhein-Main Air BaseRhein-Main Air Base was a U.S. Air Force / NATO military airbase near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It occupied the south side of Frankfurt International Airport. Its airport codes are discontinued....
was made the exclusively C-54 depot, while
WiesbadenWiesbaden is a city in southwestern Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
retained a mix of C-54s and C-47s. Aircraft flew east-northeast through the American air corridor into Tempelhof Airport, then returned due west flying out on a British air corridor. After reaching the British Zone, they turned south to return to their bases.
The British ran a similar system, flying roughly south-southeast from a variety of airports in the
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
area into
RAF GatowKnown for most of its operational life as Royal Air Force Station Gatow, or more commonly RAF Gatow, this former Royal Air Force military airbase is in the district of Gatow in south-western Berlin, west of the Havel river, in the borough of Spandau...
in the British Sector, and then returning out on the same air corridor as the US, turning for home or landing at
HanoverHanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg Hanover or Hannover , on the river Leine, is...
. On 6 July, the Yorks and
DakotaThe Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II it is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
s were joined by ten
Short SunderlandThe Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. Based in part upon the S.23 Empire flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways, the S.25 was extensively re-engineered for military service...
s and, later, by some Short Hythe
flying boatA flying boat, properly known as an aquatic plane, is a specialised form of aircraft that is designed to take off from and land on water, using its fuselage as a floating hull. Such aircraft are sometimes stabilised on water by underwing floats or by wing-like projections from the fuselage...
s. Flying from
FinkenwerderFinkenwerder is a quarter of Hamburg, Germany in the borough Hamburg-Mitte. It is the location of a plant of Airbus and its airport...
on the
ElbeThe River Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It originates in the Krkonose Mountains of northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
near
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
to the
HavelThe Havel is a river in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Elbe river and 325 km in length. Extended by the Oder-Havel Canal it connects the Oder with Berlin and the Elbe....
river next to Gatow, their corrosion-resistant hulls suited them to the particular task of delivering baking salt and other salt into the city. Alongside the British and US personnel there were aircrews from
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
, and
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
Accommodating the large number of flights to Berlin required maintenance schedules and fixed cargo loading times. Smith and his staff developed a complex timetable for flights called the "block system", three eight-hour shifts of a C-54 section to Berlin followed by a C-47 section. Aircraft were scheduled to take off every four minutes, flying 1000 feet higher than the flight in front. This pattern began at 5,000 feet and was repeated five times. (This system of stacked inbound serials was later dubbed "the ladder.")
During the first week the airlift averaged only ninety tons a day, but by the second week it reached 1000 tons. This likely would have sufficed had the effort lasted only a few weeks, as originally believed. The Communist press in
East BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a de facto part of West Germany. Despite its status as part of an occupied city,...
ridiculed the project. It derisively referred to "the futile attempts of the Americans to save face and to maintain their untenable position in Berlin."
Despite the excitement engendered by glamorous publicity extolling the work (and over-work) of the crews and the daily increase of tonnage levels, the airlift was not close to being operated to its capability because USAFE was a tactical organization without any airlift expertise. Maintenance was barely adequate, crews were not being efficiently utilized, transports stood idle and disused, necessary record-keeping was scant, and ad hoc flight crews of publicity-seeking desk personnel were disrupting a business-like atmosphere. This was recognized by the
National Security CouncilA National Security Council is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security...
at a meeting with Clay on July 22, 1948, when it became clear that a long-term airlift was necessary. Wedemeyer immediately recommended that the deputy commander for operations of the
Military Air Transport ServiceThe Military Air Transport Service was a major command of the United States Air Force from 1948-1965. Established on 1 June 1948 by the Department of Defense, MATS was a consolidation of the the United States Navy Naval Air Transport Service and the United States Air Force Air Transport Command...
(MATS), Maj. Gen.
William H. TunnerWilliam Henry Tunner was a general officer in the United States Air Force and its predecessor, the United States Army Air Forces...
, command the operation, and
USAF Chief of StaffThe Chief of Staff of the Air Force is the senior uniformed officer in United States Air Force and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The CSAF heads the Air Staff and reports directly to the Secretary of the Air Force on matters of the Air Force...
Hoyt S. Vandenberg endorsed the recommendation.
Black Friday
On July 28, 1948, Tunner arrived in
WiesbadenWiesbaden is a city in southwestern Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
to take over the operation. "Tonnage" Tunner had significant experience in commanding and re-organizing the airlift over the
The HumpThe Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew from India to China to resupply the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces based there...
to China in 1944-45. He revamped the entire airlift operation, reaching an agreement with LeMay to form the
Combined Air Lift Task Force (CALTF) to control both the USAF and RAF lift operations from a central location, which went into effect in mid-October 1948. MATS immediately deployed eight squadrons of C-54s—72 aircraft— to Wiesbaden and
Rhein-Main Air BaseRhein-Main Air Base was a U.S. Air Force / NATO military airbase near the city of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It occupied the south side of Frankfurt International Airport. Its airport codes are discontinued....
to reinforce the 54 already in operation, the first by July 30 and the remainder by mid-August, and two-thirds of all C-54 aircrew world-wide began transferring to Germany.
Two weeks after his arrival, on August 13, Tunner decided to fly to Berlin to grant an award to Lt. Paul O. Lykins, an airlift pilot who had made the most flights into Berlin up to that time, as symbolic of the entire effort to date. Cloud cover over Berlin dropped to the height of the buildings, and heavy rain showers made radar visibility poor. A C-54 crashed and burned at the end of the runway, and a second one landing behind it burst its tires while trying to avoid it. A third aircraft
ground loopedIn aviation, a ground loop refers to the rapid rotation of a fixed-wing aircraft in the horizontal plane while on the ground. Aerodynamic and centrifugal forces may cause one wing to rise, which may then cause the other wingtip to touch the ground...
on the auxiliary runway, closing the entire airport. While no one was killed, Tunner was embarrassed that the control tower at Tempelhof had lost control of the situation while the commander of the airlift was circling overhead, stacked with a dozen other transports. General Tunner radioed for all stacked aircraft to return home immediately. This became known as "Black Friday," and Tunner personally noted it was from that date that the success of the airlift stemmed.
As a result of Black Friday, Tunner instituted a number of new rules;
instrument flight rulesInstrument flight rules are regulations and procedures for flying aircraft by referring only to the aircraft instrument panel for navigation. Even if nothing can be seen outside the cockpit windows, an IFR-rated pilot can fly while looking only at the instrument panel...
(IFR) would be in effect at all times, regardless of actual visibility, and each
sortieSortie is a term for deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops from a strongpoint. The sortie, whether by one or more aircraft or vessels, usually has a specific mission....
would have only one chance to land in Berlin, returning to its air base if it missed its slot. Accident rates and delays dropped immediately. Another decision came about when it was realized that it took just as long to unload a 3.5-ton C-47 as a 10-ton C-54. One of the reasons for this was the sloping cargo floor of the
"taildragger"thumb|The [[Piper PA-18|Piper Super Cub]] is a popular taildragger aircraft.thumb|right|A [[Cessna 150]] converted to taildragger configuration by installation of an after-market modification kit.thumb|right|A taildragger by Jodel: the 1965 D140C Mousquetaire...
C-47's, which made truck loading difficult. The
tricycle gearTricycle gear describes an aircraft undercarriage, or landing gear, arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one gear strut in front, called the nose wheel, and two or more main gear struts slightly aft of the center of gravity....
ed C-54's cargo deck was level, so that a truck could back up to it and offload cargo quickly. Tunner decided to replace all C-47s in the Airlift with C-54s or larger aircraft.
Having noticed on his first inspection trip to Berlin on July 31 that there were long delays as the flight crews returned to their aircraft after getting refreshments from the terminal, Tunner banned aircrew from leaving their aircraft for any reason while in Berlin. Instead, he equipped jeeps as mobile
snack barthumb|A snack bar in AmsterdamSnack bar may refer to:*A Japanese hostess bar*A candy bar*A small cafe or greasy spoon*A tapas bar*A kiosk in a variety of locations such as beach, cinema, etc, that sells snack food...
s, handing out refreshments to the crews at their aircraft while it was being unloaded.
Gail HalvorsenColonel Gail Halvorsen is a retired career officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He is best known for piloting C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift during 1948–1949...
later noted, "he put some beautiful German
FräuleinIn German, Fräulein is used as a title for young girls or unmarried women as opposed to Frau for married women. It is used with the first name or last name...
s in that snack bar. They knew we couldn't date them, we had no time. So they were very friendly." Operations officers handed pilots their clearance slips and pertinent information while they snacked. With unloading begun as soon as engines were shut down on the ramp, turnaround before takeoff back to Rhein-Main or Wiesbaden was reduced to thirty minutes.
To maximize utilization of a limited number of aircraft, Tunner altered the "ladder" to three minutes and 500 feet of separation, stacked from 4,000 to 6,000 feet. Maintenance, particularly adherence to 25-hour, 200-hour, and 1000-hour inspections, became the highest priority and further maximized utilization.
The Berliners themselves solved the other problem of a lack of manpower. Crews unloading and making airfield repairs at the Berlin airports were replaced almost entirely by local people, who were given additional rations in return. As the crews improved, the times for unloading continued to fall, with a record being set by the unloading of an entire 10-ton shipment of coal from a C-54 in ten minutes. This was later beaten when a twelve-man crew unloaded the same quantity in five minutes and 45 seconds.
By the end of August, after only one month, the Airlift was succeeding; daily operations flew more than 1,500 flights a day and delivered more than 4,500 tons of cargo, enough to keep West Berlin supplied. All of the C-47s were withdrawn by the end of September, and eventually 225 C-54s (40% of USAF and USN Skymasters worldwide) were devoted to the lift. Supplies improved to 5,000 tons a day.
Operation Little Vittles
Gail HalvorsenColonel Gail Halvorsen is a retired career officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He is best known for piloting C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift during 1948–1949...
, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his handheld camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on July 17 on one of the C-54s and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. He introduced himself and they started to ask him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out his only two sticks of
Wrigley's Doublemint GumDoublemint is a flavor of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since that time....
, and promised that, if they did not fight over them, the next time he returned he would drop off more. The children quickly divided up the pieces as best they could. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over, and he replied, "I'll wiggle my wings."
The next day, on his approach to Berlin, he rocked the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Every day after that the number of children increased and he made several more drops. Soon there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings", "The Chocolate Uncle" and "The Chocolate Flier". His commanding officer was upset when the story appeared in the news, but when Tunner heard about it he approved of the gesture and immediately expanded it into "
Operation Little Vittles". Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon the major manufacturers joined in. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin, and the "operation" became a major propaganda success. The candy-dropping aircraft were christened "
raisin bombersRaisin Bombers was the name Berliners gave to the transport aircraft of the Western Allies, which brought in supplies to the western half of the city of Berlin during the Berlin Blockade in 1949....
" by the German children.
Initial responses
Events were turning against the Soviets. As the tempo of the Airlift grew, it became apparent that the Western powers might be able to pull off the impossible: indefinitely supplying an entire city by air alone. In response, starting on August 1, the Soviets offered free food to anyone who crossed into East Berlin and registered their ration cards there. West Berliners overwhelmingly rejected Soviet offers of food.
Throughout the airlift, Soviet and German communists subjected the hard-pressed West Berliners to sustained psychological warfare. In radio broadcasts, they relentlessly proclaimed that all Berlin came under Soviet authority and predicted the imminent abandonment of the city by the Western occupying powers. The Soviets also harassed members of the democratically elected city-wide administration, which had to conduct its business in the city hall located in the Soviet sector.
During the early months of the airlift the Soviets used various methods to harrass allied aircraft. These included buzzing by Soviet planes, obstructive parachute jumps within the corridors, and shining searchlights to dazzle pilots at night. Although the USAFE reported 733 separate harassing events, including flak, air to air fire, rocketing, bombing and explosions, this is now considered to be exaggerated. None of these measures were effective.
The Communist putsch in the municipal government
In the autumn of 1948, it became impossible for the non-Communist majority in the city-wide assemblies elected two years earlier to attend sessions within the Soviet sector. As
SEDThe Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a Communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
-controlled policemen looked on passively, Communist-led mobs repeatedly invaded the city hall, then the
Neues Stadthaus on Parochialstraße since all other central municipal buildings had been destroyed in the War, interrupted the assembly's sessions, and physically menaced its non-Communist members. The Kremlin organized an attempted putsch for control of all of Berlin through a September 6 takeover of the city hall by SED members. The elected city government was ousted, with its democratic members being replaced by communists.
The representatives of the democratic parties set up a new city government in west Berlin headed by
Ernst ReuterErnst Rudolf Johannes Reuter was the German mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War.- Early years :...
, who had been elected mayor in early 1946, but prevented from taking office by a Soviet veto. Three days later RIAS Radio urged West Berliners to protest against the actions of the communists. A crowd of 500,000 people gathered at the
Brandenburg GateThe Brandenburg Gate is a former city gate and one of the main symbols of Berlin and Germany. It is located west of the city center at the intersection of Unter den Linden and Ebertstraße, immediately west of the Pariser Platz. It is the only remaining gate of a series through which one formerly...
, next to the ruined Reichstag. The Airlift was working so far, but many West Berliners feared that the Allies would eventually abandon them to the Soviets. They needed reassurance that their sacrifices would not be for nothing. Mayor Reuter took the microphone and pleaded for his city, "You peoples of the world, you people of America, of England, of France, look on this city, and recognize that this city, this people, must not be abandoned — cannot be abandoned!" The crowd surged towards the eastern sector and someone ripped down the Red Flag from the Brandenburg Gate. Soviet military police responded, killing one. Never before had so many Berliners gathered. The resonance worldwide was enormous, notably in the United States, where a strong feeling of solidarity with Berliners reinforced a determination not to abandon them.
December elections
The municipal elections went ahead on December 5, and once again the East Berlin communists attempted to disrupt them. When it became clear that their efforts were failing, they withdrew from the process and elected a separate SED-led council of their own, under Friedrich Ebert. Free elections produced a turnout of 86.3% and an overwhelming victory for the non-Communist parties. Reuter once again won the official elections. The results effectively divided the city into East and West versions of its former self. In the east, a communist system supervised by house, street, and block wardens was quickly implemented.
Preparing for winter
Although the early estimates were that about 4,000 to 5,000 tons would be needed to supply the city, this was made in the context of summer weather, when the Airlift was only expected to last a few weeks. As the operation dragged on into the fall, the situation changed considerably. Although the food requirements would remain the same (around 1,500 tons), the need for additional coal to heat the city grew dramatically (an additional 6,000 tons a day).
In order to maintain the Airlift under these conditions, the current system would have to be greatly expanded. Aircraft were available, and the British started adding their larger
Handley Page HastingsThe Handley Page H.P.67 Hastings was a British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and built by Handley Page Aircraft Company for the Royal Air Force...
in November, but maintaining the fleet proved to be a serious problem. Tunner looked to the Germans once again, hiring (plentiful) ex-
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
ground crews.
Another problem was the lack of runways in Berlin to land on: two at Tempelhof and one at Gatow — neither of which was designed to support the loads the C-54s were putting on them. All of the existing runways required hundreds of laborers, who ran onto them and dumped sand into the runway's
Marsden MattingMarsden Matting is standardized, perforated steel matting material originally developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the rapid construction of temporary runways and landing strips...
(pierced steel planking) to soften the surface and help the planking survive. Since this system could not endure through the winter, between July and September 1948 a 6,000 ft.-long asphalt runway was constructed at Tempelhof. Far from ideal, with the approach being over Berlin's apartment blocks, the runway was, nevertheless, a major upgrade to the airport's capabilities. With it in place, the auxiliary runway was upgraded from Marsden Matting to asphalt between September and October 1948. A similar upgrade program was carried out by the British at Gatow during the same period, also adding a second runway, using concrete.
The
French Air ForceThe French Air Force is the air force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the Service Aéronautique, it is the world’s oldest military air service.-History:...
, meanwhile, had become involved in the
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union’s French Far East Expeditionary...
, so it could only bring up some old
Junkers Ju 52The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Lufthansa as an airliner and freight hauler...
s to support its own troops. However, France agreed to build a complete, new and larger, airport in its sector, on the shores of
Lake TegelLake Tegel , is the second largest lake in Berlin, Germany. It is situated in the northwest of the city in the Reinickendorf borough.Most of the waterfront is privately held...
. French military engineers, managing German construction crews, were able to complete the construction in under 90 days. The airport was mostly built by hand, by thousands of female laborers, who worked day and night.
Heavy equipment was also needed to level the ground, equipment that was too large and heavy to fly in on any existing cargo aircraft. A solution was found by a Brazilian engineer who had perfected the technique of dismantling large machines for transport, and then re-assembling them. (The same technique had been used by Americans involved in flying "Over
The HumpThe Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew from India to China to resupply the Chinese Government of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces based there...
" from India to China in 1944.) He was flown in to advise the effort, and using the five largest American
C-82 PacketThe C-82 Packet was a twin-engine, twin-boom cargo aircraft designed and built by Fairchild Aircraft. It was used briefly by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy following World War II.-Design and development:...
transports, it was possible to fly the machinery into West Berlin. This served the double purpose of helping build the airfield, and also demonstrating that the Soviet blockade could not keep anything out of Berlin.
There
was an obstacle in the approach to the Tegel airfield, however. A Soviet-controlled radio tower caused problems by its proximity to the airfield. Pleas to remove it went unheard, so on November 20, 1948, the French General Jean Ganeval made the decision simply to blow it up. The mission was carried out on December 16, much to the delight of Berliners, and provoking complaints from the Soviets. When his Soviet counterpart, General Alexej Kotikow, asked him angrily on the phone how he could have done this, Ganeval is said to have answered him laconically, "With dynamite, my dear colleague." The Tegel airfield later evolved into Berlin-Tegel Airport.
In order to improve the
air traffic controlAir traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...
, which would be critical as the number of flights grew, the newly developed Ground Controlled Approach Radar system (
GCAIn aviation a ground-controlled approach , is a type of service provided by air-traffic controllers whereby they guide aircraft to a safe landing in adverse weather conditions based on radar images...
) was flown to Europe for installation at Tempelhof, with a second set installed at Fassberg (in the British Zone in West Germany). With the installation of GCA, all-weather airlift operations were assured.
None of these efforts could fix the weather, though, which would be the biggest problem. November and December 1948 proved to be the worst months of the airlift operation. One of the longest-lasting fogs ever experienced there blanketed the entire European continent for weeks. All too often, aircraft would make the entire flight and then be unable to land in Berlin. On November 20, 42 aircraft departed for Berlin, but only one landed there. At one point, the city had only a week's supply of coal left.
The weather improved, however. More than 171,000 tons were delivered in January 1949, but that figure fell to 152,000 tons in February. In March, the tonnage finally rose to 196,223 tons.
The Easter Parade
By April 1949, airlift operations were running smoothly, and Tunner wanted to break the monotony. He liked the idea of a big event that would give everyone a morale boost. He decided that on Easter Sunday the airlift would break all records. To do this, maximum efficiency was needed. To simplify handling, the only cargo would be coal, and stockpiles were built up for the effort. Maintenance schedules were altered so that the maximum number of aircraft was available.
From 12:00PM April 15, to 12:00PM April 16, 1949, crews worked around the clock. When it was over, 12,941 tons of coal had been delivered in 1,383 flights, without a single accident. A welcome side effect of the effort was that operations in general were boosted, and daily tonnage increased from 6,729 tons to 8,893 tons per day thereafter. In total, the airlift delivered 234,476 tons in April.
On April 21, a point was reached at which the amount of supplies flown into the city exceeded that previously brought by rail. The Berlin Airlift had finally succeeded, and appeared able to operate indefinitely.
The Blockade ends
The continued success of the Airlift humiliated the Soviets, and the "Easter Parade" of 1949 was the last straw. On 15 April 1949 the Russian news agency
TASSThe Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union , was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations...
reported a willingness by the Soviets to lift the blockade. The next day, the
US State DepartmentThe United States Department of State, often referred to as the State Department, is the Cabinet-level foreign affairs agency of the United States government, similar to foreign ministries, foreign offices, ministries of external relations, etc. in other countries...
stated the "way appears clear" for the blockade to end. Soon afterwards, the four powers began serious negotiations, and a settlement was reached on Western terms. On 4 May 1949, the Allies announced an agreement to end the blockade in eight days' time.
The Soviet blockade of Berlin was lifted at one minute after midnight, on 12 May 1949. A British convoy immediately drove through to Berlin, and the first train from West Germany reached Berlin at 5:32 A.M.. Later that day, an enormous crowd celebrated the end of the blockade. General Clay, whose retirement had been announced by US President
TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
on May 3, was saluted by 11,000 US soldiers and dozens of aircraft. Once home, Clay received a
ticker-tape paradeA ticker-tape parade is a parade event held in a downtown urban setting, allowing the jettison of large amounts of shredded paper products from nearby office buildings onto the parade route, creating a celebratory effect by the snowstorm-like flurry....
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, was invited to address the
US CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
, and was honored with a medal from President Truman.
Nevertheless, flights continued for some time, in order to build up a comfortable surplus. By 24 July 1949, three months' worth of supplies had been amassed, ensuring that the Airlift could be re-started with ease if needed. The Berlin Airlift officially ended on 30 September 1949, after fifteen months. In total, the
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
delivered 1,783,573 tons, while 541,937 tons were delivered by the RAF, totaling 2,326,406 tons of food and supplies on 278,228 total flights to Berlin. The RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) delivered 7,968 tonnes of freight and 6,964 passengers during 2,062 sorties. The C-47s and C-54s together flew over 92 million miles in the process, nearly the same
distance as the earth is from the sunAn astronomical unit is a unit of length roughly equal to the mean distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is approximately 150 million kilometres ....
. At the height of the Airlift, one plane reached West Berlin every thirty seconds.
A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 40
BritonsThe British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, one of the Channel Islands, or of one of the British overseas territories, and their descendants. In a historical context, the term refers to the ancient Britons, the indigenous inhabitants of Great Britain south of the...
and 31 Americans, mostly due to crashes. Seventeen American and eight British aircraft crashed during the operation.
The cost of the Airlift was approximately $224 million ($2 billion in
inflationIn economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation is also an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a loss of real...
-adjusted 2008 dollars).
Subsequent events
Operational control of the three Allied air corridors was assigned to BARTCC (Berlin Air Route Traffic Control Center) air traffic control located at
TempelhofTempelhof is an area in Berlin within the borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. It is the location of Tempelhof International Airport. Tempelhof is in the southern part of the city.-History:...
. Diplomatic approval was granted by a four-power organization called the
Berlin Air Safety CenterThe Berlin Air Safety Centre was established by the Allied Control Authority Coordinating Committee on the 12 December 1945. Operations began in February 1946 under quadripartite flight rules Paragraph 4...
, also located in the American sector.
Tegel was developed into West Berlin's principal airport. In 2007, it was joined by a re-developed
Berlin-Schönefeld International AirportBerlin-Schönefeld Airport is an international airport located near the town of Schönefeld in Brandenburg, directly at the southern border of Berlin and southeast of the city centre. Schönefeld was once the major civil airport of East Germany , and the only airport serving East Berlin.Schönefeld...
in
BrandenburgBrandenburg is one of the sixteen states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
. As a result of the development of these two airports,
TempelhofThe recently-closed Berlin Tempelhof Airport
was one of three airports in Berlin, Germany, situated in the south-central borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg....
was closed in October 2008, while Gatow is now home of the Museum of the German
LuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1933 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air...
and a housing development. During the 1970s and 1980s, Schönefeld had its own crossing points through the
Berlin Wall|-||-||-||-||}The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier erected by the German Democratic Republic completely encircling West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany...
and communist fortifications for western citizens.
The fact that the Soviets' blockade contravened the agreement reached by the six-nation London Conference, along with the
Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948The Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948 was an event late that February in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades of dictatorship...
, convinced Western leaders that they must take swift and decisive measures to strengthen the portions of Germany not occupied by the Soviets. The Blockade also helped to overcome any remaining differences between the French, British and Americans regarding West Germany, leading to a merger of all three countries' occupation zones into "trizonia". These countries also agreed to replace their military administrations in those zones with high commissioners operating within the terms of a three-power occupation statute. The Blockade also helped to unify German politicians in support of the creation of a West German state. Some of them had previously been fearful of Soviet opposition. The blockade also increased the perception among many Europeans that the Soviets posed a danger, helping to prompt the entry into
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
of Italy, Denmark, Norway, and the
BeneluxThe Benelux is a union in Western Europe that comprises three neighboring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg , which lie in the north western European region between France and Germany...
countries.
Animosities between Germans and the western Allies, Britain, France and the United States, were greatly reduced by the airlift, with the former enemies recognizing common interests, shared values and mutual respect. The Soviets refused to return to the Allied Control Council in Berlin, rendering useless the four-power occupation authority set up at the Potsdam conference. It has also been argued that the events of the Berlin Blockade are proof that the Allies conducted their affairs within a rational framework, since they were keen to avoid war.
Aircraft used in the Berlin Airlift
In the early days the Americans used their C-47 Skytrain or its civilian counterpart
Douglas DC-3The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II it is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
. These machines could carry a payload of up to 3 tons, but were replaced by
C-54 SkymasterThe Douglas C-54 Skymaster was a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II.-Design and development:Like the C-47 Skytrain, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian airliner ....
s and
Douglas DC-4The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
s, which could carry up to 9 tons and also flew faster. These made up a total of 380 aircraft (of which 225 were American), which made them the most used types. Other American aircraft such as the
C-82 PacketThe C-82 Packet was a twin-engine, twin-boom cargo aircraft designed and built by Fairchild Aircraft. It was used briefly by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy following World War II.-Design and development:...
, and the
C-97 StratofreighterThe Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long range heavy military cargo aircraft based on the B-29 bomber. Design work began in 1942, with the prototype's first flight in 1944, and the production aircraft entering service in 1947. Between 1947 and 1958, 888 C-97s in several variants were built - 816...
, with a payload of 31 tonnes - which was a gigantic load for that time - were only sparsely used.
The British, however, used a considerable variety of aircraft types. Many aircraft were either former bombers, or civil British versions of bombers. In the absence of enough transports, the British chartered many civilian aircraft.
British European AirwaysBritish European Airways or British European Airways Corporation was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. The airline operated European and North African routes from airports around the United Kingdom...
(BEA) co-ordinated all British civil aircraft operations. Apart from BEA itself, the participating airlines included
British Overseas Airways CorporationThe British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC) and most British independent airlines of that era - eg
Eagle AviationBritish Eagle International Airlines was a major independent British airline that operated from 1948 to 1968.-Formation and early operations:...
, Silver City Airways,
British South American AirwaysBritish South American Airways or British South American Airways Corporation was a British state-run airline of the 1940s. Originally named British Latin American Air Lines it was split off from British Overseas Airways Corporation to operate their South Atlantic routes...
(BSAA), the Lancashire Aircraft Corporation,
AirworkAirwork Limited, also referred to during its history as Airwork Services Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary company of VT Group plc. It has a long and rich history in providing a variety of defence support services to the Royal Air Force , Fleet Air Arm and overseas air forces, as well as having...
, Air Flight,
Aquila AirwaysAquila Airways was a Southampton, Hampshire based independent British airline, formed on 18 May 1948.-Early operations:Aquila was founded by Barry Aikman, initially using two converted Royal Air Force Short Sunderland flying boats, ex-British Overseas Airways Corporation , for freight work...
, Flight Refuelling,
SkywaysSkyways Limited was an early post-World War II British airline formed in 1946. Skyways became one of Britain's foremost private, independent airlines during the 1950s and early 1960s.-Early operations:...
,
Scottish AirlinesScottish Airlines Limited was formed in 1946 as a subsidiary of Scottish Aviation Limited. The airline commenced worldwide passenger and cargo charter flights from bases at Prestwick and Stansted...
and Ciro's Aviation. Altogether, BEA was responsible to the RAF for the direction and operation of 25 British airlines taking part in "Operation Plainfare". The British also used flying boats, particularly when transporting salt. These included civilian aircraft operated by Aquila Airways. These took off and landed on water and were designed to be corrosion resistant. In winter, when ice covered the Berlin rivers and made the use of flying boats difficult, the British used other aircraft in their place.
- Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster was a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF and squadrons from other...
- Avro York
The Avro York was a British transport aircraft that was derived from the Second World War Lancaster heavy bomber, and used in both military and airliner roles between 1943 and 1964.-Design and development:...
- Avro Tudor
Avro's Type 688 Tudor was a British piston-engined airliner based on their four-engine Lincoln bomber, itself a descendant of the famous Lancaster heavy bomber, and was Britain's first pressurised airliner...
- Avro Lancastrian
The Avro 691 Lancastrian was a British passenger and mail transport aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s developed from the Avro Lancaster heavy bomber...
- Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter
The Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter was a long range heavy military cargo aircraft based on the B-29 bomber. Design work began in 1942, with the prototype's first flight in 1944, and the production aircraft entering service in 1947. Between 1947 and 1958, 888 C-97s in several variants were built - 816...
- Bristol Type 170 Freighter
The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner, although its best known use is as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances.-Design and development:The...
- B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, built by Consolidated Aircraft. It was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft of World War II and still holds the record as the most produced U.S. military aircraft. It was used by many Allied air forces and...
- PBY Catalina
The Consolidated PBY Catalina was an American flying boat of the 1930s and 1940s produced by Consolidated Aircraft. It was one of the most widely used multi-role aircraft of World War II. PBYs served with every branch of the US military and in the air forces and navies of many other nations...
- Douglas C-54 Skymaster and Douglas DC-4
The Douglas DC-4 is a four-engined propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960s in a military role...
- Douglas C-74 Globemaster
- Douglas C-47 Skytrain
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.-Design and...
and Douglas DC-3The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing, propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II it is generally regarded as one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
(UK: Dakota)
- Fairchild C-82 Packet
The C-82 Packet was a twin-engine, twin-boom cargo aircraft designed and built by Fairchild Aircraft. It was used briefly by the United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy following World War II.-Design and development:...
- Handley Page Hastings
The Handley Page H.P.67 Hastings was a British troop-carrier and freight transport aircraft designed and built by Handley Page Aircraft Company for the Royal Air Force...
- Handley Page Halifax
The Handley Page Halifax was one of the British front-line, four-engine heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. A contemporary of the famous Avro Lancaster, the Halifax remained in service until the end of the war, performing a variety of duties in addition to bombing...
Halton
- Ju 52/3m
The Junkers Ju 52 was a German transport aircraft manufactured from 1932 to 1945. It saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over 12 air carriers including Swissair and Lufthansa as an airliner and freight hauler...
(operated briefly by France)
- Short Sunderland
The Short S.25 Sunderland was a British flying boat patrol bomber developed for the Royal Air Force by Short Brothers. Based in part upon the S.23 Empire flying boat, the flagship of Imperial Airways, the S.25 was extensively re-engineered for military service...
- Vickers VC.1 Viking
The Vickers VC.1 Viking was a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. In the aftermath of the war, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines pending the...
Altogether, a total of 692 aircraft were engaged in the Berlin Airlift, more than 100 of which belonged to civilian operators.
See also
- History of Germany
The history of Germany begins with Germania, the name given by the Romans to the area north of the Danube and east of the Rhine up to the Vistula, which was inhabited mostly by Germanic tribes and some Celts, with Slavic tribes arriving centuries later. The victory of the Germanic tribes in the...
- The Big Lift
The Big Lift is a 1950 drama film that was shot on location in the city of Berlin, Germany, and tells the story of two U.S. Air Force sergeants who meet and fall in love with two women in Berlin during the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift.The film was directed and written by George Seaton, and was...
, a 1950 filmThe year 1950 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 15 - Walt Disney Studios' animated film Cinderella debuts.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue
...
about the experiences of some Americans during the airlift.
- Medal for Humane Action
The Medal for Humane Action is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was created by an act of the United States Congress on July 20, 1949. The medal recognizes those military service members who performed extended duty in support of the Berlin Airlift...
American medal for the Airlift
- Airlift Device
The Airlift Device is a decoration of the United States military which is presented as an attachment to both the Army of Occupation Medal and the Navy Occupation Service Medal...
for the Army of OccupationThe Army of Occupation Medal is a military decoration of the United States military which was established by the United States War Department in 1946. The medal was created in the aftermath of the Second World War to recognize those who had performed occupation service in either Germany or Japan...
and Navy Occupation ServiceThe Navy Occupation Service Medal is a decoration of the United States Navy which was issued to Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard personnel who participated in the European and Asian occupation forces following the close of the Second World War. The decoration was also bestowed to personnel who...
Medals
External links
- A PBS site on the context and history of the Berlin Airlift.