Berlin+Airlift

Maddy Narayan

= The Berlin Airlift =

At the end of WWII, Germany was divided amongst the victors, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. The Soviet Union took control of the Eastern half of Germany, the Western half was divided between the US, Britain, and France. The capital city of Berlin, sitting dead in the middle of the Soviet-controlled Eastern half, was also divided into four parts by the Berlin Wall. One half being Soviet controlled, and the rest divided amongst the other powers. A four-power government, called the Allied Control Council, was installed in Berlin and by 1948, it became obvious that the Soviet Union and the Allies had completely different ideas to rebuild Germany.

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=The Airlift Begins=

On April 9, 1948, Stalin ordered all American Military personnel maintaining communications equipment out of the Eastern Zone. Stalin ordered a stop to all trains delivering to US Berlin only the air corridors, protected by treaty, stayed open. (see Berlin Blockade ). The U.S. military governor in Germany, General Lucius D. Clay, wanted to use troops to escort the supply convoys through the blockade. But British Foreign Minister Ernest Brevin proposed a massive airlift that would use military planes to fly supplies into the city. The US Airforce only had 100 Douglas C-47's available to transport at least 2,000 tons of supplies, per day, that Berlin needed. But with intelligent planning and organization by Curtis LeMay, commander of the US Airforce in Europe, delivered twice the amount calculated on a test run. Clay decided to try the airlift, but this time requested Douglas C-54 Skymasters from the Pentagon, which could carry out 4 times as much as the C-47's. The first Skymasters arrived at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany on

June 28. As soon as they landed, they were loaded and sent to Berlin. By the end of the next week, 300 C-54s had arrived from the Panama Canal Zone, Alabama, Hawaii, and Texas. The navy sent two squadrons of R5Ds (the navy’s version of the C-54). The British had already filled its bases with Dakota, Avro York, and Handley Page Hasting aircraft. By the end of the summer, planes from Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand had joined the operation. The mission was named operation Vittles, and on June 25, 1948 Clay gave the order to launch. 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 June 28, and at t that time, the airlift was expected to last three weeks.

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= = == =End of the Airlift=

On May 12, 1949, after more than 2.3 million tons of cargo, and 277,685 flights, the Soviets reopened the ground routes. In an effort to end western presence in their territory, they had succeeded only in embarrassing themselves. The airlift officially ended on September 30, 1949. During the entire operation 17 American and 7 British planes were lost due to crashes. For the U.S. military the Berlin Airlift carried more significance than victory against a new enemy, but the service branches had worked together and the airlift became a model for future humanitarian airlifts. Aircraft specifically designed for air cargo operations were designed based on the lessons of Operation Vittles. Most importantly though, the Berlin Airlift began to repair the psychological wounds of World War II. Less than five years earlier, many of the same pilots had been dropping bombs on Berlin. It had been destroyed by war but it was the beginning of internal pride. Having feared that the West would abandon them to starvation, their gratefulness has lasted still, to today. In 1959 they started the Berlin Airlift Foundation to assist the families of the 78 British and American men killed during the operation. And during the 50th anniversary celebrations, Berlin citizens signed parachutes for airlifts to other parts of the world. media type="youtube" key="fQ30Rgc5Prc" height="256" width="346" align="right"