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Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 6/98 BERLIN AIRLIFT MEMORIES by Wolfdietrich Hoeveler In the night of 23 June the following message by AND (Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst) was sent via telex to editorial offices of Berlin newspapers: "berlin, 23 june 1948 (sic) due to a technical fault on the railways, the transport administration of the soviet military administration in Germany was forced to stop passenger and goods traffic on the berlin-helmstedt line in both directions in the night of 24 june." According to the then Head of Transport Administration, Major-General Kwaschnin, a diversion was impossible. In doing this, the last connection between Berlin and the Western zones of Germany was severed. The Russians had already blocked the motorways on 15 June "because of road works". On 18 June the traffic within Berlin had been disrupted and the inland waterways were closed on 21 June. About 2.2 million people in West Berlin had to rely on the contents of their larders, and these were indeed quite empty. The Soviets obviously intended to bring about a mass famine and use it for political pressure. The aim was to push the Western Allies to surrender their claim on the three Western zones of the former capital. The answer the West had to these Soviet threats did not leave any room for doubt. As soon as 25 June the first US Air Force plane touched down at Berlin Tempelhof in support of the Berlin population. "Operation Vittles" with 105 Douglas C-47 and initially 54 Douglas C-54 Skymasters had started. This was after the commanders of the American Air Forces in Europe, Major-General Curtis LeMay had answered the question of the Commander of American troops in Germany whether these planes could transport coal to Berlin, "General, we can haul anything!" After this Clay arranged the airlift. He he had been in a similar situation before, because the Soviets had previously disrupted the traffic leading in and out of Berlin on several occasions. When they re-routed an American train and left it in a siding at the beginning of April 1948, Clay reacted with determination and speed. The 24 operational transport planes of the US Air Force stationed at Frankfurt/Main flew 200 tons of supplies into the blockaded city between the 2 and 4 April. On 26 June 1948 President Harry S. Truman - "We are staying in Berlin" - ordered for airlifts to be increased even further. Over 300 Douglas C-54 Skymasters of the US Air Force and from 9 November 1948 two US Navy squadrons were drawn together in Germany. Together with 50 Douglas Dakota and 40 Avro York of the Royal Air Force and 45 chartered planes of various aviation organisations they ensured that the Berlin population was supplied with food. On 2 July the first British transport plane touched down in Gatow. The first British flying boat landed on the Großen Wannsee on 6 July. The British called their support action operation "plain fare", in which flying boats like the Short Sunderland also took part. The airfields in the West were: Schleswig, Lübeck, Hamburg-Finkenwerder (for the British flying boats), Fuhlsbüttel, Faßweg, Wunstorf, Celle, Bückeburg, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. To start with only Tempelhof and Gatow could be used as destinations in Berlin. Both were extended as soon as the airlift began. Tempelhof was given a 1,500 meter long runway, the new one in Gatow was 1,800 meters long. On 5 August 19,000 male and female workers started building a new airport in Tegel in the town's French sector.In only 84 days this airport was ready to be used. The first plane landed there on 29 October. To the chagrin of the Soviets the commander of the French sector, General Jean Ganeval, had two 120 meter high transmitter masts of the communist sender "Radio Berlin", which were positioned very close to the airport and were threatening flight safety, blown up. This happened on 16 December. 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 Soviets disrupted air traffic wherever possible. Soviet fighters tried to force the transport planes away, pilots were blinded with spotlights and occasionally the planes were even shot at. The air corridors were blockaded with balloons. Three air corridors were at the Allies disposal: Hamburg-Berlin, Hannover- Berlin and Frankfurt-Berlin. The transport planes flew across the northern and souhern corridor to Berlin, on the way back they used the middle corridor. The flying boats were also allowed to use the northern corridor for the return flight. Thanks to the cleverly devised plan up to 1,300 missions were flown each day. 1,398 planes touched down in Berlin and took off after unloading on Good Friday 1949, an absolute record. This meant 2,796 flights within 24 hours. Planes flew round the clock in six blocks of four hours. The planes flew to Berlin in these blocks, they were unloaded instantly and returned immediately. The altitude of these corridors, which were 20 miles wide and between 1,000 and 10,000 ft high, was split up into five layers. The time space between each plane was 15 minutes in the respective altitude and three minutes in the next altitude respectively. At peak times the planes landed in 90 second intervals. In the southern corridor, which was only used by Skymasters, 32 planes were airborne at the same time. Every delay was a danger to the system. In Gatow the planned arrival time could only be out by ten seconds. If the pilot could not adhere to this, he had to return immediately with his load and wait for a gap in the next block. After the American Major-General William Turner had been co-ordinating the British and American efforts since 28 July, a joint headquarter was created in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim on 20 October to co-ordinate the American and British transport planes. Not only coal and victuals had to be flown to the city. The construction of Power Plant West was continued despite the blockade. Around 1,500 tons of turbines and boiler parts were flown to the blockaded city. "Made in blockaded Berlin" was stamped on the goods that had been produced in Berlin, valued at 230 million Marks, which were transported into the West by these planes on their return journeys. The expression "Insulaner" was coined in those days to describe the encircled people of West Berlin. They did not only put up with, they made the best out of their situation. The zoo was transformed into a massive allotment, people tightened their belts and withstood all Soviet threats. From page 40 of FLUG REVUE 6/98 Home | Update | LATEST ISSUE | Gallery | FR Profile | Datafiles | FR 6/98 Copyright 1998 by Motor-Presse Stuttgart. All rights reserved. Last updated May 7, 1998 FLUG REVUE, Ubierstr. 83, 53173 Bonn, Germany