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This week in history -- The Berlin Airlift begins

June 24, 1948 started off as any other day for most of the world, but for the people in Berlin, deep inside the Soviet-controlled part of Germany, it was a momentous day.

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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. – June 24, 1948 started off as any other day for most of the world, but for the people in Berlin, deep inside the Soviet-controlled part of Germany, it was a momentous day.  In a bid to reverse economic reforms put in place by the Allies (France, Britain, and the United States) in the part of Germany they controlled and to gain control of the divided city, the Soviet Union cut off all land routes into Berlin, effectively stopping all deliveries of food, coal, and other supplies. 


Two days later, on June 26th, one of the greatest humanitarian airlifts to date began.  Officially known as Operation Vittles but more commonly referred to as the Berlin Airlift, this operation was staggering in its complexity and scope.  Moreover, it was as one of the first major confrontations with the Soviet Union after World War II and one that the Allies won without resorting to combat. 


The Soviet Union believed that the Allies could not supply Berlin with airlift and counted on the blockade to force the Allies out of the city.  On orders from Washington, Air Force Lt. Gen. Curtis E. LeMay, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, instructed Air Force Brig. Gen. Joseph Smith, commander of the Wiesbaden Military Post, to organize an airlift to resupply the American forces in the city.  President Harry Truman later expanded the airlift to include supplies to the civilian population. 


From June 26, 1948 to Sept. 30, 1949, American, British, and French crews flew more than 277,000 missions delivering more than two million tons of supplies to sustain the people of Berlin.  Air Force Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner, who took over the airlift in late July 1948, provided much needed efficiency and planning to the effort, and soon the planes were averaging 4,500 tons of supply each day. 


Planes landed at Berlin’s Templehof Airport every three minutes, as well as at Gatow and Tegel airfields.  Berlin citizens unloaded the cargo, and the crews flew back to base to fill up for the next run.  Air Force First Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen added a new dimension to the airlift by dropping candy to the city’s children. 


The airlift was not without risk, though.  The planes not only had to battle the weather, they had to negotiate a tricky flight path in between buildings to land at Templehof.  There were 27 accidents in the Berlin area and more than 60 American, British, and German personnel were killed. 


By spring 1949, the Soviet Union realized the blockade had backfired and reopened the land routes on May 12.  The Allies continued the flights until the end of September to build up stockpiles of food, medicine, and fuel.


To learn more about the Berlin Airlift, Gail Halvorsen, and Generals Tunner and LeMay, check out these books from the USTRANSCOM Research Center:


--MAC and the Legacy of the Berlin Airlift, by Roger D. Launius and Coy F. Cross II


--To Save a City:  The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949, by Roger C. Miller


--The Berlin Airlift, by William H. Tunner


--The Candy Bombers:  The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny


--Daring Young Men:  The Heroism and Triumph of the Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949, by Richard Reeves


--LeMay:  The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay, by Warren Kozak


--Over the Hump, by William H. Tunner


--“The Air Force Can Deliver Anything!”  A History of the Berlin Airlift, by Daniel F. Harrington


 


                                                            -USTRANSCOM-


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