28th June - 60th Anniversary of Berlin Airlift

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by Owen, Mar 31, 2008.

  1. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    I know the actual 60th anniversary of the start of the air-lift is in June but I thought I'd ask if we have anyone on here who was involved in it?
    As it was the first big event of the Cold War I wonder what other members views on it are?
     
  2. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Great testimony to what Democracies can do to stand up to Bullies. Showed the Germans, especially the Berliners that the West, even though victorious would not leave them to the mercy of the Soviets.
     
  3. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

    Very interesting stuff of which I know little, if anything, about.

    Did commie air patrol the boundaries of the stablished flightpath? Were there any shoot-downs, or only accidents?

    What was the whole idea behind the affair, taking into consideration that Uncle Joe in those days lacked leverage by being non-nuclear? Or had he gone over the atom barrier already?
     
  4. kfz

    kfz Very Senior Member

    My local socieity (RAF Burtonwood) has a guy there who was there. He now looks after the Berlin Airlift section (Burtonwood was re activated for the airlift and became a big maint and staging area for the aircraft, mostly C54's), hes great to talk too, knows loads of stories annd is well read about it. I love to go and talk to him about it.

    Im interested in the political side of it as well as operational. Itns interesting how ted how closely it ressembles the big air lifts of WW2 like Stalingrad.

    Kev
     
  5. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Good introductory article on wiki.
    Berlin Blockade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    No planes were shot down as,
    In the face of an unarmed aircraft refusing to turn around, the only way to enforce the blockade would be to shoot them down. An airlift would force the Soviet Union into the position of either taking military action in a morally reprehensible fashion that would break their own agreements, or backing down.
    but
    A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 39 British and 31 Americans, mostly due to crashes. Seventeen American and eight British aircraft crashed during the operation.


    I see 60 years ago today that..
    On March 31 the Soviets increased the pressure on the west by demanding that every train entering Berlin from the western zones be examined. Several U.S. and British trains "forced the issue" with varied results,
     
  6. Zoya

    Zoya Partisan

    DATES and STATISTICS

    The blockade was imposed, not suddenly, but gradually and in numerous ways. The time table of Russian interference with traffic between Berlin and the West during 1948/9 is as follows:

    24th January 1948
    Restrictions and conditions imposed on passenger traffic.
    10th March 1948
    Restrictions intensified and travel by Germans, even on Allied business rendered difficult or impossible.
    28th March 1948
    Russians ask the British and Americans to evacuate their two emergency aid stations on the Berlin to Helmstedt autobahn by the end of April.
    30th March 1948
    General Dratvin announced that no freight could be transported into or out of Berlin without a Soviet licence. Allied freight was also subject to Soviet inspection.
    31st March 1948
    Russians set up a new checkpoint at Nowawes (Berlin) and detain Allied freight consignments. Nine British licensed canal barges are held at Buchhorst. Allied vehicles turned back at Marienborn.
    1st April 1948
    British and American military trains detained at Marienborn (adjacent to Helmstedt) because the Russians were not permitted to "inspect" them. Parcel mail from Berlin to the West refused unless accompanied by virtually unobtainable Soviet permits. USAF begins flying military stores into Berlin.
    Soviet Yak fighters begin performing aerobatics in the air corridors into and out of Berlin. From April onwards Western-licensed barge skippers on the German-wide network are 'detained "Because their papers are not in order". Barge traffic is brought to a standstill.
    3rd April 1948
    Rail routes to Berlin-Hamburg and Berlin-Bavaria are closed leaving only the Berlin-Helmstedt line open. The British military freight-train service between the West and Berlin is barred by Soviet authorities unless each individual item of cargo has Russian clearance.
    5th April 1948
    A BEA airliner is buzzed on the outskirts of Berlin by a Soviet Yak fighter. Both planes crash, killing the Russian pilot, twelve Britons and two Americans. The Soviet Command denies responsibility and refuses to recognize evidence by all witnesses who are not Russian.
    25th April 1948
    New Soviet Rules for the documentation of Rail-freight.
    4/6th June 1948
    Twenty six rail wagons of Berlin mail for the West are seized by Russian officials.
    10th June 1948
    Five coal trains for West Berlin stopped by Soviet officials because their new-type documents were "not in order".
    12th June 1948
    All freight trains from the West suspended until settlement of a dispute concerning the labelling of cars.
    15th June 1948
    All trains from the West forbidden to use termini in West Berlin. Road bridge over the River Elbe closed for "repairs". The only substitute is a barge ferry ten miles away, propelled with a pole.
    18th June 1948
    Russians cancel all internal motor-coach licenses and suspend passenger trains, road and mail services to and from the west.
    23rd June 1948
    Further "technical difficulties" brought all rail traffic between Berlin and the West to an end. Traffic on inland waterways experienced similar treatment.
    24th June 1948
    All surface communication with Berlin stopped.
    28th June 1948
    Operation Knicker ordered. This was the plan for the supply of the British troops in Berlin by air. In practice a number of Dakota aircraft carried out sorties in advance of this date.
    30th June 1948
    Operation re-named "Carter Paterson" and extended to include the supply of the whole of the Western Sector by air. The corresponding American operation was "Viftles".
    19th July 1948
    Operation re-named "Plainfare"
    4th August 1948
    First official day of the Civil Airlift.
    12th May 1949
    The Berlin Blockade was lifted at 00.01 hours.
    16th August 1949
    End of the Civil Airlift.
    6th October 1949
    End of the Airlift.

    Notable Statistics
    Between the 25th of June 1948 and the 1st of August 1949, two million two hundred thousand occupants of West Berlin were supplied 2,223,000 short tons of supplies in 266.600 flights.

    Mileposts
    18th February 1949: First million short tons delivered.
    2nd July 1949: Second million short tons delivered.
    5th August 1949: Two and a quarter million tons delivered to Berlin.

    Lots more info here: BBAA - British Berlin Airift Association
     
  7. Zoya

    Zoya Partisan

    Some images:
     

    Attached Files:

  8. Warlord

    Warlord Veteran wannabe

    Interesting article. Thanks OD.

    So, did Uncle Joe begin the whole show due to economical factors? Wiki says that the smelly stuff hit the windmill when the Allies launched the new Deutsche Mark into the market, right under the noses of the reds. That took care of their plans to keep Berlin (in its role as a test ground for the whole of Germany) economically weak and dependent.
     
  9. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The Western Allies, by agreement with the Soviet Union for plans after the defeat of Nazi Germany had the right to use three air corridors from the west into Berlin.As it stood any Western Power aircraft straying outside of these corridors was liable to be shot down by Soviet interceptors.This policy continued throughout the the Cold War when the Soviet Union was anxious to prevent Western Power aircraft from encroching its airspace.

    Regarding the rail communications,any passenger trains passing to and fro Berlin through East Germany to the west had to have its carriage windows obscured to prevent passengers (especially those from Western Power army troop trains) from viewing East Germany territory.This restriction was imposed on the Western Powers was effective from the end of the war.
     
  10. Trincomalee

    Trincomalee Senior Member

    A friend of mine was a refugee child in Berlin from 1945 . She does remember sweets being floated down from some of the arriving aircraft .
     
  11. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  12. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Its funny - I knew about the US plane types but not about the RAF planes, and the RAF's seem much more interesting . Great idea using the lake for flying boats. I wonder why the americans didnt do likewise, the Catalina would have been ideal for this purpose.
     
  13. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    Officially, the airlift began on the 26th, when thirty-two US C-47s carried 80 tons of cargo including milk, flour, and medicine, but the main lift began sixty years ago, today, when the first British aircraft took off for Templehof Airport. A significant number of ex-GPR members reverted to powered flight to take part in the relief operation.

    Steve W.
     
  14. Peter Clare

    Peter Clare Very Senior Member

    26 Jun 1948 - After Russia closes all land routes into Berlin, the British and American governments begin a massive airlift of supplies into the city. Operation Plainfare sees RAF transports deliver 1,340 tons of food every day during the operation. Clothing, food, fuel and supplies are flown into Gatow airport in York and Dakota aircraft, other supplies such as salt are flown onto Lake Havel by Sunderlands. Although the blockade was lifted on 12 May 1949, flights continued until October to build up stocks. The RAF delivered 17% of the total material delivered to the city.
     
  15. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Steve,
    I merged this with the other Berlin Airlift thread.
    Hope you don't mind.
    I've kept your title though.
    Just makes it tidier.
     
  16. GPRegt

    GPRegt Senior Member

    Not a problem. I do like a tidy Forum!
     
  17. AndyBaldEagle

    AndyBaldEagle Very Senior Member

    Taken from the Roll of Honour and Awards for Glider Pilot Regiment 1942-1957.
    Operation Planefare: Berlin Airlift 1948-49 (85/5 Flt, N Sqdn with rotational posting)
    7597167 Sgt Toal,Joseph REME/GPR A Sqdn 16 Jul 1949
    Berlin 1939-45 War Cemetery G.16
    85 Flt, RAF Wunstorf:during Berlin Airlift was co-pilot on Hastings T611: engine reported cut out on takeoff but now established that elevator trim tabs were set wrong:ac stalled and dived into ground at Tegel airfield

    It would appear he was the only GPR casualty.

    A friend of mine visited Berlin War Cemetery earlier in the year to photograph the Airborne (mainly Arnhem) casualties and noticed the gravestone.

    Pics attached hopefully.

    Regards

    Andy
     

    Attached Files:

  18. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The Berlin Blockade resulted in a reassessment of Western policy towards the Soviets in Western Europe.It saw the building of new greenfield airfields principally for the RAF and USAF.These were to be in existence for 40 years and only were handed to the Luffewaffe or to civilian use in the early 1990s on the collapse of the Soviet Union.The threat to Western Europe also resulted in the adoption of the battlefield tactical nuclear weapon in Germany and the stationing of Thor missiles in Eastern England from an acceptance that the Allies could not match the Soviets on the ground in terms of manpower and armour.

    Unlike Stalingrad, the Berlin Airlift was sucessful and must have been one of the few airlifts which kept the recipients warm with the amount of coal lifted.
     
  19. kevintoal

    kevintoal Junior Member

    Thank you AndyBaldEagle for posting the pictures of my uncle's headstone. He was one of my father's older brothers. Unfortunately, I do not have much information about what happened, so sites like this are extremely important to me.

    Thank you again.

    Kevin Toal
     
  20. Wills

    Wills Very Senior Member

    Short Sunderland Flying Boats - YouTube


    Berlin Airlift

    You may note that a fast launch is crossing the path of the take off the run. When we had the replica S.5 on the lakes at Chertsey the test pilot Captain Keith Sissons had a rib run along the lake to disturb the surface. Floats or a keel have a 'step' this is where the break in surface tension occurs and the float breaks free from the adhesion of the surface. mill pond (flat calm) makes this more difficult.
     

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