York, load 9 tons-the Halifax, over 6 tons – the Viking, over 3 tons – the R.A.F. Hundreds of planes of all types and sizes, military and civil, were pressed into service. Over one million tons have now been flown in. Even cars were transported, but coal, equally as vital to Berlin as bread, was the greatest load of all. Month after month the tempo of flights was stepped up, and by Christmas, American and British planes had made 100,000 trips and carried a total of 730,000 tons into Berlin. Shipped without pause from eight different air fields in the Western Zone. Night and day, week after week, it was a case of more planes, more food, more raw materials. These indefatigable blockade-runners carried on throughout the night and into the dawn. As dusk falls, Sunderlands tie-up for the night.Īlthough doing valuable service, the Sunderlands´part was small compared to the land-based planes. Even through-storms and mists the hazardous chain of supply went on. Only the very worst weather kept Allied aircraft out of the sky. On the return trip exportable freight was carried and the opportunity taken to remove some of Berlin´s sick children for convalescence. Immediately on landing, unloading commences and the machines are prepared for the return journey. They were soon winging their way daily over the port of Hamburg, destination, Berlin past the Olympic Stadium and presently over the only power station left working in the Western Sector. Within four days of the decision to use them, the first giant boats, each carrying 5 tons of vital material, were on air transport service. Only one narrow corridor led from the base on the Elbe, near Hamburg, to the unloading base at Havel Lake in the British Sector of Berlin. Food, still more food and raw materials had to be poured across the aerial bridge into the blockaded city. These took off from the Elbe at Hamburg and came down on one of Berlin´s Lakes. Sunderland Flying Boats of Coastal Command were ordered in to supplement the land-based planes. Air Force the number of flights rose by October to 600 per day. In the first three days, 500 landings were achieved, but with the aid of the U.S. aircraft started this colossal undertaking according to many predictions, an impossible one to maintain especially during Winter.Īircraft began their ceaseless drone into blockaded Berlin, using all available airfields in the Western Zone. By 28th June, the only way into Berlin was by air and the first R.A.F. In June 1948 all road and rail communications between the Allied Zones and the Western Sectors of Berlin were closed by the Russians. Air Force to supply two and a quarter million people of Berlin with food, coal, and other necessities of life. This is a story of the Berlin Air Lift, the operation carried out by the Royal-Air Force and U.S. Nevertheless, the Berlin blockade, and subsequent Airlift, went on to symbolise the uneasy peace of the Cold War. The attempted strangulation of Berlin by the Soviet Union to force the Western Allies out of the city failed. In total 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the airlift, including 39 British (17 Royal Air Force, 1 British Army, 21 civilians).
BERLIN AIRBRIDGE CODE
Operation ‘Plain Fare’, the British code word for the airlift, came at a human cost though. In total, the United States and Britain delivered 1,783,573 and 541,937 tons respectively, from 277,569 flights to Berlin. The Airlift officially ended on 30 September 1949, 15 months after its protracted beginnings in June 1948. At its height one plane reached West Berlin every 30 seconds. By impeding all road, rail and river approaches, Berlin was a city under siege – accessible only by air.Īn ‘airbridge’ consisting of hundreds of reconditioned World War II bombers (nick-named Rosinenbomber, or ‘raisin bombers’), supplied over two million West Berliners with food, fuel and other supplies. This led to the Berlin blockade imposed on 24 June 1948. In attempts to dissuade the West, Soviet forces deliberately escalated harassment of Western traffic to and from the city. Early 1948, the three Western powers decided to amalgamate their zones and introduce a new currency – the Deutschmark. The Big Four also occupied Berlin, dividing the city into sectors, despite its location deep in the heart of Soviet occupied Germany.Īlthough relations between the four powers was at times strained in the immediate post-war era, co-operation began to break down in 1947. At the end of the Second World War, Germany was divided into four zones under the administration of Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
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