The Berlin Airlift

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The Berlin Airlift

• June 27, 1948 to May 12, 1949

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Basic Overview

• Post war Germany was divided into three
  sections--the Allied part was controlled by the
  United States, Great Britain and France and other
  part by the Soviet Union.2
• The city of Berlin was also split, in itself,
  into four separate sectors (seen on the picture).
• The Soviet Union tried to control all of the
  traffic into Western Berlin by cutting off all
  necessities that helped the city survive.
• President Truman at this time did not look
  favorably on this situation and decided to begin
  an Air brigade which took them much needed food
  and supplies.
• This Airlift continued until September of 1949
  when the Soviet Union stopped the blockade of
  Western Berlin.

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Tempelhof
Gatow

• One runway Airport used by the American Sector of
  Berlin
• This airport was in a busy area with many
  buildings around it which made it hard to fly
  into

• One runway airport used by the British Sector of
  Berlin
• This airport was in a sparse area which is where
  most planes were use to landing

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Black Friday

• The notion for Black Friday was created during
  the Berlin Airlift to avoid the problem of
  stacking, which is when a more than usual number
  of aircrafts came to one airport
• This idea came from Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner
  when he was flying to grant a man an award for
  having flown to Berlin the most.
• General Tunner was flying to give this award
  during a large storm and most people wanted to
  come back to there base because the weather was
  unsafe, which resulted in stacking at the two
  airports
• All aircrafts were required to fly by instrument
  rules to maintain the same speed, interval and
  altitude. 
• This almost eliminated accidents and became the
  key to the success of the operation. 

Lt. Gen. William H. Tunner
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The Easter Parade

• General Tunner wanted to deliver something
  different to Berlin so on Easter Sunday they
  decided to fly in large amounts of coal into the
  city.
• The Maximum number of planes were salvaged for
  this event and all were loaded with coal
• For 24 strait hours before Easter the crews
  worked extra hard to deliver more coal than ever.
• When it was completed 12,941 pounds of coal had
  been delivered and this occurred by flying over
  1,338 times without one accident.

This shows the difference between the Airlift and
most other rebellions.
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Rosinenbomber

• Raisin Bombers
• These were planes used to fly cargo into Western
  Berlin.
• The aircraft were supplied and flown by the
  United States, United Kingdom and France, but
  pilots and crew also came from Australia, Canada,
  South Africa and New Zealand in order to assist
  the supply of Berlin.
• Ultimately 278,228 flights were made and
  2,326,406 tons of food and supplies were dropped
  into Berlin.

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Coming to an End

• On May 12, 1949, the Soviets surrendered
• In total, the US delivered 1,783,572.7 tons and
  the British delivered 541,936.9 tons.
• The final total of goods dropped was 2.3 Million
  tons from 277, 569 total flights to Berlin.
• C-47's and C-54's alone traveled over 92 million
  miles in order to do so. 
• A total of 101 deaths were recorded, adding 31
  Americans, mostly due to crashes. 

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Bibliography

• Roger G. Miller. To Save a City
• Gail S. Halvorsen. The Berlin Candy Bomber
• http//www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_col
  lections/berlin_airlift/large/docs.php
• http//www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/berlin.htm
• Tusa, Ann and John. 1988. The Berlin Airlift. New
  York Atheneum.
• Man, John. 1973. Berlin Blockade. New York
  Ballantine Books Inc