Not many
people realize how long the Cold War with the former Soviet
Union really was. Many
people think of Korea
as the beginning of the Cold War, but it actually began almost immediately
after World War II. While we were allies with Russia during WWII, it was only due
to having a common enemy in the Nazis. However, after the Fall of Berlin, and
the surrender of the Japanese Empire, the Soviets and Americans locked horns
once again in what has become to be known as the Berlin Airlift.
The Berlin
Airlift began when Josef Stalin ordered a complete road, railway and water
blockade of the divided city of Berlin.
The Soviets were determined to starve the city into submission, but they
underestimated American ingenuity and the fledgling U.S. Air Force. At first,
after diplomacy with the Soviets failed, there were many meetings of the top
military brass, invasion plans were made, and World War III was nearly ignited.
General Lucius Clay hade even set up an armored convoy designed to smash
through the Red Army’s line, which would have certainly sparked war. But the
last minute brilliance of British Commander Sir Brian Robertson saved countless
lives: if the Soviets had blocked road, rail and water routes, why not supply
the city via the air? This was mad possible by the foresight of someone during
the drafting of the agreement the Allies of WWII had signed in 1945: there were
three unguardable air corridors, 20 miles wide, to provide access to the city;
the Red Army couldn’t attack any planes in the corridors.
The
Communists seemed to have forgotten about this, however, and celebrated rather
prematurely. (“Berlin
Airlift”, 1994) The aforementioned Gen.
Clay looked to General Curtis LeMay to spearhead the operation, dubbed
“Operation Vittles,” because Task Force Commander Brigadier General Joseph
Smith – LeMay’s second in command – said they
were just “haulin’ grub.” (Miller, 1998) However, the British, always the more
refined of our kin, called it “Operation Plane Fare”. The determined daily food
rations were enormous, totaling over 1,500 tons of food alone, not including
coal or other fuels. This was beyond impossible, considering the most copious
plane at the USAF’s disposal was the C-47, a cargo plane capable of carrying a
mere 3.5 tons. At that payload, the Air Force would have to make over 1,000
flights a day. After doing the math, Gen. Clay knew that the USAF and the Royal
Air Force wouldn’t even come close, so both Gen. Clay and Gen. LeMay sent
requests for the new C-54 Skymaster , which carried more than three times the
load of the C-47.
LeMay then appointed Lieutenant General
William Tunner as the director of the Airlift after about a month of operations.
After a fateful day of rain and fog over the airport in Tempelhof, Tunner
reformed the process of approach to the two operational airports, allowing a
continuous loop of laden aircraft and virtually eliminating all accidents. Some
of the other changes implemented by Tunner, a career aviator, was to
standardize all parts and procedures among the flyers. In addition to switching
to the C-54, which could be unloaded easier and faster than a C-47, Tunner
ordered crews to remain with their craft. Gen. Tunner was disgusted when he saw
how many loaded and fueled aircraft were sitting idle on the tarmac, just
waiting for their crews to return from the terminal. To help with this change,
Tunner also ordered trucks outfitted as mobile snack bars, staffed by the
prettiest Berlin
girls, of course, to provide pilots with up-to-date weather information, coffee
and other snacks. This alone cut the land-to-depart times to a mere 25 minutes!
Once the
planes began this near-constant cycle, a problem that quickly became apparent
was a lack of manpower to unload the planes in West Berlin.
However, instead of shipping more troops into the city to help, the Berliners
themselves stepped forward. They were all eager to help, because the supplies
were for them and their families, and Gen. Tunner gave the order that those who
helped would receive an extra ration. Since the rations were quite small, this
was a big deal. Soon, other ‘bonuses’ were given for a good and speedy
unloading, like another extra ration or coveted pack of cigarettes; in fact,
the record set by the Berliners for offloading 10 tons of coal was set at just
10 minutes! Many former Luftwaffe servicemen stepped forward as well, to
inspect and repair the planes on the Berlin
side to keep the fleet operational. Within a matter of weeks, every aircraft
that wasn’t being fixed or loaded/unloaded was in the air corridors, which was
something not even Commander Robertson could have envisioned. The British even
began using their Sunderland “Flying Boats” in addition to their modified
Lancasters, so they could land on Lake Havel in the middle of Berlin to provide
a third base of operation.
Flying the
corridors was no cakewalk either. The unpredictable weather of Germany forced
many pilots to “fly by wire”, or merely using instruments, more often then not.
The two airports available were equally as hazardous, with one requiring pilots
to thread a needle between high rise, and the other required pilots to drop
sharply behind a building in order to have enough runway to brake. As if this
wasn’t difficult enough, Soviet harassment was prevalent, with Red pilots
buzzing and shooting near – but not at – the cargo planes, and Soviet ground
forces releasing balloons and even flak in the corridors. When the pilots were
on approach to land, Russians in East Berlin would interfere with the radio
traffic and point searchlights in the pilot’s eyes, but there were no outrights
acts of war, since the Soviets wanted to avoid that at all costs because of
Gen. LeMay’s decision to station B-29’s at various RAF bases. They weren’t
equipped to carry the atomic bomb, but the Soviets didn’t know that, and
weren’t too keen on finding out.
In spite of
the difficult weather and Soviet nuisance, tonnage records were being routinely
set and broken, and soon the daily ration levels were exceeded to the point of
what some would consider prosperity. With the increase of supplies, it was
decided that a third airport should be constructed. But there was no heavy
machinery in West Berlin, and no aircraft big
enough to carry them at the time. Enter American ingenuity once again, where
the required vehicles were cut apart, flown to Berlin on a C-82, and welded back together.
This also allowed the Americans and British to construct a new power plant for
the West Berliners as well. Thus began the creation of Tegel Airfield in the
French sector of the city, which allowed for safer flying with a larger runway.
American, German and French volunteers started construction on 5 August 1948,
with the very first C-54 landing just 3 months later. This airfield actually
grew into what is now modern-day Berlin’s
main airport. There was only one obstacle to this runway: a Soviet-controlled
radio tower. After pleas to get rid of it encountered a deaf Russian ear, a
French general – ironically – Jean Ganeval said if they wouldn’t take it down,
he’d just blow it up. There were no reports of a stereotypical maniacal French
laugh after he said that. So, on 16 December 1948, there was a French dynamite
vs. Soviet radio tower match; needless to say, the dynamite won.
Finally, in
April 1949, after months of smooth airlift operations, Gen. Tunner wanted to do
something big, to break up the monotony and boost morale of the troops and
Berliners. He and his staff began planning the “Easter Parade”: an attempt to
shatter all records in moving coal. The precious fuel was secretly stockpiled
for the operation, and from 15 April to 16 April, more than 12,900 tons – yes, tons – of coal were brought into West Berlin. And because of this massive push air and
ground crews discovered ways to be more efficient, improving the overall
regular tonnage shipped from 6,729 to 8,893 tons per day! (Tunner, 1964) This
was the last straw for the Soviets.
The Soviet
blockade officially ended 12 May 1949, but it was decided that West Berlin should still be partially supplied by air to
continue a buildup of supplies while the ground and water routes were
reestablished. For being such an impossibility, the US delivered over 1,783,572 tons,
with the British flying over 541,936 tons, brining the total to 2.3 million
tons flown into the city. The US Air Force’s C-47’s and C-54’s alone traveled
over 92 million miles over the 15 months of sorties. There were plans to expand
the airlift even, since the blockade ended somewhat unexpectedly, and laid the
foundation for the modern-day Air Mobility Command with its heavy freighters.
Overall, the
Berlin Airlift was a huge success, not only for the tonnage flown into the
besieged city, nor because it was the precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, or NATO, but because it won the hearts and minds of the German
people and broke the will of the Soviets. This was just the first of many
non-violent confrontations between the United
States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
for decades to come.
References
(1994)
Berlin
airlift. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved
07 Dec 2011 from http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0807200.html
Giangreco,
Dennis M. and Griffin Robert E. (1988) Airbridge
to Berlin. The Truman Library: The Berlin Airlift Online Research File.
Retrieved 06 December 2011 from http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/berlin_airlift/large/
Miller,
Roger G. (1998) To Save A City. United States Air Force History and museums Program.
Retrieved 07 Dec 2011 from http://www.spiritoffreedom.org/airlift.html
Tunner,
William H. (1964) Over The Hump. Retrieved 06 December 2011 from http://www.spiritoffreedom.org/airlift.html
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