Airlift Humour

 The Berlin Airlift was notorious for the banter among crews and between crews and controllers. Almost all veterans remember with amusement the wit that filled the airwaves. Unfortunately, very little of that chatter was recorded — and much of it would probably have been unprintable anyway! This essay can only provide a faint echo of […]

End of the Blockade, Start of a New War of Nerves

Stalin concluded his Berlin strategy was not paying off at the end of January 1949. By that date, liquid fuel was being delivered at rates unknown before, coal reserves were no longer being drawn down, and the standard food ration in West Berlin had been increased by more than 15%. Under the circumstances, Stalin faced […]

The Berlin Airlift by the Numbers

The Berlin Airlift remains to this day the largest and most successful airlift in history. There have been many airlifts in the 80 years since the Berlin Airlift ended,  but none has come near to the scale of joint USAF/RAF effort in 1948-1949. On the contrary, not all of them together carried as much as the Berlin […]

The Berlin Airlift: What it all Meant

 Impressive as the logistical achievements of the Berlin Airlift were, they were only the bi-product and not the objectives of the entire operation. The Berlin Airlift was from its inception a political rather than a military response. Logically, the perceptions of the Airlift and its significance have changed over time in accordance with the political situation […]

Operation Santa Claus – A Forgotten Moment in History

Nowadays, “Operation Santa Claus” is associated with a USPS program to match letters to Santa with donors of gifts for kids. During the Russian blockade of Berlin 1948-1949, the children of Berlin didn’t dream of writing to Santa Claus. The situation was too grim. Santa came anyways. December 1948 was a bleak time for the […]