Berlin+Airlift+-+Hoffmeister

​BERLIN AIRLIFT

After World war II ,Germany was divided in four different sections, it was ruled by four countries, America, France, England and the Soviet Union.The East side of Germany belonged to the Soviet Union, the rest of Germany was split between America, France and England. Berlin layed right in the middle of the section of the Soviet Union and was also divided in 4 Sections. The section of Berlin that was ruled by the USSR was called East Berlin and the rest of Berlin was known as West Berlin. The Western Powers were build on democratic thoughts and Capitalism and the USSR were based on Communism, that means that a centerted Government has all power and a counrty or several countries are ruled by one person. Because of disagreement between the western powers and the east Power,Stalin( the leader of USSR) wanted to get the Western Powers out of Berlin. Also the economic situation in the eastern part of Germany was not going well after West Berlin presented the Deutsche Mark on June 21, 1948. One day later Stalin introduce a new currency, the " Ostmark". A lot of people moved out of the east into to the western side of Berlin. Stalin didn't like that and to keep people in east Berlin he built a blockade between the west side and the east side of Berlin.On June 24 Stalin served land and water communications and also halted all traffic between east and west Germany. On June 25 the Soviets stopped supplying food and cut all electricity off in west Berlin. Stalin closed everything up, except three air corridors.

THE AIRLIFT STARTS

The western Powers decided to not let the USSR have all of Berlin and came to the conclusion that they would supply the western part of Berlin. They had to supply two million people. They needed 646 tons of flour and wheat, 125 tons of cereal, 64 tons of fat, 109 tons of meat and fish, 180 tons of dehydrated potatoes, 180 tons of sugar, 11 tons of coffee, 19 tons of powdered milk, 5 tons of whole milk for children, 3 tons of fresh yeast for baking, 144 tons of dehydrated vegetables, 38 tons of salt and 10 tons of cheese. In total, 1,534 tons. The city needed to be kept heated and powered, which required another 3,475 tons of coal and gasoline. Planes landed every 2 minutes to supply Berlin with all they needed.By spring, 1949, an average of 8,000 tons was being flown in daily.

OPERATION LITTLE VITTLES US Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen decided to use his off time to fly to Berlin and make movies with his camera. He arrived at Tempelhof(one of the airports) on July 17 and walked over to a crowd of children. He talked with them for a while about the airforce. when he left he gave them a peace of gum and promised the next time he returned he would drop off more. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over, and he replied, "I'll wiggle my wings." The next day he dropped some chocolate bars to the children. Every day after that the number of children increased. Soon he was known as "Uncle Wiggly Wings", "The Chocolate Uncle" and "The Chocolate Flier". Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Operation little vittles became a major propaganda success.



__THE BLACK FRIDAY __

====On Friday, August 13, a pilot with name Tunner flew into Berlin. The weather that day was awful, and conditions in Berlin were impossible. Clouds were really low and it rained hard. One C-54 had crashed and burned at the end of the runway a second landed behind him and tried not to crash into the plane. Aircraft were beginning to stack up over Tempelhof and a lot of airplanes were circling from 3000 to 12000 feet. Pilot Tunner called the tower. "Tunner here, send everyone back to their base and let me know when it's safe to come down". ====

MAY12, 1949

On 12th May, 1949 the Berlin Blockade was finally lifted. But this was not the end of the airlift which continued into October. The last American plane flew to Berlin on 30th September.

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