Berlin Airlift
Part 2
Virtual Operation Vittles
Part
1 covered the Berlin Airlift in general, in Part 2 we will cover the little
things that made up the Airlift, the people, problems, solutions and several
Virtual flights of actual flights. In
some cases we will go into more detail with behind the scenes workings and more
detailed explanations. Included will be
some short tidbits about actual participants and maybe a little humor.
On
March 30, 1948, Lt. Gen. Mikhail Dratvin sent identical messages to the
American, British and French members of the Control Council:
“
All military transport along (the single line) rail line from Helmstadt to
Berlin and on the (single) highway corridor linking the city with the west
would be subject to inspection by Soviet guards. All travelers, including Allied military personnel, will have to
show individual identification papers; Soviet troops will inspect all freight
trains.”
General
Clay reacted quickly, protesting the Soviet order and cabling Chief of Staff
General Bradley in Washington:
“Am
instructing train commandants to resist by force any Soviet entry onto military
trains if necessary.”
By
the time he got an answer, the Frankfurt -am-Main Express train was
en-route. When it arrived at Marienborn
it was stopped. The train commander, a
Colonel, refused to allow the Soviets on the train and it was shunted to a
siding. By 9:00 AM two more US trains
and one British/French train were shunted to the siding. With one exception they remained in the
siding until 8:20 PM when they were allowed to proceed — back to where they had
come from. The lone exception was a
train commanded by 2nd Lt. John Asbury. He allowed the inspectors to board and after a short period he
was allowed to proceed. Lt Asbury was
later tried by Court Martial for not following orders, charges were dismissed
due to the ambiguity of the orders.
General
Clay had decided that if he was not permitted force his way through, he would
suspend the rail service and fly the supplies. The 61st Troop Carrier Group, equipped with C-47's
stationed at Rhien-Main Air Base was ordered to begin immediately flying in
supplies for the American Garrison in Berlin.
Before the first supply laden C-47's took off with their 3 ton loads,
Maj. Albert Schneider’s 53rd Squadron undertook a special
mission. The 53rd’s C-47's flew empty
from their base to Berlin, where they circled the city several times. Then they returned to Rhein-Main. Their mission was to test the Soviet
reaction. This flight earned them the
nickname of “Clay’s Pigeon’s.”
Before
you fly the flights, you should download Scenery and Aircraft.
You
are Maj. Al Schneider and in your C-47, lead “FLT BAL 1"
from EDDF - Rhein-Main to EDDI -
Templefof and return to Rhein- Main. On
this flight you do not land at Tempelhof but circle the field once and then return
to Rhein-Main. You must take extreme
care that you do not fly outside the corridor.
At
the same time Gen. Clay ordered a military freight train bound for Berlin not
to stop for inspection at the check-point .
When the Soviets allowed the train to pass unmolested, Clay ordered
resumption of rail service. In the
three days that the trains had stopped, the twenty-five operational C-47's of
the 61st had flown 125 tons of supplies to the city.
Tensions
mounted again when on April 7th a regularly scheduled Vickers Viking
of the British European Airways, carrying ten passengers and crew, was on its
approach to Gatow airport when it was buzzed by a YAK3 from a nearby fighter
field. After the initial pass the YAK3
turned for another pass and collided with the civilian plane, killing all on
board.
Clay
met with the German leader, Ernst Reuter and his aide Willi Brandt and advised
them of his airlift plan and the consequences the German people faced if it
failed. Reuter, without hesitation,
answered:
“I
can assure you, and do assure you that the Berliners will take it.
There
can be no question of where the Berliners will stand. They will stand up for their freedom and be glad t accept any
help they are offered.”
Sir
Brian Robertson called on Gen Clay, to advise him that the Royal Air Force was
proceeding with its plan to start bringing in supplies to the city by air. Without bothering to clear his actions with
his superiors, Gen. Clay reached for the phone and called Gen Le May and asked:
“Have
you any planes there that can haul coal?”
“Carry
what?”
“Coal!”
“We
must have a bad connection. It sounds
as if you were asking if we had planes for carrying coal.”
“Yes
– that’s what I said – Coal!”
“
General, the Air Force can deliver anything.
How much do you want us to haul?”
“All
you can!”
Royal
Air Force Squadron Leader A M Johnstone led his 9 Dakota’s of No. 30 Squadron
off the field at Schleswigland, flew a farewell circuit of the field and headed
for the German Isle of Sylt on the Baltic.
This had been a favorite gathering place while they were stationed in
Germany. They circled the town then
headed across the North Sea to England.
Two
hours later, No. 30 Squadron put down at RAF Oakington. Johnstone’s plane hadn’t cleared the runway
before his radio crackled:
“Squadron
Leader Johnstone will report to the Station Commander.”
Johnstone
thought he was in the deep stuff for the flight over Isle of Sylt.
“How
soon can you go back to Germany? No. 30
has been re-assigned to an “Operation Carter-Paterson.”
On
June 26, 1948, a collection of aging C-47's scraped together by HQ, USAF
Europe, made thirty-four flights into Tempelhof, carrying a total of 80 tons of
food and medicine. The Blockade was
only one day old and the weapon that would break it was being forged.
We stay in Berlin!
A
similar airlift, quickly mounted by the RAF, dubbed “Operation Knicker”
sustained the British garrison during this short period. The British had by now, begun hauling up to
60 tons of food daily to Berlin.
“Operation Carter-Paterson” was becoming troublesome as Carter-Paterson
was the name of the largest moving company in England and the Soviets were
using it for Propaganda purposes, claiming the British would scuttle and run
from the city. The name was quickly
changed to “Operation Plane Fare.”
In
Washington, President Truman was being briefed on the situation and the
probability that Berlin would have to be abandoned. Truman interrupted quickly:
“There
is no discussion on that point. We stay
in Berlin – Period!”
That
night General Le May received an urgent cable from the Air Force Chief of Staff
which said:
“Approximately
39 C-54 Skymaster’s passenger and cargo carrying aircraft from the Alaskan,
Caribbean, and Tactical Commands of the USAF have been ordered to the Frankfurt
area of Germany at the request of the Theater Commander, Gen. Lucius Clay, for
increased air facilities to supply Berlin.
The airplanes will begin leaving their bases within 24 hours, singly or
otherwise as they become operationally ready for the mission.”
Until
the C-54's arrived however, the airlift depended on the good old C-47 and it’s
3 ton load per flight to supply Berlin.
Most of the available C-47's in Europe were battle worn, some still had
the invasion strips of Normandy, others the dusty rose color from the African
Campaign.
Pilots were in short supply,
if your file indicated that you had a set of wings on your chest and a few
hours of multi-engine time you were ordered into the air. Desk or staff assignments meant nothing. In
a few instances some even found that after flying 8 hours they still had their
desk job waiting. Even Gen. Le May flew
several flights.
The
following actual accounting of a C-47 crew will be your first flight with you
being 2nd Lt Robert Wilcox.
“Flight BAL 2". ETOU - Wiesbaden AAF to EDDI Tempelhof to
ETOU – Wiesbaden AAF.
Among
the first men sucked into the vortex of the fledgling airlift was 2nd
Lt Robert Wilcox, a liaison pilot with headquarters of the Fifth Supply Wing at
Erding Air Force Depot in central Germany.
Wilcox was given a set of orders that pulled him out of his desk job and
placed him on Forty-five day temporary
duty assignment to fly in the airlift.
His commanding officer, a major, erupted in anger and said he would have
the orders cancelled in ten minutes, but this didn’t work. Wilcox cancelled his own plans for a leave
in Switzerland and flew off to Wiesbaden.
On
his first flight into Berlin in a C-47, he carried 6,000 lbs of canned crushed
pineapple; on his second flight , his load was three tons of flour. Wilcox and his fellow pilot, “Nick ,”
Nicholson, got back to Wiesbaden at 10:00 PM. At the end of their debriefing, the operations officer told them
that their first flight the next day was scheduled for 2:15 in the
morning. They had a scant three hours
to get some sleep.
For
you to fly these two round trips as they were flown, you should fly one during
daylight and one in the dark of evening.
Teletypes
were clattering out orders in the headquarters buildings of the air force units
around the world In Anchorage, Alaska, the wingtips and tails of the C-54's of
the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron were painted a bright orange-red so
that if one went down in the Arctic it would be easier to spot from the
air. The officers and men of the flight
crews were issued snowshoes as emergency gear.
At 6:00 PM, they were called together by their commanding officer, Lt.
Col. James Sammons, who said to them “Gentlemen this is what we have been
waiting for.”
One
of the pilots muttered, “Maybe you have, but we haven’t.” Nearly half of the men had wives and
families who would be left behind in Alaska.
By 9:30 the next morning, the 54th was on its way to
Europe. Not knowing what to do with
them they had packed their snowshoes along with the rest of the gear.
The
20th Troop Carrier Squadron left from the Panama Canal Zone on
equally short notice, and the 19th Troop Carrier Squadron flew out
of Hickam Field in Hawaii the next day.
The men of the 19th left no wives or families behind. They flew over their relatives halfway
between Hawaii and California. Their
dependents were on an army transport ship sailing to join them at what they
believed would be their new base. By
the time the ship docked, the husbands and fathers they expected to meet were
already half a world away.
Here
you have a choice, you can be a member of either of two squadrons. You will fly from Anchorage or the Canal
Zone to Wiesbaden AFB.
For those who selected the 54th ,
your route will be: “FLT
BAL 3" - PAED Elmendorf
AAF, Anchorage to KTCM Mc Chord AFB, Seattle;
KTCM - Mc Chord to KCEF Westover ARB; KCEF Westover ARB to CYJT Stephenville; CYJT Stephenville to
LPLA Lajes AB; LPLA Lajes AB to ETOU Wiesbaden AFB.
For
those who selected the 20th , your route will be: “FLT BAL 4"
MPHO Howard AFB - Panama Canal Zone to KMCF
Mac Dill AFB, Tampa; KMCF Mac
Dill to KCEF Westover ARB; KCEF Westover ARB
to CYJT Stephenville to LPLA
Lajes AB; LPLA Lajes AB to ETOU Wiesbaden
AFB.
The
stop in Westover is at the Westover Air Force Base ( then - now Air Reserve
Base and Westover Municipal), the aircraft supply base, where you will be
loaded with aircraft parts and supplies.
“FLT
BAL 5 is described in the section on the Navy’s involvement.
On
the flight lines, air crews began to makeshift signs and scrawled in chalk on
the sides of their planes, “Le May Coal and Feed Company–Round the clock service–Delivery
guaranteed.” The operation began in the best tradition of seat- of- the- pants
flying. The confusion that Lt Wilcox
and his co-pilot Nicholson, encountered and the hours they put in are typical
of the early days of the airlift. Told
that the first flight of their second day on the job would be a bare three
hours after they landed, they grabbed one hour of sleep and dutifully reported
to operation at 2:15 AM, only to be informed that something was wrong with
their plane and that they should report back at 12:30. That flight did not go far, as the left
engine began to misfire badly soon after takeoff, and they were forced to
return to base.
They
were then told that their first flight on the next morning would be at 1:15
AM. Just after midnight, the time of
that flight was changed to 6:15 AM.
Wilcox confided to his diary that evening. “It’s getting so that we’re living on such a confused schedule
that we can hardly tell what day it is,”
In the
middle of the night, the headquarters orderly informed Wilcox and Nicholson
that all takeoffs had been postponed until 7:00AM due to the weather. When the pilot’s checked with Operations,
they discovered that their flight wasn’t due off until 2:30 in the
afternoon. Just before going to lunch,
however, they checked again because of the continuing confusion, to learn that
their takeoff time had been moved up to 12:30 PM, and no one had bothered to
inform them. Skipping lunch, they
dashed down to the flight line–and sat in their plane until 4:15 PM, when it
was finally loaded and they were cleared for takeoff. The following day the two pilot’s hung around on the field until
5:40 PM before they got off, but an apparently pleasant surprise was waiting
for them when they landed.
As
Wilcox and Nicholson came dragging into Operations just before midnight, they
noticed that a coffee and donut shop had been setup. Wilcox thought that someone was finally giving some thought to
taking care of the troops, but when he asked for a donut, he got a shock. The girl behind the counter sweetly informed
him that they were for sale. It was a
concession stand. Wilcox was
disgusted..
You,
Wilcox and crew, are listed to fly “FLT BAL 6" -
C-47 - 315928 from ETOU – Wiesbaden to EGOB-Burtonwood for it’s 200 hour
inspection. Upon arrival at Burtonwood
you will pick up a C-47 that has completed it’s 200 hour and return to
EDDF-Rhein-Main. Upon arrival at
Rhein-Main transportation back to Wiesbaden will be at Operations.
The
primary organizer of the Army’s supply operation was Brig. Gen Williston
Palmer. As soon as he learned that the modest early effort to supply the
military garrisons in the city was to be expanded to feed the entire population
of the Western sectors, Palmer ordered the Army QM Corps depot at Giessen to
move 300tons of assorted foodstuffs to Rhein-Main so that the food shipments
could begin immediately. Then he
contacted Gen Le May, who said his intention was to begin sending air freight
into Berlin at Max capacity, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.
“We’ll
be on a full wartime footing” Le May growled.
When
the city’s requirements were transmitted to the HQ of the Office of the Chief
of Transportation, European Command, Frankfurt. Army specialists matched the req. against the supplies in the
Port of Bremen and other locations. The
goods were then shipped by rail to Frankfurt.
There where no warehouses at the sidings. Shipments were stacked under tarps or loaded into one of 284 10
ton trailers, which were the size of a C-54 load. Enlisted men drove the trailers to the airbase directly to a
waiting C-54, where it was immediately loaded on the aircraft. The actual loading was done by gangs of
displaced persons.
The
airlift continued transferring in pilots from all around the world. Gail Halversen, a lanky, balding 1st
Lt from Bear River Valley, Utah, had recently been reassigned from a C-54
Squadron to one that flew the new C-74, but his plane was out of service for
maintenance. A flight he was scheduled
to make from his base at Brookley Air Force Base in Alabama to Ramey Field in
Puerto Rico had been cancelled, and Halversen decided to sit on an emergency
briefing that the Group Commander, Col. George Cassidy, called on July 10.
Cassidy
informed his men that four of their C-54's and twelve flight crews would be
moving to Germany almost immediately.
Halversen, a bachelor, was not assigned to the mission, but his good
friend Pete Sowa was, and Pete wasn’t at the briefing. He was flying a mission to Panama and wasn’t
even aware that orders had come down that would separate him from his young
wife and newborn twins. After a quick
call to Pete’s wife, Halversen asked his commanding officer if he could switch
assignments with Sowa.
“It’s
alright with me, but you’ll have to take the replacement issue up with Sowa’s
commander.” Halversen’s boss said,
“I’ll transfer you if he’ll agree to the switch.”
James
Haun, the Lt.Col. In command of Sowa’s squadron had no problem with the
transfer. Halversen and several other
pilots were stowing gear in one of the C-54's when Sowa returned from his
Panama mission and asked what was going on.
Halversen and his group arrived at Rhein-Main airfield on July11 and were greeted by a harried looking young Lt. whose first words were, “Welcome to Rhein-Main. Who will be the first crew to Berlin?”. Within an hour and fifteen minutes, Captain John Kelly and his crew were in the air, their C-54 loaded with coal. The remainder of the crews from Brookley found billets in an abandoned barn in Zeppelinheim, just across the now-deserted Autobahn. Halversen flew Co-pilot with Capt. John Pickering on a flight to Berlin at 1:00PM, the following day, carrying 138 sacks of flour, which was real close to the C-54's limit.
At
Tempelof, Halversen and crew hurried off to the snack bar in the sprawling
terminal building while their plane was being un-loaded. When they returned, they found the plane
empty and an operations officer looking for them so that they could be sent
back to Rhein-Main.
Most
of the pilots saw little more of the city they were supplying than Tempelhof
airport. Gail Halverson was an
exception. He delighted in taking home
movies with his old spring wound , 8 mm. Revere Camera ( I had one) and was
determined to get some pictures of Berlin.
Hopping a flight into Tempelhof during his off-duty time, he began by
filming the operations, with special attention to the planes coming in low over
the barbed wire fence at the end of the runway. Then he noticed the area behind the fence was crowded with
children watching the planes. He made his way over to them.
They talked
for twenty minutes in a mixture of Halverson’s limited German and with several
children translating in their schoolbook English. As Halverson turned to join the sergeant who was waiting with the
jeep to give him a tour of the city, he realized that there was something odd
about the childeren. Everywhere he had
been in the world before children had considered Americans as fair game,
begging for candy or gum, and the GI’s were willing participants, reaching into
their pockets and coming up with candy for the kids. Not one of the kids he had talked with through the barbed wire
had asked for anything. He only found a
couple of sticks of gum in his pocket which he quickly shared. He then promised to drop candy on his next
flight, but only if they promised to share it equally.
The
children agreed. Then one of the kids who was interpreting, asked how would
they know which plane was his.
“When
I get overhead, I’ll wiggle the wings of my plane back and forth,” he answered.
At
Rhein-Main. Lt. Halversen had talked the other members of his crew into joining
him in his plan to drop candy and gum to the kids. Capt. Pickering and Sgt. Elkins contributed their candy ration to
the plan, even though they had doubts about the success of the operation. Pickering said, “You’re going to get in a
big mess of trouble.”
When
they approached Berlin on their second flight of the day, Halverson and crew
could see the children waiting.
Halverson wiggled the wings and Elkins shoved three packages out the
flare chute at the Flight Engineers station of the plane. Attached to each package was a small
parachute, made from a handkerchief, which Halverson hoped would break the
fall. When they took off for the return
flight he could see the children again.
They were waving the handkerchiefs at each plane as they couldn’t tell
which one was Halverson’s.
Candy
and gum were available to Halverson when Gen. Tunner set up a mobile canteen.
.Halverson, Pickering and Elkins pooled their rations and continued to drop their
parachutes to the now growing crowd of kids.
On a flight soon after their third drop and just before Tunners
new rules went into effect,
Halverson’s crew was forced to rely on instruments to get in to Tempelhof, as a
dense fog bank had shrouded Central Europe.
No flights were taking off, so Halverson, walked over to Base Ops to see
how long a delay they could expect.
In
the corner of the room was a large table, stacked high with what looked like
mail. Curious, Halverson looked at it
and was startled to find the stacks were letters addressed to Oncle
Wackelflugel (Uncle Wiggly Wings) and Der Schokoladen Flieger (The
Chocolate Flier). Tempelhof Central Airport.
Shaken
by all the attention that their unorthodox and
totally unauthorized acts of charity were getting, Halverson hurried
back to tell his crew members, “There’s a whole post office full of mail in
there for us.” The three fliers
decided, then and there, to stop their parachute drops before the Air Force
disciplined them.
Overhead,
with the weather having cleared, the airlift droned on.
The
resolve of Halverson’s not to risk court martial, lasted only two weeks. They had noticed the crowd’s of kid’s were
getting larger every day. Elkins asked the others, “What are you
doing with your rations these days?”
All three of them had been saving them, so they determined that they
would make one last candy drop. It took
six parachutes to handle the pooled candies.
The
day after the drop their plane was met on one of its returns to Rhein-Main by
an officer in a jeep. The squadron
Commander Colonel James Jaun wanted to see Pickering and Halverson immediately.
“Halverson,
what in the world have you been doing? “ the Colonel began
“ Flying
like mad, sir” was the best Halverson could come up with.
“I’m
not stupid, what else have you been doing?”
Halverson
owned up to the candy drops.
“Didn’t
they teach you in the ROTC at Utah State to keep your boss informed?” Haun whipped a copy of the local newspaper Frankfurter
Zeitung from under his desk and invited Halverson to look at it.
“You
almost hit a reporter on the head with a candy bar in Berlin yesterday. He’s spread the story all over Europe. The General called me with congratulations
and I didn’t know anything about it.
General Tunner wants to see you and there is an international press
conference set up for you in Frankfurt.
Fit them into your schedule.
And, Lieutenant, keep flying, keep dropping, and keep me informed.” On their next trip into Berlin, Halvorsen
and his crew picked up the mail that had been piling up in base ops, knowing
they were not in line for a reprimand after all.
Ok,
you are Lt Gail Halversen, you and your crew will fly “FLT BAL 7"
EDDF Rhein-Main to EDDI Tempelfof with
a load of Flour, then return to EDDF with a load of empty duffel bags. Don’t forget the candy drop and the wiggle.
The new
procedures that Tunner’s team of Bettinger and Forman had for the operation of
the airlft were as un-complicated as they could possibly have been
written. There were three times as many
planes at Rhein-main, than at Wiesbaden.
So Rhein-Main was the American Control Center. Planes from Rhein-Main were dispatched at regular intervals, and
the planes from Wiesbaden were fitted in with the steady stream.
Each
pilot was given the numbers of the three planes immediately ahead of him and of
the two that would take off after him, and the pilot carefully noted and
reported the exact time when he took off.
The moment the pilot entered the corridor, he was required to broadcast
the identification number of his plane, and the precise time, so that the
planes ahead and behind could check the intervals between it and themselves and
make the necessary adjustments. In this
way, the stream of aircraft was operating on a steady, rhythmical cadence of an
airplane every three minutes. Had all
the planes had the ten ton capacity of the C-54's at the time Tunner’s new
rules been adopted, Berlin’s minimum daily requirement could theoretically been
met. There are 1,440 minutes in each
day, allowing time for 480 flights at
three-minute intervals. An all C-54
airlift with sufficient aircraft could theoretically carry 4,800 tons a day
into Tempelhof alone.
The
pilots flying into Tempelhof were given orders that they would land if the
ceiling was over four-hundred feet and the visibility was one mile; if it was
less, the mission was aborted and they would return to their base. Tunner let it be known that he would
court-martial and reduce to co-pilot anyone who broke the rule.
This
brings us to our flight. “FLT BAL 8" EDDF
Rhein-Main to LPLA Lajes AB; LPLA Lajes AB to CYJT Stephenville : CYJT Stephenville to KCEF Westover ARB;
KCEF Westover ARB to KISP Long
Island/Islip and the Lockheed Aircraft Service , Inc for 1,000hr
inspection.
FLT BAL 9 EDHL Lubeck (now knows as Blankensee) to
Berlin Gatow and return. This flight will be flown with an RAF Dakota.
FLT BAL 10 ETNW
Wunstorf to Berlin Gatow and return.
This flight will be flown with a BOAC Avro York.
FLT BAL 11 ETHS Fassberg to Berlin Gatow and
return. This flight will be flown with an
USAF C-54.
FLT BAL 12 ETHC Celle Army to Berlin Gatow and
return. This flight will be flown with
a C-47.
FLT BAL 13 Hamburg to Berlin’s Lake Halvasee. This flight will be flown with a Short
Sundeland flying boat. The flying boats
were used to haul salt to Berlin, as they were the only planes that were
protected from the corrosion.
A
suggestion I make is that, you fly all 13 of the flights, this is supposed to
be fun, so have at it.
This
has been a long session and now that you have completed FLT BAL 13, you are
finished!
If anyone
has further questions on the Berlin Airlift, contact me and I will endeavor to
answer. I have a ton of material, this
has only been a scratch of the surface.
Sr.
Captain Bill Odell