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Information > Heritage > History Spotlight
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Berlin Airlift
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Berlin Airlift history spotlight graphic (U.S. Air Force graphic).
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On Dec. 31, 1948, Allied aircraft logged the 100,000th flight of the Berlin airlift. The airlift began after World War II when Germany was occupied territory and Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet zone. The city itself was divided into four sectors controlled by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
The Soviets tried to dissuade a West German government in the city by gradually escalating harassment of Western traffic to and from Berlin, which culminated in the Berlin blockade, imposed June 24, 1948.
Royal Air Force Dakotas (C-47 equivalents) deployed from the United Kingdom to Germany and flew their first missions into Berlin (6.5 tons for the British garrison). On June 28, the Air Force ordered C-54s from Alaska, Hawaii, and the Caribbean to Germany to reinforce the airlift. These were the first U.S. and British cargoes for Berliners. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade and by Sept. 30, 1949, the airlift ended.
The Soviets made no determined effort to disrupt the airlift. There are two likely reasons for this. First, the Soviets saw no need to interfere with the airlift at first, because they believed it would fail. Second, disruption ran serious risks of triggering a war.
A comparison with the recent multinational airlift into Sarajevo suggests how intense
an effort the Berlin Airlift was. From July 1992 to January 1996, 179,910 tons of cargo
was airlifted into Sarajevo. The Berlin Airlift delivered more than that in March 1949
alone, and did it again in each of the four months that followed.
The airlift had casualties:
USA: 31 (28 U.S. Air Force, 1 U.S. Navy, 1 U.S. Army, 1 Army civilian)
Britian: 39 (17 Royal Air Force, 1 British Army, 21 civilians)
Germany: Disputed. Most sources say 9 civilians; some list 12 civilians.
Types of aircraft:
USA: C-47s, C-54s. Five C-82s, 1 C-74, 1 C-97 (flew temporarily)
British: Dakotas, Yorks, and later Hastings. RAF chartered commercial carriers to supplement its own efforts, and charter companies flew a wide variety of aircraft. Australian, New Zealand, and South African air forces sent crews to fly with British Royal Air Force but no aircraft.
Sources compiled from the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Berlin Airlift Web site.
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