The Berlin Air Lift: Allied Response


Figure 1.-- The Allied response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin was simply to fly over it. Stalin never conceived that a whole city could be supplied by air. We do not even know if he considered the possibility. But to the extent it did, the failure of the Luftwaffe at Stalingrad no doubt led him o dismiss the possibility. But new planes like the C-54 Skymaster gave the Allies unpresendented air lift capabilities. It created a daily theater for Berlin's children who were fascinated by the steady stream of planes. The aircraft operated at 2 minute intervals day and night in every kind of weather. Full use had to be made of West Nerlin's limited air port capacity.

Ironically the people of West Berlin were saved by American and British pilots, in most cases the same men that only 3 years earlier had been bombing German cities and had reduced Berlin itself to ruble. President Truman was determined that the United States would not leave Berlin. The World War II arrangents gave he Westrn Allies every right to be in Berlin. President Truman was not going to start another war over it, but an airlifte was a different matter. Stalin did not believe that it was possible to to supply a large city by air. The Americans did not have the military capability of forcing its way into West Berlin. Nor would the American had countenced pulling the trigger. But the airlift changed that dynamic. It placed the onus on Stalin. He would have to pull the trigger to stop the airlift. The airlift thus changed the military calculation. Rather than the Americans having to blast through the Soviet zone to save Berlin, Stalin would have had to shoot down American planes to cut off supplies. Truman ordered the a massive airlift to be organized. At first the Soviets did not believe an airlift could support an entire city. No doubt they remembered the failed Luftwaffe effort to save the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. It soon exceeded all expectations. Even during the winter with terrible flying conditions, more supplies were reaching Berlin than before the Soviets had instituted the blockade. To Stalin's surprise the U.S. Air Force supported by the British and French proved more than campable of supplying Berlin. During the blockade in fact, food was more available in blockaded West Berlin than in East Berlin. Not only did the Allies have far more planes that tghe Luftwaffe transport arm, but he planes they had had far greater cargo capacities. At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies to West Berlin every day; by the end, those loads had increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day. The Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo in all over the course of the airlift. The World War II workhorse had been the two engine C-47. but now the U.S. Air Force had the the four engine C-54 Skymaster. The C-54 had three times the capacity of the C-47. Even after it was clear that the Airlift would succeed, Stalin was not prepared to risk war by shooting on the unarmed Airlift planes.






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Created: 9:34 AM 2/12/2018
Last updated: 9:34 AM 2/12/2018