In the early hours of June 24, 1948 by order of Joseph Stalin Russia halted all traffic into and out of the Russian sector of Berlin at Marienborn, which was the russian checkpoint located nearly one hundred miles from the city of Berlin. Stalin also cut off all electricity to the city of Berlin claiming "Technical Difficulties". General Clay who was the Military Governor of Germany at the time contacted General Curtis LeMay who was the Commander of the United States Air Forces in Europe and asked him if they could start flying food supplies into Berlin. General LeMay agreed and the airlift started on 24 June, 1948. At the beginning of the airlift General LeMay had hoped to concentrate the men of the 60th and the 61st Troop Carrier Group at Rhine Main AFB which had one 6,000 yard runway. Rhine Main had been used as a fighter station after the war by the Air Force and was composed entirly of "Marston" steel matting.
At the beginning of the airlift there were three supplying airfields: Rhein Main and Wiesbaden in the American zone, and Weinstorf in the British zone. However, by the end of the Airlift there would be nine airfields. All six would be located in the British zone to cut down the length of time of flying supplies into Berlin. The only route into Berlin was by means of three twenty mile wide corridors across the Soviet zone of Berlin. Once the allied forces were over the the city, western aircraft shared airspace with seven Soviet airfields.
At the start of the airlift the main aircraft used was the C-47 and they first were to carry 80-tons of milk, flour and medicine into the suffering city of Berlin. The American name for the Berlin Airlift was first called " The LeMay Coal and Feed Delivery Service". The british called it "Operation Plainfare". The primary goal of Russia was to force the United states, Britian and France out of Berlin. As you can see from the map at the top of the page, western Berlin was comperable to an island surrounded by a sea of red which was the Russian occupied zone.
On July 2nd, 1948 Britians' Lt. General Brian K. Robertson demanded after confering with the U.S. and French leaders that the russians lift the entire blockade. On July 14th Russia informed the western powers that they no longer had any right to be in Berlin and that the blockade was invoked to protect "The economy of the soviet zone". The russians claimed that by setting up a west German government, issueing seperate currency and through other alleged violations of "Big Four" agreements on Germany and Berlin, the west had rendered "Null and Void its' Right" to participate in the occupation of Berlin. Moscow asserted that West Berlin "is in the center of the Soviet zone and is part of that zone".
The Western reaction to the allegations made by the Soviet Union was responded to during the Anglo-American, French meeting in London that began on July 15th. The Russians were told that no "Threats, pressure or other actions" could squeez the United States out of Berlin. Ex Major General William J. ( Wild Bill ) Donovan, Wartime OSS Director, declared on July 17, 1948 "The place to make a stand against Russia is right here in Berlin. This in not a Cold War. It is Hot as Hell...Their motives are just what the Soviets have said - to stop the ERP - and what they have not said - to drive us out of Europe. If the soviets want war they can start it 500 miles to the west just as well as here."
On July 17-19th 1948, Sixty B-29 Bombers landed at Scampton, Waddington and Marram England. Six RAF Vampire jet fighters reached Montreal from England on July 16th. Sixteen F-80 Shooting Stars reached Greenland on July 17th, bound for Germany just in case the Russians thought of cutting the air link to Berlin. During that time, General Clay was asked if the U.S. War Department had given him permission to start the airlift. General Clay responded by saying "I did not ask permission". So the Berlin Airlift was actually started without President Harry S. Truman's permission.
Also in July of 1948 General William H. Tunner arrived in Weisbaden to set up an Airlift Task Force which was independent of the Headquaters USAF. By October of 1948 the Combined Airlift Task Force had been born. Up until this time there had been a set target for the amount of goods airlifted into Berlin, but provisions under the CALTF was written a sentance the which allowed the airlifters to deliver the maximum tonnage possible in the safest way possible.
Soon after the C-47's had started transporting goods into Berlin the Air Force realized that the C-47 was not large enough to haul the weight required to reach their goal of 4,500 tons a day. So General Clay orderd 72 C-54's which was approximatly eight squadrons because the C-54 could carry much more cargo thus making it possible to reach their target goal. Along with the 72 C-54's 2,500 crew members were also brought along. By September of 1948 the Airlift was transporting 5,583 tons of supplies into Berlin.
In August of 1948 my father Sgt Chester J. "Bud" Vaughn departed from Hickham Field in the Territory of Hawaii. NOTE: Hawaii had not become a state at this time. for Germany. He was attached to the 1st Air Trasport Squadron 531st Air Transport Group. Touching down in Weisbadon Germany on the 12th of August and assigned to the 47th Troop Carrier Squadron. On the 21st of August Sgt Vaughn and 3 squadrons of C-54's were transferd from Weisboden to Fassberg to help fly coal to Berlin. By the 26th of August the total tonnage delivered to Berlin by U.S. planes had reached the 100,00 mark.
In October of 1948 General Clay asked the National Security Council to grant him more DC-4 aircraft to increase the tonnage of supplies. The members of the council chose to ignore his request but then President Harry Truman asked Clay to "Step into his office" He also asked Secretary of the Army Kenneth C. Royall into his office and stated to General Clay "I'm afraid your very unhappy, General, but don't be. You're going to get your airplanes.
In November of 1948 the Russian Military authorities threatend to to force down western aircraft if they flew outside the 20 mile wide corridors regardless of weather conditions. On December 6th a C-54 taking off from Fassburg Germany crashed within walking distance of the airfield and 3 airmen were killed. Undaunted by several deaths by this time on the 20th of December 1948 "Operation Santa Clause" began to fly gifts to the children of Berlin which totaled close to 10,000 children.
By December 31st of 1948 the 100,000th airlift mission was flown since it's beginning on the 26th of June. By years end nearly 750,000 tons of supplies had been airlifted into Berlin.
The week of March 12th, 1949 was a record breaker. In just 7 days 45,683 tons of supplies were flown into Berlin. Then, in May of 1949 Russia finally announces to end the blockade after 328 days. The Airlift continued however, hoping to build a 200,00 ton supply reserve in Berlin. Then in July of 1949 The U.S. and Brittian announce plans to phase out the Berlin Airlift by October 31, 1949.