Feeding a nation through combat airlift

  • Published
  • By Chris Rumley
  • 314th Airlift Wing historian
LITTLE ROCK AIR FORCE BASE, Ark. --  Last Friday, during a squadron ceremony, the 48th Airlift Squadron affixed the Berlin Airlift streamer to its unit guidon.

Col. Mark Czelusta, 314th Airlift Wing commander, placed the streamer on the guidon while Lt. Col. John Vaughn, 48th AS commander, and past members of the squadron including two previous commanders and two Berlin Airlift veterans, stood with him.

The story of the Berlin Airlift begins with the ending of World War II in 1945.

As the allied nations of England, France, America and Russia converged on Germany and on the capital city of the Nazi Third Reich, Berlin, they divided Germany into four zones of occupation, and further divided Berlin, which fell completely in the Russian sector, into four occupied zones.

These allied nations, once united by a common enemy, had very different plans for post-WWII Germany and Europe. The Russians wanted a weak, powerless and poor Germany that would never again threaten their borders. America wanted a free, democratic, and economically revitalized Europe, and believed a vibrant Germany was the key to any recovery.

The two military powers were in constant diplomatic conflict as the Russian delegation in Berlin, on orders from Joseph Stalin, resisted and ultimately obstructed every American attempt to begin recovery for Germany. The situation festered and brewed for three long years, building up in tension and increasing in animosity until finally, in June 1948, all semblance of the former alliance disintegrated.

Tiring of Russian stonewalling, the U.S. went forward with its own plan of economic recovery introducing a new currency in western Germany and western Berlin. Two days later on June 24, 1948, the Soviets responded by initiating a blockade on all road, rail and barge traffic used for bringing in food, coal and other supplies to Berlin from West Germany. Furthermore, they banned the sale of food from Russian occupied zones to the western sections of Berlin. Their goal was to isolate and starve the 2 million citizens of West Berlin until America completely withdrew military forces from the city.

People the world over, still weary from the previous global military conflict, watched closely, fearing the standoff could lead to a third world war. There was more at stake than who would possess the bombed-out ruins of Berlin; at stake was international prestige and influence on the future of Western Europe. This was the opening round of a new conflict between communist east and democratic west that became known as the Cold War.

According to historical research, several men from the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron, listening to the radio in their open-bay barracks living area on June 26, 1948, at Bergstrom Airfield, Texas, heard an announcer report that the Russians had blockaded Berlin. Someone in the group remarked that, "it won't be long before we find ourselves over there." The next day, not having thought much about the radio spot, several squadron members were stopped at the main gate by military police, wanting to know to which unit they were assigned.

When they responded, "the 48th", they were told to report to the flightline immediately. And just like that, they were on their way to Berlin. They landed at Rhein-Main Airfield in Germany on July 29 and flew their first mission to Tempelhof Airport in Berlin before the sun set that day.

The 48th was one of the first units flying the larger C-54 aircraft to arrive in Germany. With the four-engined C-54, the 48th could haul up to 10 tons per flight. That was almost 7 tons more than the smaller C-47 aircraft that started the airlift. The 48th flew primarily out of Fassberg Airfield, hauling coal, which made up 78 percent of the total tonnage delivered.

Records show that a pilot from the 48th, Capt. Louis W. Baker, flew the first American planeload of coal into Berlin.

An aircraft mechanic for the 48th TCS at the time, Sgt. James Painter, remembered hearing the constant drone of aircraft lifting off from Fassberg, "It was hard to sleep at first, but after awhile you got used to it," he said during the squadron ceremony Friday. "I got to where I could tell, just by listening to the sound of the engines, which aircraft taking off were mine."

One C-54 from the 48th won world renown, becoming the iconic image associated with the airlift. A photographer, standing among a group of children, took a photo of a C-54, with the unmistakable red lightning flash of the 48th Troop Carrier Squadron painted across the fuselage, as the aircraft approached Tempelhof Airport with a load of supplies. Thanks to that photo, the red lightning flash of the 48th, is still one of the most recognized symbols of the Berlin Airlift.

During the 16-month airlift, American crews flew-in 1,783,572.7 tons of food, coal and other supplies for the people of West Berlin. In all, they flew 277,682 round-trip flights in and out of the blockaded city. The flight from Rhein-Main to Berlin and back took four hours; from Fassberg, about two hours. At the height of the airlift, American and English crews were delivering more than 8,000 tons of supplies a day. They averaged nine tons per flight which meant they were flying around 920 round-trip flights a day. A plane was landing somewhere in Berlin every three minutes, 24 hours a day.

It would be a momentous achievement to maintain that level of effort for any length of time. In Berlin, in 1948, airlifters did it for 16 months, until they were bringing in more food and supplies than the pre-blockade levels.

Although the notion of breaking the blockade with an airlift was at first considered untenable, by May 1949, almost a year after it had begun, the airlift achieved its purpose. The Soviets, realizing the airlift was an American success and could go on indefinitely, lifted the blockade.

Thirty-two Americans made the ultimate sacrifice, giving their lives in the effort. During the Berlin crisis, airlifters secured for America a reputation of strength, resolve and compassion; for Western Europe, freedom and democracy. And so the 48th Airlift Squadron joins the ranks of units flying The Berlin Airlift Streamer on their respective guidons.

"This is a proud day for the 48th," said Colonel Vaughn. "We recognize that we stand on the shoulders of these airlift giants who have gone before us. It is with great pride and gratitude that the 48th will fly the Berlin Airlift streamer in recognition of the airlifters who won the first battle of the Cold War and saved more than 2 million German citizens from starvation."