Aviation And Airplane: 110 Years Of Historical Development And Technical Evolution by Ivan Jurilj

Author:Ivan Jurilj [Jurilj, Ivan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-29T23:00:00+00:00

Citizens of Berlin are watching C-54 approaching Berlin airport of Tempelhof and supplying necessary supplies to the cut-off town. (Photo: US Air Force)

On May 12, 1949, after 2.3 million tons of goods were delivered, within 277,685 flights, the Soviets decided to open land supply routes. Berlin airlift officially finished on September 30, 1949. During complete time of operation, seventeen American and seven British airplanes were lost in action.

Berlin air lift set the pattern and the procedures for conducting future humanitarian air lifts. Future cargo airplanes like C-130 Hercules, C-141 Starlifter, C-5 Galaxy and C-17 Globemaster III were designed exactly according to the newly learned lessons from the operation Vittles.

Ironically, many of the pilots who were flying Berlin air lift, only five years earlier had been dropping carpet bombs from their bombers on Berlin. Many of them who felt guilty for their past actions found redemption participating in this unrivalled humanitarian action in the history of aviation.

Air lift techniques learnt from Berlin air lift were perfected later during the Korean War. Air lift was especially important during the first years of the war when, because of great dynamics of the war, many ground units used to be cut off from the main units. In such situations the units would be recovered by air, or supplies would be delivered to the units on the ground by air. C-119 cargo airplane was able to deliver vehicles, heavy armament, and on one occasion even complete pontoon bridge to secure retreat of the ground unit.

Pacific air lift represented the longest aerial supply route in the history. Every day more than 100 tons of urgent supplies, including spare parts for airplanes, were delivered from USA to Japan for further distribution to army units in Korea. Returning from Japan, the airplanes would be carrying heavily wounded into USA, shortening trip to only a few hours; a trip that would take a few weeks by ship.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.