Veterans to take part in Berlin Airlift observances
An area man and veteran of the epic 1948-'49 confrontation with the former Soviet Union when it blockaded the German city of Berlin, will visit that city and take part in ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of one of the defining moments of the Cold War.
Lewis Dale Whipple of Benton will visit Berlin May 9-16 and will be there for the May 12 anniversary of the end of the blockade. The Soviets abandoned it when free world efforts, led by the United States and the United Kingdom, managed not only to supply the beleaguered city with the food and fuel it needed, but also with luxury items and other goods. This convinced Communist leaders they could not win that loggerhead with the West.
"This is a very important date for the Berliners," said Whipple, who is vice president of the international Berlin Airlift Veterans Association. "There are scheduled ceremonies at the Berlin Airlift Memorial located in font of the old Templehof Airport on May 12, lasting all day. On May 13 there will a program at the Allied Museum with a symposium made up of three American and three British Airlift veterans at the Museum."
Whipple took part in official ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the successful effort. Those were held in June.
At this observance of the close of the airlift, there will be 50 airmen from Ramstein Air Base attending most of the ceremonies, for which 35 U.S Airlift veterans and 40 family members will be making the trip along with British and French veterans.
"There are three scheduled meetings with local school children during our visit," Whipple added.
The Berlin Blockade and the resulting airlift, June 1948 through May 1949, saw Western air services making more than 200,000 flights that provided 13,000 tons of food daily for close to a year. By the time the Soviets conceded and reopened land corridors back into the city that then was deep in a country divided by politics and armies, the flights were delivering more goods a day than had been delivered by rail and truck.
The blockade's failure was humiliating to the Soviets and led to a legacy in Berlin, three world-class airports in each of the former western zones of the city.
It is the 60th anniversary of the end of the Berlin airlift and veterans are in the German city to mark the event. Tim Marshall reports on the story behind it.
Major Crisp Jones (r), in charge of airfield organisation at Wunstorf Airfield
The Berlin Airlift was an 11-month statement of intent by the USA and the UK to the Soviet Union: "This far and no further".
Its success was a crucial moment in the Cold War; strategic thinking at the time was that failure to sustain West Berlin would have been seen by Moscow as the green light to roll on into Western Europe.
In the post-war era, West Berlin was a Western outpost surrounded by Soviet-controlled East Germany.
If Berlin falls, Germany will be next. If we intend to defend Europe against communism, we should not budge.
Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary at the time of the airlift
Three years after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet bloc and the Western countries were now glaring at each other across the Iron Curtain.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had decided to cut all routes into West Berlin in order to gain control of the whole city.
The Western powers knew that forcing their way through on the ground would quickly lead to a shooting match and, possibly, World War III.
Instead, they risked flying through three existing air corridors, gambling that the Soviets would not shoot down their planes.
The Americans and British had decided that this was a moment to make a stand.
The Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989
The then British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin said: "If Berlin falls, Germany will be next. If we intend to defend Europe against communism, we should not budge."
Between June 24, 1948 and May 12, 1949, the US and British air forces - supported by the French and others - flew more than 200,000 missions into West Berlin.
The city, with a population of two million people, needed 13,000 tonnes of food a day as well as medicines and other supplies.
The siege and the airlift went on month after month until Stalin blinked first and lifted the blockade.
It had cost a fortune, it had been risky, and dozens of people were killed in the 12 crashes which occurred over the 11 months.
Today, the RAF and veteran pilots will be represented at ceremonies in Berlin and at Duxford in Cambridgeshire to remember the monumental effort and the sacrifice of 39 British servicemen and civilians who lost their lives during the campaign.
An area man and veteran of the epic 1948-'49 confrontation with the former Soviet Union when it blockaded the German city of Berlin, will visit that city and take part in ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of one of the defining moments of the Cold War.
Lewis Dale Whipple of Benton will visit Berlin May 9-16 and will be there for the May 12 anniversary of the end of the blockade. The Soviets abandoned it when free world efforts, led by the United States and the United Kingdom, managed not only to supply the beleaguered city with the food and fuel it needed, but also with luxury items and other goods. This convinced Communist leaders they could not win that loggerhead with the West.
"This is a very important date for the Berliners," said Whipple, who is vice president of the international Berlin Airlift Veterans Association. "There are scheduled ceremonies at the Berlin Airlift Memorial located in font of the old Templehof Airport on May 12, lasting all day. On May 13 there will a program at the Allied Museum with a symposium made up of three American and three British Airlift veterans at the Museum."
Whipple took part in official ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the start of the successful effort. Those were held in June.
At this observance of the close of the airlift, there will be 50 airmen from Ramstein Air Base attending most of the ceremonies, for which 35 U.S Airlift veterans and 40 family members will be making the trip along with British and French veterans.
"There are three scheduled meetings with local school children during our visit," Whipple added.
The Berlin Blockade and the resulting airlift, June 1948 through May 1949, saw Western air services making more than 200,000 flights that provided 13,000 tons of food daily for close to a year. By the time the Soviets conceded and reopened land corridors back into the city that then was deep in a country divided by politics and armies, the flights were delivering more goods a day than had been delivered by rail and truck.
The blockade's failure was humiliating to the Soviets and led to a legacy in Berlin, three world-class airports in each of the former western zones of the city.
It is the 60th anniversary of the end of the Berlin airlift and veterans are in the German city to mark the event. Tim Marshall reports on the story behind it.
Major Crisp Jones (r), in charge of airfield organisation at Wunstorf Airfield
The Berlin Airlift was an 11-month statement of intent by the USA and the UK to the Soviet Union: "This far and no further".
Its success was a crucial moment in the Cold War; strategic thinking at the time was that failure to sustain West Berlin would have been seen by Moscow as the green light to roll on into Western Europe.
In the post-war era, West Berlin was a Western outpost surrounded by Soviet-controlled East Germany.
If Berlin falls, Germany will be next. If we intend to defend Europe against communism, we should not budge.
Ernest Bevin, Foreign Secretary at the time of the airlift
Three years after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet bloc and the Western countries were now glaring at each other across the Iron Curtain.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had decided to cut all routes into West Berlin in order to gain control of the whole city.
The Western powers knew that forcing their way through on the ground would quickly lead to a shooting match and, possibly, World War III.
Instead, they risked flying through three existing air corridors, gambling that the Soviets would not shoot down their planes.
The Americans and British had decided that this was a moment to make a stand.
The Berlin Wall finally fell in 1989
The then British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin said: "If Berlin falls, Germany will be next. If we intend to defend Europe against communism, we should not budge."
Between June 24, 1948 and May 12, 1949, the US and British air forces - supported by the French and others - flew more than 200,000 missions into West Berlin.
The city, with a population of two million people, needed 13,000 tonnes of food a day as well as medicines and other supplies.
The siege and the airlift went on month after month until Stalin blinked first and lifted the blockade.
It had cost a fortune, it had been risky, and dozens of people were killed in the 12 crashes which occurred over the 11 months.
Today, the RAF and veteran pilots will be represented at ceremonies in Berlin and at Duxford in Cambridgeshire to remember the monumental effort and the sacrifice of 39 British servicemen and civilians who lost their lives during the campaign.
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