, -- altitude and aan moving block of space. 40 to 50 airplanes were crowded in the narrow airway. byeful timing, controlled the most modern communications facilities, made the airlift work. >> that's how we could fly three roundtrips per day and provide putin fuel to a city of 2.5 million with a handful of planes. and even a supply for kids who waited on a certain hill for little vittles. ♪ 1988 to may 12, locatede soviet union west germany, preventing ship of

andd, heating fuel, necessary goods. from the international spy museum, a program marking the 70th anniversary of the berlin airlift, the ally operation that used cargo planes to bypass the soviet blockade. two historians present an illustrated history of the crisis, and they are then joined onstage by a 92-year-old berlin , who was a c-54 flight engineer. >> good evening, everyone. i am the executive director of the international spy museum. thisxcited to introduce program, dawn of the cold war: looking back at the berlin blockade and airlift 70 years after the last american flight. we will commemorate the berlin airlift this evening. first, i want to recognize our cosponsors for this event, and the allied

museum in berlin, where our vice president, our very own exhibitions and programs vice president is on the advisory board. you forlike to thank your support and coordination in organizing this event this evening. moment i would like to introduce the director of allied museum in berlin. charge, currently, of process the reinvention an of the allied museum, which will move from its current location in southeast berlin to a hanger in berlin temple hall, a huge complex built in the nazi era. brought him career to washington, d.c. he was a research fellow at the united states holocaust memorial museum, working on his phd project on the restitution of jewish property in germany.

dealttest publication with the memorialization of the marker see, the history of democracy in museums and memorial sites across germany. i would like to welcome him. please. [applause] >> hello. can i move this up? it is nice to be back. thanks that you all came. thanks for this nice introduction. thanks to your team to host us here in this magnificent building. of reinventing a museum, i really understand what you have achieved here. congratulations. it's a deep honor we have anna on our advisory board.

ralph isgrateful that with us. he is a real airlift veteran. i will introduce you shortly. is part of the weeign office of germany have to -- germany. we have a traveling exhibition on the berlin airlift. thanks to the foreign ministry for support of the events today and a traveling exhibition and the reception afterwards. also thanks to our closest partner in making this happen. the berlin airlift is a central

part of our exhibition, are coming exhibition in berlin. theave a huge airplane from -- which shows the originality of that event. the museum has an expertise of about 25 years. what is the allied museum? to bes a name that has explained 25 years after the withdrawal of the troops, of the allied forces from berlin. our museum was founded two years after the withdrawal as a gesture of gratitude from german people towards the allied troops, to great britain, france and the u.s.. these three countries are members of our museum, so we are a real international museum. our -- in a steer way. despite what happens in at thetional relations,

museum they come together. history has the potential to tell a positive story and say, that's what we have, you can never steal it from us. our museum is in charge to show the myriads of the western allies. in 1994.ition was today they exhibition focuses on how our enemies became friends. you would think, what about the russians, they also were allies. a museum became the museum in charge of showing the german war and the soviet union. that's the place where the

soviets had their spotlight. it's really a process or result of the cold war. we will see how it comes together one day. our museum is facing several challenges. and to face these challenges to become relevant really change place and really want to show in that hugets airport, one of the hangers. it's a big project, and you have to see, is this story we are telling tonight central to the german culture? it central to the culture in berlin, but in germany we focus on the nazi past, the past of the gr. tell theele--- positive stories like the airlift, it has to find its way in the memory of the country.

that's what i want to say. let me introduce you to the guests tonight. first is the associate professor and international affairs at the george washington university here in washington, d.c.. book, the author of a new which has just been published this week. her previous work includes "driving soviets up the wall. wall."." -- appeared on cnn, the history channel, the science channel, and bbc. it is nice you are with us.

a scholar of our museum and curator of the allied museum, and our expert on the berlin airlift. he has published several articles on this topic and participated in countless discussions. he gave such -- gave several lectures on the berlin airlift. a publicationted "apology on the berlin airlift." he is one of the founding curators of our museum and created several exhibitions. he was in charge of creating the traveling exhibition i just mentioned, and mentioned his aurney -- i can tell you it's really hard job. through his long-lasting experience, he know several veterans. he got in contact as well, and he said, yes, i'm coming. we are especially honored have

you here. you are in your 90's, if i may say that the some hints on ralph -- say that. some hints on ralph. became a c-54 mechanic and was referred to the 520th transport group to work as a transport aircraft. for 90 he was selected days to ride near frankfurt. performed 12 hour shifts outside maintenance work, and -- a very hard job. as a c-54 flight

engineer, sitting in the plain and caring for its functionality . if you have ever been in such a historic airplane, it is not like a plane today, it's really a challenge. this brought him to fly between frankfurt and temple hall airport on a regular basis. he was at age 21 during these days. he's going to meet his friends soon tomorrow. the floor is now yours. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, it's wonderful to be here. honored to be here, particularly with mr. ralph.

very happy, as always, to be with my colleagues in the allied museum in berlin. the historicalt background to understand what we before we haveut the high point of the evening. what was this berlin airlift from 1948 to 1949? why was berlin the center of the the center of the cold war? ii, thend of world war u.s. soviet union, great britain and france decided that their

treatment of germany after world war i hadn't worked so well. this time they decided they needed boots on the ground, which they hadn't done after world war i. occupationished for zones in germany. germany was not meant to be divided. this was to keep germany defeated and figure out what what, next. not only was the country as a whole divided into four occupation zones, but the was also divided into four sectors. the country was run by the allied control council with four from each ofrnors

the four powers. there was a deep contradiction embed it in the original plans, which said germany must be treated as a whole. each his owner commander could make his own decision. the cold war began, they had different views about what sort of political system, what sort of economic system, what sort of education system and cultural event should happen in their parts. they often could not agree.

berlin was run by these four military commanders. the key thing to understand is the geography of berlin. for the u.s. britain and france to get from they are zones of germany to their sectors of berlin, they had to get across 110 miles of the soviet occupation zone. that's where our dramatic story begins. germany after world war ii and the capital city was in ruins, the cities bound by the allies.

germany had invaded and occupied many countries. more than suffered the soviet union under joseph lost 27 million people. you can imagine how stalin felt about germany. his policy was one of revenge, definitely to keep germany week. he saw to take as much as he could. president harry truman increasingly was worried about soviet communist power in germany and eastern europe, worried about the economic situation in germany and europe,

and increasingly worried we needed to be concerned with the soviets more than the germans. churchill felt the same way, where he coined the start curtain, the term iron with communism and lack of anddom on one side democracy and freedom on the others. played an important role . britain was suffering after world war ii. in addition to picking themselves up again, they also had to be eating the germans

because there wasn't much agricultural land. foreign minister bevins felt they needed to let the germans start creating their industries again so they can produce goods for export to make money and feed themselves instead of british taxpayers doing that. secretary of state marshall visited joseph stalin in the spring of 1947 to talk about germany in the state of europe left thosell meetings with dallen worried, saying stalin wasn't worried about the dire situation in europe. marshall thought he was waiting thato get so bad in europe

they would all vote for communists. marshall didn't want that to happen. trumaned to president about helping germany and europe wither from world war ii massive marshall plan aid. $12 billion given to 16 countries to help them recover. in order for the german zones to profit to recover and from marshall plan aid, they needed to get rid of the old institute the new deutsche mark, so the currency

would be worth something and the economy could be stabilized. the soviets said this isn't allowed. we said you haven't been treating yours the same. you are not following the rules either. cognizant the west was so suspicious of what he was up to that the west was getting to plan for the creation of a separate west german state and to stop that stalin decided to the land and water it was theerlin brits who decided to respond to

stalin's blockade of berlin with no one thought this thegoing to work to supply 2.5 million west berliners surrounded by the soviet to supply with food and coal in winter, for books, for clothes and furniture, everything you can imagine. no one thought this would work. increasingly it showed it was going to work. they came together on september 9 19 48, 300,000 people came.

and the mayor announced we cannot be bartered, we cannot be negotiated. be surrendered to the theets, whoever surrender people of berlin would surrender himself. that showed how the morale was to write this blockade. the u.s. called it operation vittles, the brits called it operation plane fare. again, to remind you, deep inside the soviet zone, these planes were flying in three air zonedors into the western

of germany to the western sectors of berlin. here are some amazing numbers to tell you what is going on. eight thousand tons per day. there are 13,000 tons of , aplies brought to berlin total of 278,000 air drops. flew over 189 thousand flights to help the west berliners. every fiveanded seconds at temple hawk airport.

temple hawk was in the american , the main airport, where the main newseum is hoping to move. a third airport was built, the airport used as the main airport in the western part of berlin. one of the most beloved parts of , itairlift for children became known as the candy bomber . kids whondy down to

would give him their address. chancellor angela merkel honored in 2008 on the 60th anniversary of the airlift. i know ralph is going to see him tomorrow at their reunion for here outside of the airport is the monument to the showing the three air stalin finally in what he had failed a year heand after stopped the blockade. the allies continued the airlift

up until september 30. they wanted to have stockpiles of goods in west berlin. it was one of the biggest foreign policy failures stalin ever made. while the airlift was going on, nato was founded. and a separate state of west germany, a democratic capitalist state was founded in may of 1949. the things stalin wanted to most forestall, separate west german state and separate military alliance. instead he provoked by this

blockade, which so brilliantly was countered by the american and british airlift. i will close that the berliners ever since then have felt a strong solidarity to the united 11tes and after september 2001, when we suffered the terrorist attacks, tens of thousands of berliners went out on the street in solidarity with the u.s., morning for our loss and saying the day would stand with us the way we stood with them during the berlin blockade and airlift. think you very much. [applause]

>> good evening, i'm glad we can have guests of the new international spy museum. ask whyyou might often is the topic of the berlin airlift presented in a spy museum. this was the beginning of the cold war. i would like to emphasize there is a connection between the history of the berlin airlift and the colony. out explain this connection for a minute. during the year 1945, the power

used a huge amount of agreements. one of them was a result of a soviet wish because they wanted to prevent the traffic. in november they were talking about a treaty, concerning the or -- airf airflow corridors. this 14 page agreement was signed. the corridors were limited in length, width and height. they were physical corridors. north, from the zoneir field, an american and the other two core doors

leading to the bridget -- the british zone. american started to operate planes with good long-range cameras on those corridor flights. this continued during the berlin airlift but is getting bigger. they wanted to know what was going on. flightmuch easier in the routine of the airlift. planesoximately 500 inside the court or to berlin, there is one single plane taking photos and not even landing in and also those

reconnaissance flights continuing weekly. there is a connection here this evening. to the main subject, the berlin airlift. restart the life and berlin and the currency reform. the four occupation powers, great britain, the united states, france, restarting the day of life in berlin from 1945 onwards. especially in the first couple of months that did that successfully.

despite many minor problems, the country was a big problem. a huge amount of money in the flourishing black market. agree onhey cannot agreement and reform in the summer of 1948. the soviet union started the -- the-- the black-eyed blockade of berlin. brought -- blocked all routes between west berlin and the three western zones.

of june all land traffic and electric supply was cut off. here is the photo, the lorries queuing at the border. they were just standing there, couldn't get any further, blocking off all land traffic. and only the air corps door were unaffected by this blockade. it would be a reason for war. the air corps was the only agreement the soviet ever signed how the ally should get to their

sectors in berlin. no agreement on the rail. they didn't want to breach that assignment. the air corridors were not affected by the blockade. the western powers were in a position to provide good and food to their own military personnel. that would not solve the much bigger problem. how would they feed more than 2 million west berliners? beganree western powers -- it was an ambitious plan never before attempted on such a scale. there had been other plans. military governor of germany had an idea to pray with

blockades with an armored convoy. this idea was rejected because of a high risk of confrontation with the soviets that could feed into a new war. when the british had an idea that the combined air fleet would be able to supply most of the people in west berlin that was the only walk -- only option they could try. britisht american aircraft landed in an airfield with goods for people from berlin. many other flights followed. good -- nobody could predict how long the western blockade could last. to fly for roughly -- roughly --

fly roughly 2.5 tons of goods. it was climbing up more and more. you can see german work unloading from a c-54. most people think food was the most important fright. to survive, but a city needs energy to survive. more than 60% of the overall tonnage was cold. -- coal. coal for theof

whole winter of 48-49. and use goodsvive for at least two or three hours per day. the u.s. general was appointed force, the combat task the anglo american air fleet, which had its airport -- it's headquarter in -- he was the genius behind the operation and perfected the airlift. or --erican german american governor of germany -- morentinually requested and larger aircraft to use in the berlin airlift, and truman approved. the british royal air force was theirnvolved in most of military aircraft. the british government hired and paid for planes from 23 private charter companies.

the former enemy that sends rockets to great written just four years before. now supplied by former western enemies. basically the construction of the urgently needed third airport. in novembereted 1948. some 19,000 workers built in the u.s. airport provided the largest air fleet for the operation. the amount of cargo flown into islin as well as others

increasing every month. only november 1948 was difficult. the winter 1948, 19 49 was not as hot and cold as the soviets might have hoped. is that a laser pointer? it is a physical core door. each level, just 500 from the next level. on a day like today could easily spot the plane in front of him, they were flying so tight. a pilot was not able to land on and he has tompt

fly back with his plane and full load to his base. he's coming back with a full plane again. pilots did their best to land the plane. function bringing in a record amount of tonnage on the 15th to 16th of april in a period of 24 hours, approximately routine thousand tons were delivered. more goods were flown into the sea that day. allies were able to lend

1396 planes within this 24 hour average of onean plane every 62 seconds over a period of 24 hours. a credible and outstanding record. demonstrationque of a unique capability. this impressive number was broadcasted by the media worldwide and demonstrated the power of logistic ability through the air fleet. report anding growing reputation of the western powers were certainly part of the reasons of the blockade made 12 -- made in 1949. the airlift continued for on the 30th months of september, 1949.

we have the 70th anniversary of the last airlift flight to berlin. what remains are impressive numbers. that is another problem in the literature. you always have different figures. partners involved. the british accounting tons in long tons. which now you're talking about now? fleetglo american air decided to count american short tons. that's one of the reason why

different tonnage turns up. they transported that in 270,000 and 67% waserlin flown in by the americans, the remaining 24% by the british. people were flown out of the city during the airlift. occurredc death that must also be acknowledged. american., 31 ingrained on the temple. you will see a picture when this --ument was

there is the ceremony every year to honor those who lost their lives to the airlift. the berlin airlift change the relationship between the western powers and west berlin. a few years after world war ii, the one time enemies had mastered the political crisis i intensive cooperation. the population of berlin now experienced the occupied powers as protecting powers. you know this photo from the handing overairs, . bunch of flowers to a pilot she has no shoes. that's how it was.

at the museum 60 years after this picture was taken, we found both. she was living in switzerland. members ofne of the the association. was a remarkable moment when they met for the first time 60 years after this picture was taken. there were politics in this episode of the cold war. a serious conflict not by bombs and machine guns. solved bys was logistics and flying lorries. looking back at the operation,

it is still fascinating. i'm happy that our special not only flying inside the cockpit but also knows a lot about maintenance and the backbone of the operation. i thank you for your attention at the moment. >> do you want us now? here with you.

we heard you are joining the age of 19. you went to frankfurt. .ell me about your feeling now we have to go to germany. >> living here in this country, being brought up was so different. buildings were bombed and it doesn't seem like there were many men around.

it was real poverty, it was pitiful. our outfit had a good barracks. i can't complain. the old women would come to the to help with the laundry. they would take it home and bring it back faithfully. and you get paid in cigarettes. that was the money of that time.

they would put it in their pocket. see such ault to young man change. i very seldom smoked. >> you had another special currency. >> i went to paris with two kinds of cigarettes. >> main problem is most of the veterans were smoking themselves. you can see him smoking on virtually any picture. you usually had a good life.

you will seeew car a picture of you. dear member when i was taken? that was prior to the airlift . there were a couple at the time. when it was time to reenlist, they said we will put you in for staff sergeant. there was a g.i. bill rights. >> i attended boston university and took up business administration. i felt if i wanted to go back and as an officer, i have the

education and would do so. wife and my third year of college and got married. good tod it is not bring our kids around the country and all over the world. let them stay home and have a normal upbringing. and i've had three boys and their wonderful. they turned out great. that is what happens. i mentioned the maintenance being the backbone of the operation. i know the steps the airplane have to do. but can you briefly explain what the maintenance for ac 54 was during the berlin air left? -- air lift? hs spark plugs that have to be replaced occasionally because they go bad.

plugs one 144 spark kept us busy.it the heavy loads of the aircraft landing after landing seared the tires. we had to change tires all the time. maintenance, i think you had to inspect aircraft, open the ,ngine cowling, climb a ladder and at night with a flashlight get into the engine. check to see if there is any leakage of fuel or oil, which is a fire hazard, and also check the wiring and piping for security. that is part of the inspection. inspection,25 hour a 50 hour and 100 hour. planes are continually having to be taken out of service and serviced as fast as possible to get them back into action.

and these maintenance services were done up to the beast -- the base until one hunter hours. -- until 100 hours. hours werelocal 25 done at the home base in maine. there was another base near munich for a larger inspection. i got called in one day and they said you're going to be crew chief. you have to take aircraft to --.ch and they will puffen like. [laughter] ralph: i did stay there and i stayed up for dirty six hours just make sure the inspection went well. after that was over, they told me i had to fill in the logbooks

of all of the maintenance that had been performed. a i was tired but i had photograph and all the paperwork rated there was a lot to do, and then go back and start over again. there are a lot of stories. work is good. when your calm pushing something, you have a sense of a compliment. it is rewarding. -- a sense of a compliment. it is rewarding. the airlift is a highlight of my life. the american people were behind us and the air force and the british. great football game. you got to win. we kept up and we did. that's great. >> and the pilots were relying on you, that you did the maintenance. ralph: and i had faith in the pilots, blade make. one of my flying was in fog during the winter. all the aircraft had to operate

on instrument flight rules, not visual. they had to hear to -- they had to adhere to ifr. they had a gca approach they had to maintain all the plot time to keep the planes timed to turton -- certain altitude and certain distances apart. that's why they standardized on the earlier planes traveled at different rates of speed and they cannot do it. they had to organize every thing. groundafter while on the maintaining, like here in the photo we can see you working on propeller. after while, you enter the cockpit yourself and you join a pilot and copilot. right after about two months of being a mechanic they needed more aircrews so they were pulling everybody. me, you're going to

be an air engineer. i said that's fine, what do you do? all you do is what the pilot tells you to dupe your you're the third hand for the pilot. the pilot does the flying. the copilot does the navigational work. and the radio work. the flight engineer it sits in the middle, just like this. pilot, copilot. controls.nt of the the pilot will come into the landing and he will say lower the flap 50 degrees. you say yes sir, 50 degrees. they'll say lower the landing gear. you say yes, lowering the landing gear. open the cal flaps. you keep your eyes on the oil pressure, the oil temperature, the fuel quantity. anything that has to do with the operation of the engines. it is a team, three-man team. you work together. we did not have the same crew on

each flight. it just happened that you good call from flight and you might have a different engineer or differ pilot or copilot all the time. so you had to work together, teamwork did it. that is what made the difference. >> and there is one unusual thing you told me when we were talking as evening turned what would you estimate, how often did you fly to berlin. ralph: i really do not know. i would to about 30 times. because i flew to england for maintenance. and i flew back to the united states for maintenance. so there's a lot of different flights. i would think 30 or 40. i have 300 hours and they called me and and said, you have three hunter hours, you're going back to the field in massachusetts. i was having the time of my life.

sitting inple are the cockpit of an airliner large airplane and see what is going on and when you're coming in for landing, you see everything. on one flight. there is a road that goes by the tip of the airport, the autobahn. i did not give it much thought. one day we were coming back from a ride and it is foggy. you see nothing out the window. so we are coming in for landing and the pilot is in contact with gca. i'm looking at the altimeter, we are 500 feet. 400 feet. 300 feet. 100 feet. wings.m under the we hit the runway. gca says go around. pilots is negative, we are on the ground and rolling.

that was something. [laughter] >> even though you have been 30 times or more to berlin, you do not have the chance to stay in berlin for a few hours our day? ralph: no, i never saw berlin during the air left. we flew into berlin and begot of the plane. and we put -- and we got out of the plane. we put the landing gear down and open the doors and the truck would come up and unload. we had to stay there. that.neral changed the pilots and crews you to go for coffee and to the cafeteria. no more, you stay with your plane. 15 minutes and you're out. it worked. >> roughly 50 minutes with the time that a german unloading crew needed to unload a c-54 with 10 tons of cargo. on the other hand, the german

freuleins with doughnuts. ralph: yes they have a coffee man and some pitiful girls who would serve coffee. -- coffee van that is where we went. [laughter] line,something, to sit in 10 or 12 large aircraft ahead of vrooming, and you get that thundering feeling. i cannot forget it. i will never forget it. it was great. you would like to join us i think we are now open for questions.

either dealing with the lectures are the things ralph just told us. if there is a question, please go to the microphone. >> and i would love to ask went to. ralph: don't be shy. >> thanks very much for a terrific series of talks, and your service. the stories i have heard in the past have been that the berlin airlift landed in templehaus. and i'm surprised tonight to learn that it was landing at another. ralph: there were three airbases. it started with two airports us and temple hawk was the third. myth be honest it was a that both planes

[indiscernible] the fact that also a lot of the other, all the british planes and a lot of american planes let it also there. templehoff was that it was in that town center and every berliner could see the planes come again. faraway thatso even today you would need by car up more than half an hour. at the time there were no berliners around to see what is othering there or the airfields. so all three airfields had a lot of work to do with airlift. prominentas the most one because was actually in the town center. ralph: i have flown there in the day and was astonished to see how downtown it was. thanks for the excellent nation.

-- >> thanks for that acclamation. >> to the benefit of hindsight, we can see the airlift was successful. at the time, when did it become apparent that this crazy idea was axley going to work. -- was actually going to work. time wherere any truman or clay thought that it was not going to work and we would have to abandon the idea? from my perspective, i would after one fellow arrived and introduced the new things i mentioned, for my point of view that was the point where they knew it will work. maybe from a pilots point of view, that was a different question. did not get involved

in the politics we were flying and that was the job. >> but you are working on the ground, working on the feeling is not going to work? ralph: we never had the feeling that was going to work. you just do your job and do your job. >> and he made it work. ralph: there was no sign of failure. if it was bad, you went. if it was good, you went. >> but you felt it was sustainable, you could go on like that and it was not a point where, we could only do another three months. ralph: it went on for six months and then three month after, they kept flying stefan in case the russians changed their mind. andhey kept flying stuff in case the russians changed their mind. one point, we do not know about it those were flying, the resident truman sent 90 b-29s to england and let the russians know about it. these were adam vuong capable --

adam bomb capable. but they do not have adam -- them, the in russians did not know that. and that stayed there hand. >> because there were times when the russian pilots were buzzing the aircraft. ralph: yes they were. >> did you ask parents that? ralph: now not my flight. but the british elders had more problems. -- did you experience that? ralph: no but there british flyers had more problems. lousy. food was we had a mess hall and they had german people serving the food. and women taking care of the barracks area. we had a good. -- we had a good. good. they had

school buses, military buses that would take us from frank work -- frankfurt 10 miles to the airport. we shuttled back and forth from to frankfurt. we stood joke with the german drivers. one of the fellows would a hey is a dogpeed up, there peeing on the back wheel. [laughter] we ripped them. we had a good time. you have to have a sense of humor. to get through. >> thank you for the presentation and for sharing your experiences. i have a question. how was the tremendous speed of logistics received by soviet intelligence? >> they do not inspect it, that was for sure. i think they were hoping that the winter would stop the berlin airlift.

that [-[ was the major problem. especially november. when a couple of days or weeks where the weather was very bad. that is it. it was not so cold. -- fogg was the major problem. ralph: that helped a lot. that's way that encircle the airplanes around anymore. if you missed the landing, you went back. that kept things going like a big chain. russian do not think intelligence, what can they do> they no tests money planes were landing. it is in the newspaper every day -- what could they do. they noticed how many planes would land, it was in the newspaper. >> absolutely. and it fueled this image of the

west as helping, while the soviets have been taking things theof there zones, americans and british are bringing things into their zones. in addition to saving the island it was ast berliners, massive propaganda coup. and a real coup for the west, showing we were helping people. people who had just been our enemies. really extraordinary. ralph: that's america. >> which gets me to my question to you, you mentioned a few times your interactions with the germans. can you tell us more about what that was like, to be a young american in world war ii it has just ended and there you are. and you're meeting germans. what was that like? well, there was a bad feeling toward the germans come of course because of world war ii and so many americans had gotten killed.

but can you imagine the pilot who had been bombing the germans, who had been shot at, go through all that. they are the ones who have a problem in converting the attitude. and they did. charles whod, chuck flew 37 missions. he had to fly to help the berliners. and he is a great man. he did his duty. else?re anything >> hi, thanks so much. this has been wonderful. expensing a reboot of the cold war -- experiencing a reboot of the cold war and our relationship with russia is becoming increasingly sticky. is an encouraging story.

but i do nothing a lot of young americans know it. i do not know if young germans know more about it. what should america remember what shouldn't we forget, especially as these issues are coming about again? >> i'm not sure i get the question. >> are there lessons for us now? things that americans should take from your experience in the airlift, and remember now and not forget. ralph: absolutely. they say history repeats itself. if you're not careful, we're going to repeat the bad parts of history. america was great in doing these things. they should maintain that friendship and relationship with germany, hand in hand. >> what you think about the last question? >> i think it is a wonderful

question. i agree that u.s. german relations remain a cornerstone of the whole post world war ii era and the peace. germany is now the main power in europe. and it is absolutely essential that the u.s., for my perspective, that the u.s. and germany have a good relations in every way. so, looking back at this. of time when we helped them. germann with your -- unification in 1990, the u.s., soviet union, great britain and france, in 1990 after 40 years of division, those four powers had to agree to allow germany to be reunited. ii, theuse of world war soviets, the british and french were all rather skeptical about letting germany be reunited.

it was only the americans to come the united states, with president george h dubya bush that was firmly -- president george hw bush was pressing. can trusts ok that we this germany. i think that is overwhelmingly proven to be the case. in the 29 years sense germany should i think germans be proud of what they have achieved. and americans and germans, i think we always have to remember that we have been very strong allies and should remain so now and in the future. >> absolutely. >> thank you for an inter-chain presentation. two questions. -- interesting presentation. number one, what was the french

involvement? number two, about women, whether there any female pilots involved you mentioned you needed bodies, whether the women participated in the air left? -- airlift? ralph: the french contributive. -- contributed. a they had at j-52 aircraft. and his own. [indiscernible] and that was a key factor. we did little bit more. there was a russian radio tower close to the approach [indiscernible] one of the french officers went down there and the tower

disappeared. [laughter] they came out and asked, what happened to the tower? they helped. [laughter] don't forget, all that coal was so important to go to berlin. that coal had come from french mines. it had to be mined. had to be put on trains and transported to western germany. then it has to be put on trucks and brought to the planes. so they contributed it and food had to be available for the people, and came from holland and the netherlands and france. so they all contributed. >> the main contribution was indeed building the badly needed airport in the french sector. women, it was built by as i said 19,000

workers. roughly 40% of them were women. they were doing the hard work with a shovel and that is one point. the other, the french had indeed for aircraft but they were old chunkers with a load of three tons. americanr, the anglo said to the french, please do us a favor and leave those four planes on the ground. [laughter] because they would not fit. i showed you the stream of those airplanes and they were too slow. they would not fit in there. so they kept them on the ground and they were working on the airport. >> the other important thing to say about france and all of this is that france was initially closer to the soviet attitude from the germans. namely, revenge. as opposed to helping rebuild.

because of the occupation of france. so it was really the soviet blockade of berlin that finally, three years after the end of the war, persuaded the french that they should see the soviets as a greater threat than the germans. that was part of it. there was a political diplomatic feeling, the french were not initially fully behind this. the soviet blockade changed that. >> good question. >> i would like to thank this evening's panelists. i enjoyed your presentation. i was wondering if one of you may speak to how these goods were distributed germans in berlin after they left the airport. there must've been anime nor mesh logistical undertaking -- there must have been an enormous logistical undertaking.

who administered that and saw the goods got to people in need >> that was the berlin senate pre-after the freight landed, knowing are the allies were in charge of all the stuff that went to the berlin population. the berlin senate had to make sure that the call went to the berlin industry or to the people , with the 12 kilogram on their ration card. that the stuff went to the bakeries, so bread can be done. so that was a task for the managers. ralph: each family was entitled to one ration of coal per week. you had to be very careful. and it was cold. very cold out. >> course this was before the berlin wall was built and there

was some free movement between what was in berlin and west berlin. the radio and newspapers were more freely distributed at the time that after the berlin wall. inhabitants of the gdr know about this or think about this and how did it affect them? mind,supported to keep in for most of the airlift, the two german states did not exist yet. it was still occupied it germany. it was only in may of 1949 that west germany was created. and in october of 1949, east germany was created. the misnamed german democratic republic. they were not states. everyone was fully aware of what was going on. for one thing, especially with

temple half, hearing the planes sometimes seeing the planes, ,eading about it, on the radio the u.s. radio in the american was veryas, influential, announcing what was going on, telling the story of this. so all of the berliners could listen on the radio. .t had been an united city it mostly still was a united city. andle were moving around you had families in different parts of it. that did not change until the berlin wall was built in 19 621, completely different berlin crisis years later. -- 19 621. -- 1961. the newspapers published in the

communist zone of germany, i do not know what story they would have been telling, to spend this in some sort of negative way. that would have been pretty hard to do. but they certainly would not have been reporting on it a lot. the way it would have dominated the press and the western zone. factor or one aspect is that in the soviet zone, they offered east german ration cards for the western germans. so if the west german would go to is germany and register there, they would be supplied with a better ration card. but only less than 5% did that. of one fellow who is important for the morale of the berliners, he said we stay firm and do not register in the east get a hundredo grams of butter more. no, we stay in west berlin.

and put our faith together with the others in the allies. that was one response from the east as they were offering better ration cards in the east of the west germans are going to the east and register in the east. as i said, only a very limited percentage did that. ralph: could i interject something here? we care about the candy bomber. -- west the candy bomber hear about the candy bomber. not just the candy bomber. his results of dropping candy to the children had an important effect in berlin. the parents were under pressure and trying to decide whether to go with the russians or americans, but the children came home with candy.

the kids didn't know what candy was. they didn't know what chewing gum was. they would come home and bring this candy and show it to the parents. the parents would say, these americans, they love children, they can't be that bad. and it helped turn their the kids didn't know what candy was. attitude from the candy bar. it's amazing. hope: berliners remember that it the airlift to this day, was a foundational moment in establishing a close relationship of berlin with the west. ralph: and it started with one young lieutenant, dropping a few parachutes down to the kids. he got called in to his commanding officer the next day, what are you doing? you are dropping candy, you are supposed to be flying the airplane! however, the newspaper got a hold of it and when the general found out -- not the general, but they found out about the

results, what it was doing. he was commended and they started a program which was the dropping of candy. and other pilots followed suit. , the local towns, the kids were making parachutes and the parents and the confectionery industry, they devoted -- they sent thousands and thousands of pounds of candy, and they had a warehouse full. they didn't know what to do with it, back in germany. anyways, was important. bernd: it's a good a -- good example of the starting relationship. the united states, they asked for candy and sweets for the berlin mayor's -- berliners. tons and tons of sweets and candies was collected here, shipped over here to germany and dropped their. -- there.

we have a parachute done by an american family, they put on their address on the idea was the german boy or german girl that is able to get this parachute will write to the family and create a relationship. that was a good idea. if there are no more questions? [laughter] hope: if you have the energy now, that's what he was doing with the planes. ralph: my buddy, he got a flight into the temple half as a passenger. he wanted to speak to the kids who were gathering near the fences watching the airplanes. he asked the boys and girls, did you get a candy bar? the little girl said, no! i never know what airplane you are on. he says well, i tell you what,

when i come, i will wiggle my wings. and you will know it is me. known as uncleer wiggly wings to the kids. [laughter] another child complained, he said did you get any candy? no. wasomplained that the plane bothering the chickens that would not lay eggs. [laughter] bernd: it's a little girl and she wrote him a letter actually complaining that the chickens are not laying eggs because of the planes. many years later when she was an adult with her husband, they met again and for a lifetime, up until now, they stayed very

close friends. ralph: it lives on forever. i went to berlin on may 12 this year, at the invitation of the mayor. i brought my son from california with me. i wanted him to see and experience the love and respect and the memory of these people in berlin. they say berlin never forgets. and they still celebrate every year. we were invited in, and we had about 20 from the states that attended. and they had concerts for us. god, special -- anyways, they treated us royally. hope: well, because of what you did. ralph: because of what i did, yes. i went to -- did you hear about the restaurant in berlin? very famous.

we were about 20 and that restaurant. it is very quaint and very old and typically berlin. we all ate together and had a great time. when it got time to go, we had -- we were supposed to come outside and they would pick us up. the vans did arrive and i went outside, down five stairs to the sidewalk, and checked things out. this waitress comes flying down the stairs. and another waiter in the back of her. she comes to me and says, you are an airlift man? i says yes. she says oh! she hugs me. she said my grandmother, she told me when i was a little girl that in the past, american men come down from the air and they brought food to us and saved us. and she always wanted to meet a veteran. she was so thrilled.

you fit -- didid you pay for your bill yet? i said no, i was checking on the bus or whatever. the waiter goes by, gets the bill, brings it down, she looks at it, she said, i pay. lot of -- tells you a how the common berliners feel. everybody,o americans here. that's the heart. it's wonderful. [applause] bernd: if you have more questions, you can meet ralph outside, hope and i outside. hope: the sun. metal?you touch on

[indiscernible] the smell, the sounds. open exhaust, no mufflers. ralph: i can't hear. >> the sounds and smells. ralph: yes. >> thousands of horsepower each. hope: were you wearing earplugs? ralph: no. >> no gloves. ralph: bombs can drop on you. >> [indiscernible]

did it make you ill? ralph: what's interesting is you are sitting in this thing, you have the engines running, it is time to go, a big engine and brrr. it's a thrill. to hear the sounds of those engines. and they rumble and vibrate. you have 3, 4 little propellers. the bleedve to wiggle angles to get them all synchronized. then they hum. just beautiful. it's a great feeling. [laughter] creature comforts inside? ralph: the windows open. in the back, the cargo hatch, they have square windows. you take them out. the air comes through. it's cold. but you also use those to walk out on the wings. when the plane is parked, you

have to walk on the wings, a fuel truck will pull up, in the driver will get out and throw you a rope onto those, pull the hose up, and you grounded and you fuel the tanks. those things are about 12 to 15 feet high off the ground. you have to walk down. it's great. you know how they measure the gas quantity? they have a dipstick, a yardstick with little lines on it. you put in the tank. you go oh yeah, you've got gas. [laughter] i had a buddy, we went to his birthday party yesterday. he was at the british base. his job was to put out smudge pots. you ever see those smudge pots? kerosene lamps? he put them along the runways, both sides, so the flyers could see the runways at nighttime. that was his job.

it's important. everybody's job is important. the person who carries, unloads the trucks -- as a matter of fact, in berlin, we had a special session. during the concert, they called up three berliners. they were old gentlemen. they were those who had worked on the trucks, unloading. they gave them a medallion each. that was nice, 70 years later, to recognize these people. they did things in berlin, they helped themselves, they helped us. i got one too. they called me up. gave me a nice medallion and i appreciated it. they have a great feeling for the americans. it's obvious. let's keep it up.

bernd: yes. hope: hear, hear! [applause] lovely reception planned. bernd: just enough chance to approach ralph, me, or hope. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: the u.s. office of government after world war ii produced the short film "hunger blockade." to tell the story of the berlin airlift from germany's perspective. originally in german, this english-language version was produced for distribution to audiences in europe.