>> from june 26, 1948 to may 12, 1949, the soviet union blockaded west germany, preventing ship of food, heating fuel, and necessary goods. next, from the international spy museum, a program marking the 70th anniversary of the berlin airlift, the allied 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 airlift veteran, who was a c-54 flight engineer. >> i just got the thumbs up. good evening, everyone. thank you for coming out. i am the executive director of the international spy museum. i'm excited to introduce this wn 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, ar, and the allied museum in berlin, where our vice president, our very own exhibitions and programs vice president is on the advisory board. i would like to thank you for your support and coordination in organizing this event this evening. at the moment i would like to , introduce the director of the allied museum in berlin. he is in charge, currently, of managing the reinvention process for the allied museum, which will move from its current southwest berlin to hanger in berlin, a huge complex built in the nazi era. his academic career brought him 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. his latest publication dealt with the memorialization of the -- of democracy, the history of democracy in museums and memorial sites across germany. without further ado, 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. being in charge 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. she will be with us once we create our new museum. i'm very grateful that ralph is with us. he is a real airlift veteran. it is amazing to have you tonight. thank you for coming. i will introduce you shortly. our event today is part of the campaign of the foreign office of germany. we have also designed a traveling exhibition on the berlin airlift. seattle,ed through chicago, houston, atlanta. thanks to the foreign ministry for support of the events today and the traveling exhibition and the reception afterwards.

also thanks to our closest partner in making this happen. to put it briefly, the berlin airlift is a central part of our exhibition, our permanent exhibition in berlin. we have a huge airplane in front which shows the originality of that event. the museum has an expertise of about 25 years. what is the allied museum? some people say, what is the allied museum? this is a name that has to be 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.

they sort of steer us in a way. despite what happens in international relations, at the museum, people come together. we still live today the friendship. 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. our first exhibition was in 1994. today our permanent exhibition focuses on how enemies became friends. you would think, what about the russians, they also were allies. there is a museum in east museum , and it became a

sort of museum, first showing the german war in the soviet union, but that is the place where the soviets have 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, we really have to change places and we really want to show our big objects in that huge airport, one of the hangars. it's a big project, and you have to see, is this story we are telling tonight central to the german culture? it is part of the memorial culture in berlin, but in germany, we focus on the nazi past, the past of the gdr.

tell the positive stories like two the airlift, it has to find its way in the memory of the country. that is what we would like to do with the museum. so that's what i want to say. let me introduce you to the guests tonight. first is the associate professor of history and international affairs at the george washington university here in washington, d.c. she is the author of a new book, wall," whichrlin has just been published this week. congratulations. ar previous work includes prize-winning work, "driving soviets up the wall." she has appeared on cnn, the history channel, the science channel, and bbc.

it is nice you are with us. we have 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 several lectures on the airlift, the last in italy. edited one of his many publications, 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 i mentioned his journey -- i can tell you it's a really hard job.

he had to manage it from germany. through his long-lasting experience, he knows several veterans. he got in contact with ralph 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. some hints on ralph. he graduated high school in nashua, new hampshire. he became a c-54 mechanic and was referred to the 520th to work as aup transport aircraft. on the 26th of july, 1948, he was selected for 90 days near frankfurt. he performed 12 hour shifts

work, a veryenance hard job. october, 1948, he was assigned to flying status as a c-54 flight engineer, sitting in the actual plane and caring for its functionality between the pilot and copilot. 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. today he is active in the berlin airlift veterans association and he is going to meet his friends in wichita tomorrow. the floor is now yours. thanks a lot. [applause] >> thank you, it's wonderful to

be here. i am honored to be here, with mr. ralph deon. very happy, as always, to be with my colleagues in the allied museum in berlin. i'm going to set the historical background for you to understand what we are talking about before we have the high point of the evening with ralph. what was this berlin airlift from 1948 to 1949? what was going on in berlin at the time? why was berlin the center of the world, the center of the cold war?

at the end of world war ii, the u.s., soviet union, great britain and france decided that their treatment of germany after world war i hadn't worked so well. germany rose up again and started world war ii. this time they decided they needed boots on the ground, in germany, which they hadn't done after world war i. they established four occupation zones in germany. these were not meant to be permanent. germany was not meant to be divided. this was to keep germany defeated and figure out what would come next. not only was the country as a whole divided into four occupation zones, but the capital, berlin, was also divided into four sectors.

the country was run by the allied control council with four military governors from each of the four powers. there was a deep contradiction embedded in the original plans, which said germany must be treated as a whole. everybody had to treat their zone of germany the same. on the other hand, each zonal commander could make his own decisions. so you know what happened, the cold war began. they had different views about what sort of political system, what sort of economic system, what sort of education system , what sort of newspapers, cultural events should happen in their parts of germany and

berlin. they often could not agree. berlin was run by these four military commanders. the key thing to understand is the geography of berlin. berlin the city was 110 miles deep inside of the soviet occupation zone. u.s., britain and france to get from their own zones 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,

particularly the cities, which had been bombed by the allies. of course, germany had invaded and occupied many countries. no country suffered more than the soviet union under joseph stalin, which lost 27 million people. they fought the brunt of the war for the first three years on their own. you can imagine how stalin felt about germany at the end of world war ii. his policy was very much one of definitely keep germany week. he also sought to take as much as he could as far as reparations from germany and berlin. 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 feeling we needed to be concerned with the soviets more than the germans. winston churchill felt the same way, coming to the u.s. in 1946 and giving his famous speech in fulton, missouri where he coined the term iron curtain, with saying there is an iron curtain in western europe with communism and lack of freedom on one side and democracy and freedom on the other side. britain played an important role. the british zone of germany was primarily industrial. britain was suffering after world war ii. addition to trying to pick

themselves up again and get their own economy going, they also had to be feeding the germans in their zone because there wasn't much agricultural land. pretty quickly, prime minister atlee and foreign minister bevins felt they needed to let the germans in their zone start creating their industries again so they could produce goods for export to make money to get the food to feed themselves instead of british taxpayers doing that. developed, war secretary of state marshall visited joseph stalin in the spring of 1947 in moscow, in the kremlin, to talk about germany and the state of europe. marshall left those meetings with stalin very worried, saying

stalin wasn't worried about the dire situation in europe. they should be patient. marshall thought he was waiting for things to get so bad in europe that they would all vote for communists. marshall didn't want that to happen. he came back to the u.s. and talked to president truman about helping germany and europe recover from world war ii with massive marshall plan aid. ultimately, $12 billion given to 16 countries to help them recover. begin come to what would the crisis in berlin. in order for the german zones to be able to recover and profit from marshall plan aid, they

needed to get rid of the old currency and 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. you can't introduce your own currency, we are supposed to be treating our germany this say -- the same. we said you haven't been treating yours the same. the communist party and taking things out of your zone. you are not following the rules either. stalin was also cognizant that the west was so suspicious of what he was up to that the west was beginning to plan for the creation of a separate west german state. to stop that stalin decided to , blockade the land and water

to berlin. bevin and brits with general clay in the united states who decided to respond to stalin's blockade of berlin with an airlift. no one thought this was going to work to be able to supply the 2.5 million west berliners surrounded by the soviet communist zone, to supply them coal in air with food, the winter, books for schools, clothes and furniture, everything you can imagine. no one thought this would work. but increasingly it showed it was going to work. mayorrliners, under their

, came together in a mass on september 9, 1948. 300,000 people came. announced, "we cannot be bartered, we cannot be negotiated, we berliners. we cannot be surrendered to the soviets. whoever surrender the people of berlin would surrender himself. ."himself that showed how the morale of the lenders was to fight this blockade. the u.s. called it operation vittles, the brits called it operation plane fare. the germans called it the air bridge. again, to remind you, deep

inside the soviet zone, these planes were flying in three air the western zones of germany to the western sectors of berlin. here are some amazing numbers to tell you what went on. at the beginning of the airlift, they were delivering 5000 tons a day. by the end of the airlift a year later, it was 8000 tons per day. on easter sunday, 1949, there were 13,000 tons of supplies brought to berlin. 278,000 air drops. with people like ralph flew over 189,000 flights

to help the west berliners. at the height of the airlift, one plane landed every 45 seconds at temple hawk airport. here you see the three airports in the western sectors. temple hawk was in the american sector, the main airport, where our allied museum is hoping to move. you see the british sector to the left. during the airlift, a third airport was built, the airport still used as the main airport in the western part of berlin. it was built during this airlift. one of the most beloved parts of the airlift for children, some

people in particular, a pilot became known as the candy bomber. he dropped little parachutes of candy down to kids, who would write to him and give him their address. they would say please, next time, could you get -- could you fly over my street? i did not get any candy last time. chancellor angela merkel honored him in 2008 on the 60th anniversary of the airlift. i know ralph is going to see him tomorrow in kansas at their reunion for the airlift. hawkoutside of temple airport is the monument to the airlift showing the three air corridors. stalin finally realized he had failed in what he wanted and

on may 12, after almost a year, he stopped the blockade. the allies continued the airlift up until september 30. the anniversary will be next week. they wanted to have stockpiles of goods in west berlin. in case the soviets did it again. failure, it was one of the biggest foreign policy failures stalin ever made. he got the exact opposite of what he set out to do. while the airlift was going on, nato was founded. the nato, founded right here in washington, d.c., and a separate state of west germany, a democratic capitalist state was founded in may of 1949.

two of the things stalin wanted to most forestall, separate west german state and a western military alliance. instead he provoked by this blockade, which so brilliantly was countered by the american and british airlift. i will close with this final thought that since then, the berliners ever since then have felt a strong solidarity to the united states. after september 11, 2001, when we suffered the terrorist attacks, tens of thousands of berliners went out on the street in solidarity with the u.s., mourning for our loss and saying they 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 be guests of the new international spy museum. this new, fascinating vocation in washington today. some of you might ask yourselves, why is the topic of the berlin airlift presented in the spy museum? first of all, as was explained this was the beginning of the , cold war. second, i would like to emphasize there is a connection between the history of the berlin airlift and

reconnaissance. i will explain this connection for a minute before i start my lecture. during the year 1945, the four powers produced a huge amount of agreements. one of them was a result of a soviet wish for an air agreement because they wanted to prevent air traffic over there zone. in november they were talking about a treaty, concerning the creation of the system of air in thers to be used respective zones of occupation in germany. in 1946, this 14 page agreement was signed. established the installation of three air corridors from the western zone into berlin. the corridors were limited in length, width and height. they were physical corridors. you see a flightline here, and

the corridors. one is from the north, from the big airfields in the american zone, and the other two lead into the british zone. this is the way the american and british were entering the city by air. americans started to operate planes with good long-range cameras on those corridor flights. this reconnaissance operation continued during the berlin airlift, and did not only continue but was getting bigger. the threat of a war in 1948 was bigger than in 1946, and they wanted to know what was going on in the soviet zone. it was much easier to fill in the reconnaissance planes in the airlift. in a daily bunch of approximately 500 planes inside berlin, you to

would not notice there was a single plane taking photos and not even landing in berlin. the corridors remained, and also those reconnaissance flights over the territory continued weekly for more than 40 years until germany's unification in 1990. as you can see, there is a connection between the berlin airlift and our location this evening. back to the main subject, the berlin airlift. the 15-20 minutes as just enough to tell you the basics. some of the subjects hope did not touch on already. restart the life of berlin and the currency reform. the four occupation powers, great britain, the united states, france, and the soviet union, restarting the daily life in berlin from 1945 onwards.

especially in the first couple of months, they did that very successfully together. 1946, how toin deal with germany drifted apart. despite many minor problems, the countries at home was a big problem. there had been a huge amount of money lost, there was a lack of acceptance for the currency and then a flourishing black market made reform a matter of urgency. agree onthey could not an agreement in the summer of 1948. as a result of currency reform in the western zone of germany, the soviet union started the blockade of berlin. they did not want the new currency in berlin. june 29,une 19 and

1948, the soviet blocked all andes by land, real, waterway -- rail, and waterway between west berlin and the three western zones. on the 24th of june, all land traffic and electric supply was cut off. here is the photo, the lorries queuing at the border. it doesn't matter what the load was, it could be fresh food or whatever. they were just standing there, couldn't get any further, blocking off all land traffic. and only the air corridors on watch -- on which the powers agreed were unaffected by this blockade. the interception of an allied airplane in a corridor would be

the reason for a war because the air corridors, believe it or not, was the only agreement the soviets ever signed, how the allies should get to their sectors in berlin. rail, land, on the and the air agreement was the only thing they signed. 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 food and goods to their own military personal in the blockaded city but that would not solve the much bigger problem. how should they feed more than 2 million west berliners? the three western powers began in airlift to bill and -- to berlin to supply the inhabitants. it was an ambitious plan never before attempted on such a scale.

it was unclear whether it would work. of course, there had been other plans. general clay, the military governor of germany, had the idea to break the blockades with an armored convoy. this was rejected by washington because of a high risk of confrontation with the soviets that could lead into a new war. when the british had an idea americanmbined anglo air fleet would be able to supply most of the people in west berlin, that was the only option they could try. now the airlift starts. on june 28th, the first american and british aircraft landed in an airfield with goods for people of berlin. many other flights followed. nobody could predict how long the blockade could last. for that reason, the western powers initially planned to

supply the city into the winter. the aim in the first weeks was thousand tons 4.5 of goods to the city. it was climbing up more and more. thehis picture, from airfield, you can see german workers unloading sacks from a c-54. most people think food was the most important fight. that is not true. people need food to survive, but a city needs energy to survive. more than 60% of the overall tonnage of the berlin airlift was coal.

12y were able to receive kilograms of coal on a ration card for the whole winter of 48-49. the rest was used to create energy for berlin industries so they could survive and produce goods for at least two or three hours per day. in late summer, 1948, a u.s. general was appointed to head the combat airlift task force, the anglo american air fleet, a headquarters in germany. he was a logistic genius behind the operation and perfected the airlift. the american military governor insured theclay, necessary political support of president truman, and he continually requested more and larger aircraft to use in the berlin airlift, and truman approved of them. the british royal air force was only involved in most of their

military transport aircraft. the british government also hired and paid for planes from 23 private charter companies. the former enemy that sent rockets to great britain just four years before was now supplied by former western enemies. the part of the french forces was basically the construction of the urgently needed third airport in the french sector. it was completed in november 1948. some 19,000 workers built it in record time, just three months. -54 transport plane the u.s. airport provided , the largest air fleet for the operation. more than 400 planes were

involved in the operation. the amount of cargo flown into berlin was increasing every month. only november 1948 was difficult because of heavy fog. 1949 was not 1948, as cold as the soviets might have hoped. hair you can see one of general turner's ideas -- is that a laser pointer? i mentioned the air corridor, and it is a physical corridor. it was turner's idea that he split it on five levels. each level just 500 from the next level. a plane in the middle on a day like today could easily spot the plane in front of him or above

him. they were flying so tight. was axt idea turner had pilot was not able to land on the first attempt because of weather, could not say let me in there some way. he has to fly back with his plane and full load to his base. the pilot, you could do that once or twice, and he's coming back with a full plane again. pilots did their best to land the plane. -- the plane on the first attempt. functioned well in spring of 1949, bringing in record amount of tonnage on the 15th to 16th of april in a period of 24 hours, approximately 30,000 tons were delivered. more goods were flown into the

sea on that day than had arrived before the blockade on road, rail, and air together. landllies were able to 1396 planes within this 24 hour period, this is an average of one plane every 62 seconds over a period of 24 hours. an incredible and outstanding record. this was a unique demonstration of the allies capability. this impressive number was broadcasted by the media worldwide and demonstrated the power of the logistic ability of the anglo american air fleet. the continuing positive reporting and the growing reputation of the western powers were certainly part of the reason for the lifting of the soviet blockade on may 12, 1949.

despite the end of the blockade, for a couple of reasons, the airlift continued for another four months into late summer, 1949. 1949, 30th of september, the last u.s. plane of operation victuals landed in berlin. next week we have the 70th anniversary of the last airlift flight to berlin. what remains are impressive numbers. 2.1 metric tons. that is another problem in the literature. you always have different figures. for example, metric ton. we have three partners involved. the americans, the british, and the germans. the germans are counting tons in metric tons. the british accounting tons in long tons. the americans are counting tons in short tons. which ton are you talking about now?

the anglo american air fleet decided to count american short tons. that makes it different to the german metric ton. why inone of the reasons the literature, different tonnage turns up. they transported that in 270,000 67% wasto berlin, and flown in by the americans, the remaining 24% by the british. also 166,000 people were flown out of the city during the airlift. the tragic death that occurred during the 15 month airlift must also be acknowledged. 39 british, 31 american. at least eight germans also lost their lives in accidents. engraved at ae

memorial in berlin. we just saw a picture and you will see a picture when this monument was revealed. there is a ceremony every year to honor those who lost their lives during the airlift. the berlin airlift changed the relationship between the western powers and west berlin. just a few years after world war ii, the one time enemies had mastered the political crisis by intensive cooperation. the population of berlin now experienced the occupied powers as protecting powers. you know this photo from the poster downstairs, this is an 11-year-old handing over a bunch of flowers to a pilot. you might night notice on first

glimpse, she has no shoes. that's how it was. not every girl or boy on the berlin streets in 1948 had shoes. at the museum 60 years after this picture was taken, we found both. we found her. she was living in switzerland. obviously oneim, of the members of the airlift association. we brought them together after 60 years and that was a remarkable moment when they met for the first time 60 years after this picture was taken. for the world politics during this first episode of the cold war, there was also a great lou print. -- blueprint. a serious conflict was not solved by bombs and machine guns. this crisis was solved by logistics and flying lorries.

c-54,ort planes like the without firing a single shot. looking back at the operation, it is still fascinating. perfect logistics, including the maintenance of the planes. i'm happy that our special , was notay, ralph deon only flying inside the cockpit but also knows a lot about maintenance and the backbone of the operation. ralph and i will know -- will now talk about his work in the airlift and i thank you for your attention for the moment. thank you. [applause] all right, if you could please come up.

do you want to join us now? >> i will join you after. >> please. ralph, we already heard that you are joining at the age of 19, and after two years -- >> just a young guy. >> after two years in 1948, you were sent to frankfurt. tell me about your feeling. andare young man, 21 years, the war was just over three years and now you have to go to germany. >> just out of high school almost. living here in this country, being brought up was so different. it was gutted in germany,

berlin. buildings were bombed and it not manyke there were men around. it was real poverty, it was pitiful. in frankfurt, our outfit had a good barracks. it used to be ss barracks. we were well-off. other veterans were in tents and mud. i can't complain. there was a gate around the barracks area. the old women would come to the gate begging to help with the laundry. we would give the laundry to the people there and they would take it home and bring it back faithfully. you depended on them and you could trust them. good people. and they got paid in cigarettes. that was the money of that time.

cigarettes. around, theywalk butt and save it and put it in their pocket. it is difficult for a young man to see such a change. >> were you smoking at the time? >> i very seldom smoked. >> you had another special currency. a couple ofuy cartons of cigarettes and use them as currency. two cartonsris with of cigarettes. [laughter] main problem is most of the veterans were smoking themselves. by the way, clay was a heavy smoker. you can see him smoking on virtually any picture.

but if you are non-smoking at the time, you usually had a good life in germany or are saving. i knew a gentleman who bought a new car just was cigarettes because he did not smoke. here we see a picture of you. do you remember when it was taken? >> i think that was in westover field during the wintertime. that was prior to the airlift. time?a corporal at that two stripes. i got to be a sergeant. when it was time to reenlist, they said we will put you in for staff sergeant. you will stay here. i said the promise is not good enough. there was a g.i. bill of rights at that time and i decided to go to

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. i met my wife and my third year of college and got married. i decided it is not good to 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 lift?

ralph: each engine has spark plugs that have to be replaced occasionally because they go bad. there were 144 spark plugs on the c-54. so it kept us busy. 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 engine 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. they have a 25 hour inspection,

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 base until 100 hours. ralph: the local 25 hours were 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 munich. i did stay there and i stayed up

for 36 hours just to 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. so i was tired but i had a 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 you are accomplishing something, you have a sense of accomplishment. it is rewarding. the airlift is a highlight of my life. the american people were behind us and the air force and the british. it was great, 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. -- believe me. 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 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 c-54. the earlier planes traveled at different rates of speed and they could not do it. they had to organize every thing. after a while on the ground, 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.

ralph: right after about two months of being a mechanic they needed more aircrews so they were pulling everybody. they said to 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 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. pilot, copilot. and in front of the controls. 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

said, you have 300 hours, you going back to massachusetts. i was having the time of my life. how many people are sitting in 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. and zoom under the wings. 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 -- and we got on the plane and we put the locks in the landing gear. the doors were open and the truck would come up and unload. we would have to stay there. the general changed that. 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 car, and some beautiful girls who would serve coffee. [laughter] duty calls. it is something, to sit in line, 10 or 12 large aircraft ahead of you, all vrooming, and you get that thundering feeling. i cannot forget it. i will never forget it. it was great. >> yes so if 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.

>> to be honest it was a myth 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. the idea behind templehoff was that it was in that town center and every berliner could see the planes come again. the other is so faraway that 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 happening there or the other airfields.

so all three airfields had a lot of work to do with airlift. but this was the most prominent 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 that acclamation. -- thanks for that exclamation -- explanation. >> we all have the benefit of hindsight. we can see the airlift was successful. at the time, when did it become apparent that this crazy idea was going to work? and was there any time where truman or clay thought that it was not going to work and we would have to abandon the idea? >> from my perspective, i would say 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. ralph: we 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 you 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 stuff in and case the russians changed their mind. one point, we do not know about it those were flying, the

president truman sent 90 b-29s to england and let the russians know about it. but they do not have atom bombs in them, the 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 -- the british soldiers had more problems. i was comfortable in frankfurt. and the food was lousy. we had a mess hall and they had german people serving the food.

and women taking care of the barracks area. we had it good. they had school buses, military buses that would take us from frankfurt 10 miles to the airport. we shuttled back and forth from rhein main to frankfurt. we stood joke with the german drivers. -- we used to joke with the german drivers all the time. one of the fellows would a hey driver, speed up, there is a dog 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 did not expect it, that was for sure. i think they were hoping that the winter would stop the berlin airlift. i mentioned that was the major problem. especially november. when a couple of days or weeks where the weather was very bad. that is it. fog 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. >> and i do not think russian intelligence, what can 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 out of there zones, the americans and british are bringing things into their zones. in addition to saving the island of 2.5 west berliners, it was a 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? ralph: 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. i've a friend, chuck charles who flew 37 missions. he had to fly to help the berliners. and he is a great man. he did his duty. is there anything else? >> hi, thanks so much. this has been wonderful.

as we are expensing a reboot of the cold war -- experiencing a reboot of the cold war and our relationship with russia is becoming increasingly sticky. this 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 about this? what shouldn't we forget, especially as these issues are coming about again? >> i'm not sure i get the question. 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. and again with your -- german 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.

and because of world war ii, the 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. that it was ok that we can trust this germany. i think that is overwhelmingly proven to be the case. case. in the 29 years sense germany -- 29 years sense germany united. since germany united. i think they should be proud of what they 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 very much for an interesting presentation. number one, what was the french involvement? number two, about women, whether there were any female pilots involved? you mentioned you needed bodies, whether the women participated in the airlift? ralph: the french contributed. they had at j-52 aircraft. [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. and concerning 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. in october, the anglo american 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, landed, noe freight longer the allies were in charge of it. 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 berlin 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

before thee, this is berlin wall was built and there was some free movement between what was in berlin and west berlin. so the radio and newspapers were more freely distributed at the time that after the berlin wall. what did the inhabitants know about this or think about this and how did it affect them? >> it is important to keep in airliftr most of the the two german states did not , exist yet. it was still occupied it -- occupied 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.

so 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, reading about it, on the radio, the u.s. radio in the american sector, was very influential, announcing what was going on, telling the story of this. so all of the berliners could listen on the radio. it had been an united city. it mostly still was a united city. people were moving around and you had families in different parts of it. that did not change until the berlin wall was built in 1961, completely different berlin crisis years later. 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. >> one 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. so because of one fellow who is important for the morale of the berliners, he said we stay firm

and do not register in the east to gather or to get a hundred -- together or to get hundreds of grams of butter more. we stay in west berlin and put our faith together with 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. -- we 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 attitude from the candy bar. it's amazing. hope: berliners remember that and the airlift to this day, it 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. even back, 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. >> is a good example of starting a relationship. the united states, they asked for candy and sweets for the berliners.

tons and tons of sweets and candies was collected here, shipped over here to germany and dropped. 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. he was thereafter known as uncle wiggly wings to the kids. [laughter] ralph: another child complained, he said did you get any candy? no. he complained that the plane was bothering the chickens that would not lay eggs. [laughter] 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. they had, oh my 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. did 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. that is -- tells you a lot of how the common berliners feel. it is due to everybody, 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.

>> can you touch on metal? [indiscernible] the smell, the sounds. open exhaust, no mufflers. ralph: i can't hear. >> the sounds and smells. >> the question is about the sounds and smells. >> you are mechanic and you know. >> thousands of horsepower each. hope: were you wearing earplugs? ralph: no. >> no gloves.

ralph: bombs can drop on you. >> [indiscernible] hope: 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. and you have to wiggle the bleed 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] ralph: 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] >> the u.s. office of military government that occupied the american sector of germany after world war ii reduced the short -- 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

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