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7. I'm not THAT old.
Mon Sep 1, 2025, 04:21 PM
Sep 1

The Berlin Airlift officially ended on 30 September 1949 after fifteen months.

I was born in May 1949, so I was in diapers at the time.

The US Air Force had delivered 1,783,573 tons (76.4% of total) and the RAF 541,937 tons (23.3% of total) totaling 2,334,374 tons, nearly two-thirds of which was coal, on 278,228 flights to Berlin.

Had the C141 Starlifter (my aircraft) been operational, it would have taken 74,460 flights to accomplish the mission. Our big brother, the C5A Galaxy, could have done it in 17,617 flights, which would have been a mere blip on the radarscope of its history.

The experience of flying the same routes they did, landing at Tempelhof Airport, standing beside the Berlin Wall, peering at East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie, and talking to adults who were the children catching the candy during the Berlin Airlift -- was a memory I'll never forget . . .

Until I'm back in diapers, I guess.

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