The Berlin Airlift
All those Servicemen involved in the air lift between June 1948 and September 1949
were remembered at a wreath laying service at the
Spitfire Gardens, Roundham Head, Paignton
on Wednesday 30th September 2026
Members and friends joined us to remember the service and sacrifice
of those military and civilian personnel who kept West Berlin
free from Soviet domination.
Why the Berlin Airlift was Necessary
At the end of the Second World War Germany was divided into
Soviet, American, British and French zones of occupation.
The city of Berlin, though technically part of the Soviet zone, was also split,
with the Soviets taking the eastern part of the city.
On 24th June 1948, the Soviet authorities announced that the highway connecting Western Germany to Berlin would be closed indefinitely “for repairs.”
Then, they halted all road traffic from West to East, and barred
all barge and rail traffic from entering West Berlin. The blockade of Berlin had begun.
As far as the Western Allies were concerned, withdrawal from the city was not an option.
Finding another way to re-provision the city seemed to the Allies
to be the only reasonable response.
It was quickly settled. The Allies would supply their sectors of Berlin from the air.
Allied cargo planes would use open air corridors over the Soviet occupation zone to deliver food, fuel and other goods to the people who lived in the western part of the city.
This project became known as the “Berlin Airlift.”
(West Berliners called it the “Air Bridge.”)
For more than a year, hundreds of American, British and French cargo planes ferried provisions from
Western Europe to three airfields in West Berlin.
At the beginning of the operation, the planes delivered about 5,000 tons of supplies every day.
By the end, those loads had increased to about 8,000 tons of supplies per day.
In total the Allies carried about 2.3 million tons of cargo over the course of the Air Lift.
The last plane landed in Berlin on 30th September 1949 bringing the Air Lift to a close.
At the height of the Air Lift, one plane reached West Berlin every thirty seconds.
39 British, 31 American and 13 German civilians lost their lives in the Berlin Airlift.
They are remembered on the Berlin Airlift monument at Tempelhof Airport.
Air Commodore RN Waite
The man who Organised the Airlift
Waite was the unsung hero of the Berlin Airlift.
At the end of WWII, in Germany, he took responsibility for disarming the Luftwaffe
in the British zone of occupation.
Waite became head of the Air Branch for the Control Commission in Berlin.
During the Russian blockade of West Berlin he devised a plan
to supply the city by air, reaching even the ears of US President Harry Truman.
Truman approved the plan and instructed the newly independent US Air Force
to dedicate its entire transport capacity to the mission.
The airlift became one of history’s greatest air cargo feats.
Air Commodore Waite passed away on 7th May 1975.
Lionel Digby from the Torquay Branch brought along an
RAF Air Commodore's uniform for the 2026 memorial.
It was set iup in the Spitfire Garden before this ceremony.
On the inside pocket the tailor had sewn their label with the customers name
which is how we know the uniform was that of Air Commodore Waite?
