the Candy Bombers

[abn deuce]

The Candy Bombers

subtitled

"the untold story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour"

Just received this book and as soon as I get it read I ll post a review unless someone else has already finished the book and posts first !!

isbn 978-0-399-15496-6 published by putnam copyright 2008

written by Andrei Cherny

 

http://

Edited June 13, 2008 by abn deuce

[Snapper]

Go for it, give us a full rundown. Send your review to Jack and we'll get you up front.....

 

Ta

 

Mb

[abn deuce]

I Finished the book the other day . By the way its 550 pages . It covers the period from meeting the Soviets at the Elbe through to the fall of 1949 and then updates some of the principal figures as recently as 1990 with the author begaining to write the book.

It includes the political moves on both sides as well as the American elections in the fall of 1948.

Of course it includes the story of how the Candy Bombers begain but lots more than that .

There are a number of figures of just how amazimg the efforts were , and the personial stories of the Berliners them selves.

 

Before the blockade begain they were transporting 31 millions pounds of food and supplies per day by railroad , road and barge .... this was the bare minimum needed to feed the 2.5 million Berliners.

 

In June of 1948 the thought was that they "Might" manage perhaps five million pounds daily flown in by the airlift . Which they did manage to do , and through additions of aircraft and improvements they were able to increased that amount to ten million pounds daily flown in by airlift by September of 1948. True they almost failed in November due to the worst fog on almost 90 years that almost completely grounded operations for most of that month but they were able to regain volume each month steadly after that to sixteen million pounds daily in the spring of 1949 ....the day that finially broke the Soviets ability to maintain their blockade came on Easter weekend... the goal as to fly every aircraft no matter the condition to transport twenty million pounds in a single day ! they in fact managed to move TWENTY SIX million pounds !!!! That took 1398 flights , roughly a plane landing in Berlin every 63 seconds on that day , most of the 26 million pounds was Coal they also transported 2,000 rubber hot water bottles ,tobacco , a plane full of manhole covers , as well as condoms,dried apricots and cuckoo clocks . the coal alone was the equivalent of a freight train six hundred cars long ... mind you they loaded and unloaded all that coal by hand in sacks .Ten days later the Soviets said they would lift the blockade on May 12th .

Well worth the reading , without the Airlift and the strength of the Berliners to resist the pressure of the Soviet's to break their desire for freedom and democracy the Soviet's most likely would have continued to expand their reach and taken over all of Western Europe .

Edited June 12, 2008 by abn deuce

[abn deuce]

BUMP bump

[radiomike7]

abn deuce, did your book mention who picked up the tab for the airlift, I am unfamiliar with the economy of West Berlin in the years shortly after the war?

[abn deuce]

Good question , From what I gathered it was mostly the United States with Britian and France picking up part of it through the use of the staging bases , aircraft and personal .

It's about the Wests response as what to do about the plight of the Berliners if they would/could supply them , how far would the West go to stop the Soviets from squeezing the Americans, British and French out .

In the course of things an additionial airport was needed and was built in the French sector , there were two radio towers that were located close to the flight paths and they tried to make a deal to replace the towers that Soviets were using to broadcast propaganda, After many offers that were refused the Soviet's finially angered the French through broken promises and the French then demolished the towers , when asked by the Soviet commander how could they do it, the French commander replied ....."With dynamite - from the base"

As far as I recall it never does not spell out exactly the total cost or who payed what . There is a interesting note that when the Berlin wall and by extention the Soviet union's collapse the amount of stock piled material West Berlin had amassed JUST in case a blockcade had ever happened again included....

132 million pounds of wheat,52 million pounds of canned meat,15 million pounds of butter,11 million cans of sardines and 18 million rolls of toilet paper. The German government offered this to the Soviets .

[6 X 6]

I've always meant to get a copy of this film which was filmed on location in Berlin in around 1949. Anyone watched it ?

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042249/

[abn deuce]

I dont recall ever seeing that , I will have to check it out once my finances recover .Thank you for the link and info .

[N.O.S.]

BUMP bump

 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:Well done abn! No sure how I missed this when you first posted the information, but as more and more stuff goes on it becomes inreasingly difficult to keep up.

[abn deuce]

Located this film from the National Archives and Record Administration posted on youtube its long 1:06 not seen but a small part of it so far but has a verity of vehicles and aircraft at different airports and bases being loaded and then unloaded in Berlin . Berlin Airlift subtitled outtakes from operations vittles