70th anniversary of the berlin airlift

[likesfish]

70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift

The first Defeat for the Soviet Union and proof that the west wouldnt bow to Stalins demands.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Compare the current generation's attitude of "I've got mine so fuck you" to this:

A World War II veteran who has been delivering sweet surprises from the sky for 70 years continues to brings smiles to the faces of children as the "Candy Bomber.”

"There's something magic[al] about a chocolate bar come floatin' out of the sky," Col. Gail "Hal" Halvorsen told ABC News. "[It's] tied on an actual parachute. Hopefully, some kids appreciate it."

Halvorsen, 97, started his candy drops when he was a U.S. pilot for the Allied forces during the Berlin Airlift. In 1948, the Russians cut off food and supplies to West Berlin, Germany. The United States and its allies started airdropping packages filled with flour, milk, meat and even coal to the starving city.

Halvorsen, who was 27 at the time, was one of the pilots dropping packages into the city. He said he was inspired to do something special for the suffering children.

"I thought, 'Well gosh, I get a chocolate ration. I can share it,'" he said.

And so he did.

Berlin Airlift 'Candy Bomber' still dropping sweets from the sky after 70 years

And, yes, I know I'm sounding grumpy and middle-aged. It's probably due to the fact that I am grumpy and middle-aged.

 

[Sasaferrato]

The airlift was an incredible thing. At its height, planes were landing at the rate of one a minute, three airfields in use in Berlin, Tegel, Templehof and Gatow.

The airlift is something that I'm interested in from a philatelic standpoint, there was a special cancel in use.

The decision that really streamlined the operation was incredibly simple, if a plane couldn't land, it headed back to its originating airport, so no planes stacked, no congestion on the ground.

The Beliners could unload ten tons of coal in ten minutes. Salt was delivered by flying boat onto the Havel. The record for a single day was 12,941 tons of coal, delivered by 1383 flights.

There were three airmail covers produced to mark one year of the airbridge.

The Maxicard (a Maxi card is a postcard which is franked on the front, the stamp being the same as the subject of the card) shows the Airlift memorial at Templehof airport, the three prongs are for the three air corridors that were used. The Berliners call the memorial the 'Hunger rake'.
The Berlin Airlift

 

[not-bono-ever]

70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift

The first Defeat for the Soviet Union and proof that the west wouldnt bow to Stalins demands.

thats an well orthodox stance you got there bro - things have moved on since this was disseminated and consumed

 

[alex_]

Plus pretty much everything from Barbarossa to Stalingrad was constant defeats for the Soviet Union.

Alex

 

[Sasaferrato]

Plus pretty much everything from Barbarossa to Stalingrad was constant defeats for the Soviet Union.

Alex

Barbarossa was the reason that Rudolph the Red Nosed Nazi (© Graham St Martin. ) was kept in Spandau. The Russkies reckoned he must have known about Barbarossa, but kept stum about it.

 

[likesfish]

thats an well orthodox stance you got there bro - things have moved on since this was disseminated and consumed

Not sure how you could spin the airlift other than the reds lose after being dicks.

 

[not-bono-ever]

It’s down to the schools of thought on the cold war - this is the orthodox take that began to dismantled by historians during the post Stalin period