Lord Roberts takes inspiration from the 1948-49
Berlin airlift Calling for a "food airlift as we did in Berlin," he wants the UK to take the "humane step" and act to prevent starvation.
The
Berlin Airlift, as it became known, continued for 11 months, until Stalin relented and lifted his blockade in May 1949.
Even casual readers of military history are probably familiar with many of the narratives, such as the "candy bomber" of the
Berlin airlift, but a few stand out as noteworthy.
He played a key role in supplying the Navy transport squadrons that participated in the
Berlin Airlift, and went on to become Deputy Chief of Naval Material with the rank of Vice Admiral.
In the late 2000s, he co-founded Democracy, a public-policy journal that was crucial to launching star liberal Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's political career, and published The Candy Bombers, a history of the
Berlin Airlift.
Since the
Berlin Airlift ended in September 1949, Colonel Halvorsen has met countless Germans whose lives were changed because of "Operation Little Vittles.
Topics include differences between East and West German historiography on the origins of World War I, memories of the Nazi past, West German labor internationalism and the Cold War, the Cold War and the marketing of West Berlin as a tourist destination, representations of the Berlin Wall in East German film, satirical treatments of the West German Bundeswehr (armed forces) after the 1960s, Olympic support as a German Cold War phenomenon, the influence of the Cold War on West German feature film imports in East Germany, post-wall German television and the
Berlin Airlift of 1948-9, and East German science fiction and the GDR Ministry of Culture.
Showing the same tenacity, immense courage and consummate skill which won him the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II and the Air Force Cross during the
Berlin Airlift, Cliff, with the able assistance of Michel Drapeau, took on the federal bureaucracy in a very uneven fight until the DND/CF Ombudsman's Report in November 2005 caused the politicians to take note.
We ought to bring roll-on, roll-off ships and roll them right to the beach and bring the relief supplies in, in our version of the
Berlin airlift," he said, adding that the supplies could be delivered to U.
Sent to Germany, he was on hand for the
Berlin Airlift.
Remarks at the
Berlin Airlift veterans Diamond Jubilee reception and dinner, Washington, D.
THEN KNOWN AS THE "DIGIT LIFTERS" FLYING THE C-47M THE SQUADRON ACHIEVED RECOGNITION FOR BEING "PRETTY GOOD FRIENDS" WITH SOME OF THE PILOTS WHO FLEW DURING THE
BERLIN AIRLIFT.
