I can sort of understand that pilot's feelings. When I was in the USN, our ship made a port call in Perth, Western Australia, in 1982. We couldn't keep up with all the free beer in front of us in the bars, and that was 37 years after WWII. We were getting phone calls while on watch inviting us to barbecues and parties. Australia was SO welcoming that 17 sailors and Marines missed ship's movement, which is a felony. Australia is a great country, a great ally, and I love it.

Thanks for posting. The candy bomber is still with us! Over 100 years old.

Strategy is for amateurs, logistics takes a professional. Thanks for posting!

This is an example of America being great. People working together to do what was right.

This was great, but it missed one thing. The airlift was failing due to bad weather. In rain and fog, standard air control procedure when a plane failed to land was to bring it around again while the planes behind stacked up, circling for their chance to land and often running low on fuel and having to divert. Then one American officer got a new idea - if a plane failed its first attempt to land, it was sent straight back to refuel and make the run again, allowing the others to simply keep coming. It allowed for a steady flow of planes when before, often more than half would never make it in.

God bless Col Halvorsen and the C-54!

Thanks for posting

Thanks for posting ❤️

3 minutes is kickazz

Another *Wonderfull *Example of "GOOD" TRIUMPS ~ Over "EVIL"

So sad to see the well built buildings destroyed

49:00 I wonder how the government-controlled press in Moscow characterized the lifting of the blockade.

Stalin inadvertently brought the Western allies much closer to Germans.

@pdoylemi

2 ай бұрын

Sort of like Putin did with Sweden and Finland. Netanyahu and many other leaders should take a lesson from these things- the strategy of cruelty does not tend to work out well.

As PBS documentaries go, this one was mildly disappointing. Watched it back to back with a comparable German documentary (being bilingual ftw) and that one was significantly better. Some things just didn't sound right, if this was made in 1998, as the title indicates. Never mind that the quality looks more like it was made in the 80s, some of the interview statements seem positively anachronistic in light of the fact that Germany had been reunited for 10 years since they would have made this. Confusing!

@Sinted

9 ай бұрын

Since I’m not bilingual, can you point out the inconsistencies? Just out of idle curiosity.

@michaelhoffmann2891

9 ай бұрын

@@Sinted It's not easy to put a finger on it. The German documentary showed more of the "common people" in Berlin and their memories. It interviewed more Britons (who made up a significant part of the airlift). It interviewed Russians. It showed much more of the differences in how the airlift was viewed by West and East Berliners. It covered the tragic accidents which also occurred. All in all, for the same duration, I felt like I got far more information out of the German documentary than here, where it just came across as another "there's only the US and the cold-war rivalry with the Soviet Union". Exacerbated by the fact that this indeed came across as having been made when the cold war was still going on and there still was a Soviet Union!

@totoitekelcha7628

7 ай бұрын

@@michaelhoffmann2891 Hello butthurt. The berlin airlift is purely Americans and British it has nothing you do with scumbag Russians so if you are puppet if russian go and live there.

@DiviAugusti

6 ай бұрын

This may be older than 1998. There is a more up to date PBS Berlin Airlift special from 2007. It was on a series called American Experience on PBS. Someone has it on KZread. Search American Experience Berlin Airlift.

@mynamedoesntmatter8652

3 ай бұрын

@@DiviAugusti Just found it, thanks! I saved the PBS American Experience playlist, and it might be on there and I’ve not seen it there yet. But I have it saved now.

This was a poor showing. Something that often gets glossed over is the absolutely CRITICAL importance of GCA (Ground Controlled Approach) RADAR, which was my specialty in the Navy, 68-74, ETR-2. GCA was developed near the end of WWII and really really made it's mark in the airlift. GCA controllers recovered literally hundreds of aircraft. GCA simply is a specialized radar, having two wedge shaped patterns, one of the azimuth area of the runway approach, and the other of elevation. The controller has a glideslope and courseline displayed on the scope, and talks the pilot down by radio. The A/C needs no special equipment except a pilot who can follow direction, a radio, and the usual basic flight instruments. I've seen controllers recover AC at NAS Miramar, when I was there, in fog and darkness, and from the trailer, I could not see across the runway. Unfortunately GCA is mostly a lost system, at least in the states. I don't think even the military here uses it much anymore. Some of the newer advanced systems are not always as infallible.