Operation Vittles

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In June 1948 Soviets authorities halted all entrances or exits to the western-controlled section of Berlin by land and by water. A 20 mile-wide air corridor across the Russian zone of Germany was the only remaining access route into the city. For the next eleven months the Western Allies supplied West Berliners with the necessities of life.
The unofficial name given to the operation was Operation Vittles and it began on June 26. 4,500 tons of food, coal, and other material needed for daily maintainence of a minimum level of existence was fulfilled with only 80 tons carried by USAF C-47s on June 26. However, this force was quickly increased by the aid of U.S. Navy and Royal Air Force cargo aircraft.
On October 15, 1948 a unified command known as the Combined Airlift Task Force under Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner, USAF was created to promote increased safety and cooperation between the separate U.S. and British airlift efforts. Three SAC bomb groups were sent to Europe placing Soviet targets within B-29 range. Three airfields were used within Berlin consisting of Tempelhof in the U.S. sector, Gatow in the British sector, and Tegel within the French sector.
As of September 1948, the unloading of C-47s at Tempelhof was the most predominating form of the airlift until it was replaced by the C-54s which was capable of hauling ten tons. A cross-sectional view of flight into Berlin was arranged simultaneously which allowed the landing at the rate of one plane every 3 minutes; this was later improved to two levels which still maintained the same landing rate. Airlift pilots flew under an extremely rigid system of traffic control which required each pilot to fly an exact route at predetermined speed as well as altitude in order to make a successful landing or otherwise return to its base in West Germany.
At midnight on May 12, 1949, the Soviets reopened the land and water routes into Berlin. However, the airlift progressed until September 3...