Germany celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Berlin airlift

What the hungry population of the former Nazi centre of power called  ‘raisin  bombers‘ - because they dropped food instead of bombs - first took off to relieve the encircled city on June 26 1948.

It was the start of Operation Vittles, an ambitious and never-before-tried  experiment to see if a surrounded city could be  supplied solely from the  air.

Soviet dictator Josef Stalin sealed all land and water routes into west  Berlin  in a bid to make it fall under his sway. 

Still flying: Former US Airlift pilot Gail Halvorsen poses for photographers during a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in Frankfurt

The Allies were determined  to make  its defence as a democratic outpost in a sea of Communism the first test  of  the east vs. west standoff that would last for 40 years.

"I find the courage with which this operation was carried out truly   admirable," said German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung said at a ceremony  at  the U.S. Army Airfield in Wiesbaden yesterday. 

Many of the ‘raisin bombers‘ took off for Berlin from there.

During the airlift, American, British, Canadian, Australian, New  Zealand and South African pilots flew 278,000 flights to Berlin, carrying  2.3 million  tons of food, coal, medicine and other supplies.

In one amazing day - April 16, 1949 - some 1,400 planes carried in  nearly 13,000 tons over a 24-hour period.

That was an average of one plane  landing every 62 seconds.

National emergency: C-47 transport aircraft of the US air force on the tarmac of Berlin's Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift in 1948

On the ground in Berlin, ex-Luftwaffe mechanics were enlisted to  help maintain aircraft, and 19,000 Berliners - almost half women - worked around the clock for three months to build Tegel Airport, providing crucial  relief for the British Gatow and American Tempelhof airfields.

German authorities hope this year's anniversary of the Cold War's first heated phase will mark a turning point in sinking public perceptions of the US, which have not recovered from differences over the Iraq war.

Help at hand: A Douglas C-54 aircraft which was flown by Gail S. Halvorsen during the Berlin Airlift

Hero: U.S. veteran Gail Halvorsen speaks in front of a DC3 during the 60th anniversary celebrations in Frankfurt

A recent Pew Global Attitudes survey showed that fewer than a third of  Germans  have a positive view of the US, down from 78 per cent eight years  ago.

"We were just hungry, hungry, hungry," remembered Roswitha Woelz, 73, said   yesterday. 

"My father put up a sign outside our apartment saying: 'Begging pointless - seven hungry children inside.‘

"Those planes which flew in were our godsend and our salvation.“
Helmut   Trotnow, director of Berlin's Allied Museum, said: "The airlift made former enemies become partners, co-operate, and that   developed confidence that ended up in a partnership and friendship."

After 322 days, the Soviets realised they were defeated and lifted the blockade.

The last survivors of the airlift, which claimed 78 lives, were honoured yesterday at a special ceremony in Berlin attended by government ministers and   former pilots near the Tempelhof airport.