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To Save a City: The Berlin Airlift 1948 - 1949

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It has become almost trite to suggest that the most unlikely of air power applications-one that does not kill people and break things-proved decisive in defeating the Soviet Union in the first major contest of the Cold War, but it is true. The victorious Allies divided Germany and Berlin into four zones in 1945, one each for France, Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. As Soviet-American relations deteriorated during 1946 and 1947, the jointly occupied Berlin, located deep inside the Soviet zone, began to be the focus of confrontation between the two ideologies. When the Soviets blockaded the land routes to Berlin from the West in 1948 the Allies responded with a massive airlift that both relieved a surrounded and starving city and avoided direct conflict with the Red Army. It represented a truly decisive use of what I like to call "constructive air power."

Roger G. Miller's "To Save a City" seeks to tell the story of this airlift, both its geopolitical and operational elements, in a spare volume that represents an important up-to-date contribution to the subject. A civilian historian with the U.S. Air Force History and Museums Program, Miller draws on official Air Force files, recently declassified documents from the National Archives, Soviet documents released since the end of the Cold War, and interviews with airlift veterans to reconstruct the story of this important Cold War confrontation. The result is a compelling story well told. While other historians have laid out the major parameters of this subject before, this work is a worthy synthesis of those earlier studies and offers a depth of effort not previously offered.

Miller begins by discussing the political crisis that led to the airlift. He quickly moves on to the hasty organization of the operation to resupply the city by a small number of antiquated cargo airplanes. This soon evolved into an intricate bridge of modern transports that flowed in and out of Berlin through narrow air corridors on a precise schedule regardless of weather or other conditions. In the slang of the present, this 24/7/365 operation delivered everything from food and medicine to coal and equipment to a besieged Berlin. It allowed airlift forces to hone to a fine edge their doctrine and operational procedures.

Miller observes that the Berlin Airlift served to codify the flexibility of airlift as an instrument of national will. If one believes that the military exists as tools to help further the national defense and diplomatic objectives of the nation they serve then the more flexible the tool the more useful it becomes. Fighters and bombers are precise tools useful in only a limited number of circumstances, essentially that involving combat. Military airlift can be used in every conceivable scenario across the spectrum of international relations. A unique national resource, the Berlin Airlift demonstrated its significance.

Roger Miller notes that American allies around the world regarded the airlift as a triumph of will, and it solidified the western position in the early Cold War era. The size and extent of the airlift, the requirement for close coordination, and the resourcefulness of allied leadership also impressed the Soviet Union. The airlift affected Air Force doctrine as well; demonstrating that virtually any amount of cargo could be moved anywhere in the world with little concern for geography or weather. It provided valuable experience in operational techniques, air traffic control, and in aircraft maintenance and reconditioning. Finally, as already stated, the Berlin Airlift proved for the first time what has been confirmed many times since: airlift is a more flexible tool for executing national policy than either fighter or bomber aircraft.

I am looking for a book that discusses the affect of RADAR and GCA on the effectiveness to complete the mission. (RADAR, RAdio Detection And Ranging)(GCA,
Ground Controlled Approach) This includes the number of Aircraft and lives saved.
This book does better than any other located to date.
I believe a very interesting book could be written on the affect of GCA, on military operations since 1944.

As an Air Force pilot, I'd heard the Berlin Airlift story many times, including during lessons in academic settings. But it wasn't until I read this book that the scale, scope and duration of the airlift really hit me. It's easy to skim a magazine article at random and get the impression that a few cheerful cargo pilots spent a couple weekends delivering candy and teddy bears -- the reality was far, far different. Anyone interested in the application of air power or in the long Cold War struggle over Berlin should read this book.

Miller's study of the Berlin Airlift is a standard, chronological examination of one of the most famous episodes of the Cold War. However, the author makes virtually no use whatsoever of Russian-language sources from Soviet archives -- a significant omission given the relative availability of Communist-era records opened since the collapse of the USSR. Students and scholars alike will have to wait for a more balanced account of the operation...