Food for West Berlin

As of April 1948, “Operation Knicker” provided plans for supplying own garrisons in Berlin (counting 7600 soldiers and their families) by air. In view of the Russian blockade of Berlin, there were calls for extending “Operation Knicker” and to supply 2.2 million people in West Berlin. At the time, many people considered this undertaking immense. Yet, the operation was launched on 28 June 1948, when the British Air Ministry ordered their Transport Command to deploy additional transport aircraft to Germany. The first food delivery reached Gatow already on 29 June 1948.