European Aviation History

  No discussion of the aircraft of the Berlin Airlift would be complete without the Sunderland Flying Boats. The Sunderland's overall contribution to the Airlift was modest. They were introduced on 5 July and withdrawn on 15 December 1948. Yet they made a unique contribution and the won the hearts of the Berliners.   The Sunderland was developed in response to a 1933 British Air Ministry specification for a long-range reconnaissance and patrol seaplane. The aircraft manufacturer Short Brothers was working at the same time on a civilian long-range flying boat to serve transoceanic passenger traffic. It came up with two similar but not identical designs. The civilian aircraft became known as the Empire and the military version was the Sunderland. The Empire was successfully tested in June 1936 and a year later the prototype of the Sunderland was ready for trials. By March 1938, the design with modest modifications had proved itself to be extraordinarily successful. It was remark...

  During the Soviet Blockade of Berlin, the city needed tens of thousands of gallons of petrol, kerosene and heating oil to survive. Transporting liquid fuels in conventional cargo aircraft, however, was extremely hazardous and inefficient, and specially designed tankers were required. Unfortunately, neither the USAF nor the RAF possessed such aircraft. In consequence, the RAF turned to civilian charter companies to fill the gap and these assumed full responsibility for liquid fuel deliveries. By the end of the airlift they had delivered 92,345 tonnes of fuel . Two aircraft carried the lion's share of those deliveries:  the Tudor (left) and the Lancastrian (right).               The Tudor: The first tanker aircra ft d eployed on the Berlin Airlift were Tudors operated by Airflight, a company founded by the former C-in-C of the RAF's Pathfinder force. Air Vice Marshal Donald Bennett.  After the war, Bennett had taken a position as ...