European Aviation History

  The Berlin Airlift was all about delivering goods to Berlin. Yet the process of delivering goods by air is different from delivering it by train. All the goods that Berlin needed first had to be turned into aircraft cargoes — and that wasn’t as easy as it sounded.   On the one hand, cargoes for Berlin had be packed in the lightest weight packaging practical in order to ensure the highest net delivery of needed goods to Berlin. On the other hand, packaging had to be sufficiently robust to prevent damage, spoilage, or loss of cargoes and aircraft. (In one incident, honey in barrels broke while in the air, oozed all over the cargo compartment of the aircraft and then out onto the tarmac when the doors were opened; the trip was a complete waste and the aircraft was u/s for an inordinately long time while it was cleaned out again.) Packaging things in small containers increased the amount of packaging per net delivered ton of cargo, which was undesirable, but packaging things i...