C-47s

Tunner, whose drip-drip-drip graph and chart descriptions did not read particularly well in most newspapers and magazines, agreed to spend a good deal of time with two journalists, Charles J. V. Murphy of Fortune magazine and Paul Fisher, the editor of the Bee-Hive, the company magazine of United Aircraft Corporation, the manufacturers of the Pratt & Whitney engines that powered both C-54s and C-47s.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

That was when Clay and Robertson responded by using the three air corridors to fly nineteen C-47s a day into Tempelhof and RAF Gatow with supplies for their troops and diplomats.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

In the C-74 you would need only 16,200 hours of flying time a month, compared to 42,888 in the C-54s or 158,824 in the C-47s.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

When Tunner arrived, the airlift fleet totaled more than 250 mismatched planes: the Americans had 54 C-54s and 105 C-47s.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

And finally, you could fly the C-74s on 6,804,000 gallons of fuel, compared to the 8,577,600 needed by the C-54s, or the 14,294,000 the C-47s would need.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

The airlift began with those leftover American C-47s, sleek no more, and whatever planes, usually old bombers, the British had standing on abandoned airfields—flown by any pilots they could find.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

To account for the different cruising speeds of C-47s and faster C-54s, Smith created a “block” system, with similar planes flying together at five different altitudes, separated by five hundred feet vertically, and by fifteen minutes horizontally at each altitude.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

The same ratio in maintenance—2,700 C-74 maintenance men could accomplish the job that would require 4,674 on the C-54s, and 10,588 on the C-47s.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

When the new Labour Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, visited airlift bases on a rainy and windy March 4, the first thing he noticed was that American planes, with nose wheels, landed relatively smoothly, while British planes and C-47s with only tail wheels or tail skids wandered all over the runways as they landed in strong crosswinds.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010

He wanted better quarters and food for the pilots, more C-54s to get rid of the C-47s, he wanted to gain control of the British fields closest to Berlin and he wanted the tools to boost the pride and morale of everyone involved in the big lift.

Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010