European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 30.1989 the stars and stripes page3veterans relive America s finest hour continued from Page 1 the determination of their former allies. Within weeks a Stream of British and american civilian and military aircraft formed a  air Bridge and poured food Coal and other necessities of life into the City. The russian blockade was lifted May 12. 1949, but the Airlift continued until the last Day of september to ensure that a sufficient stockpile of supplies was on hand in Berlin. The last plane carried the final deliver of More than 2.3 million tons of supplies to the City. It also ended a Mission that resulted in 77 deaths 31 americans. 39 britons and seven germans. Forty years after the end of operation  american veterans of the Airlift have returned to West Germany to reminisce about the hardships and satisfactions of their Mission while attending services that arc scheduled to Climax saturday in Berlin. Bob Vanausdell took military leave from Tran world airlines in order to Volunteer to Fly the Airlift. I came Over because i love to  he said. Iwasyn t going to let All that Good flying get away from me. I enjoyed every minute of that  Vanausdell piloted c-54s, a plane he Calls the four engined Workhorse of the  he flew210 loads of Coal from Fassberg in West Ger Many to Galow the air held in the British sector of Berlin. We new 12 Days in Row and then had three Days off said the retired Pilot. We carried 20,000pounds of Coal per  Morley Gene Yagen was a 24-year-old techno Yaen Cal sergeant and non commissioned officer in charge of the american Mili tary housing office in cd Lac in the Western sector of Germany during the Airlift. He said the Crews loading planes there were displaced persons known As  had been uprooted from their Homes in Eastern Europe. The Dps carried All that Coal on their backs he said. They were the most Downtrodden people you Ever saw. They were in rags. They did t even have shoes they had their feet wrapped in Burlap and twine. Nobody s Ever mentioned those poor people. The were stateless the people who weren t liked. They were getting just pfennig to try to  bad weather slowed the Airlift to a trickle at times but never stopped it. When the ducks walked we flew said Jim Lee then a 28-year-old c-54 Pilot from Clifton . The pilots and air traffic controllers credit ground control approach radar operators for keeping the Airlift going through the wretched weather. The operators monitored the approaching aircraft on a radar screen and radioed course corrections to pilots who often were flying through fog so thick they could t see the airfields until they touched Down. If it had t been for the Oca operators there would not have been an Airlift Vanausdell said. The russians also harassed the planes in the air corridors. We were crossing the Boundary into what is now East Germany and flying across a wide Clear area said Lee a retired air Force lieutenant colonel. A p bar liners climb a piles of rubble to wave greetings to one of the Airlift planes As it prepares to land. 39 flew Between my air plane and the one in front of us while he was firing at targets on the  the russians also would transmit false navigation signals trying to Lead us off course into soviet territory he said. They would also come up on our radio frequency with a tape recording of Barking dogs. That s All you could hear a pack of dogs  the americans retaliated in their own noisy Way. The noise of a four engine cargo plane could returned up by the Pilot Saia flight Engineer Rudy Bors then a 27-year-old from Middletown Ohio who logged 176 missions to  used to take off from gatow about 3 o clocking the morning and we d come across this russian army base said Bors. Who retired after working at Middletown steel Mill. The Pilot would change the pitch and it would vibrate everything and Wake the bastards  on the receiving end of the Airlift were 2.5  struggling to survive. Horst Pridigkait was a 12-year-old boy in Berlin Charlottenburg District in 1948. Like Many children he climbed on piles of rubble around Tempelhof towage handkerchiefs at the pilots. The planes were a Symbol of life. Because the Cit was so devastated very few things were functioning said Pridigkait an unemployed West German who visited the veterans in cd Lac to express his gratitude. They sustained the Hope that things would be bet Ter some  he remembers a diet of dried potatoes and Carrot packed in cardboard. Some bread could be bought but Only in limited quantities and it was strictly rationed. At school rations were issued in cans crack ers cheese and Jam if you had one of these you were like a King because those cans were treasured As if the were Gold " school was a half Day affair because of Coal ration ing he said. We would go to school in shifts because the building could Only be healed during certain hours sometimes there was no heat at All. We put on whatever clothing we had anything to keep  his father brought Home a discarded military Winter coat he bought on the Black Market. It was completely worn out but my Mother Cut that Coal apart and made two jackets from it for myself and my Cousin. Since no clothing was to be found every bit of fabric was use Din this  some bar liners thought the allies might abandon the City to the soviets a scary thought to people who had suffered rapes robberies and looting when the russian army moved into the City in 1945. Everyone was thinking of my god what happens to us if they come " said Egon Rafki who was 21 when the City was blockaded. In 1948, we still thought we would perhaps have United Germany but when the Airlift started we knew we belonged to the West part of the  air planes overhead every minute or two was comforting to the still nervous residents said Rafki longtime employee of the British military government. You could hear them constantly even at night Butin november and december when there was fog and it was quiet everyone got worried. Have they left Havethe russians done something " the soviets finally did do something in 1949 when they lifted the blockades. After 12 May 1949, it was like living in a Par Adise Rafki said. Then we could really say that the War was  loading Crews stack Burlap sacks of supplies into the hold of an Airlift cargo plane. Weather did t deter the Mission. When the ducks walked we flew said Jim Lee