NZFF

Shalom and greetings all my pals,

Unless I am mistaken, I read somewhere that Royal New Zealand air force participated along with Australian air force in Berlin airlift. RNZAF used 2 or 3 DC-3s/C-47s.

Can anyone shed any light on New Zealand action for Berlin Airlift please and which DC-3/C-47 did RNZAF use for the airlift, please?

Thanks,

Aharon

"Just four years after the defeat of Nazi Germany, Europe was once again in crisis. Germany was divided into two separate countries, West and East Germany. The politically sensitive city of Berlin was also symbolically subdivided. Britain, America and France held portions of West Berlin, while the Soviet Union (Russia) held the Eastern portion and controlled all access in and out of the divided city.

Difficulties arose in the summer of 1948 when Britain tried to introduce a new form of currency to their portion of West Berlin. Soviet leader Josef Stalin used this as an excuse to blockade all land and river routes in and out of the city. This strangle-hold threatened to starve the Allies and the population of West Berlin.

The only way to supply the blockaded city was by air. The Berlin Blockade Airlift had begun.

Britain appealed to the Commonwealth air forces for the loan of experienced transport crews to help the western allied forces. Australian crews arrived in September 1948 and were soon joined by their counterparts from New Zealand."

New Zealand only provided Aircrew personnel, in the way of Three crews from No. 41 Squadron RNZAF, they were later replaced by three more Aircrew personnel in rotation. They were posted to No. 46 Group of the RAF flying the RAF Douglas Dakota aircraft.

Airforce Museum of New Zealand: The Berlin Airlift – Seventy Years On

How many New Zealanders took part as aircrew in the Berlin Airlift? Either as RNZAF members or with other services like the RAF?

Radar88 wrote:They were posted to No. 46 Group of the RAF flying the RAF Douglas Dakota aircraft.

Thanks Radar88

I thought New Zealand provided 2 or 3 DC-3s/C-47s for Berlin Airlift. Guess the internet info that I saw is wrong.

Is it possible or impossible to find out which RAF DC-3s/C-47s and which registration numbers did NZ pilots flew for Berlin Airlift using the clue which is the specific number squadron NO 46 Group?

Regards,

Aharon

Aharon wrote:
Is it possible or impossible to find out which RAF DC-3s/C-47s and which registration numbers did NZ pilots flew for Berlin Airlift using the clue which is the specific number squadron NO 46 Group?

Regards,

Aharon

It would be logistically impossible to find out which RAF DC-3s/C-47s and Aircraft registration numbers of flights that, the Aircrews from both the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) transport squadrons, flew with during the Berlin Airlift flight operations.

Simply due to the large-scale of operations and the flight duty time limitations, with the large-scale of Aircrew numbers involved with supply flights at any given time during the Berlin Airlift.

To appreciate the reasoning behind the questioning.

Aharon wrote:
find out which RAF DC-3s/C-47s and which registration numbers did NZ pilots flew for Berlin Airlift

Regards,

Aharon

As a suggestion, please watch these highly informative videos.

BERLIN AIRLIFT Documentary including Archive Film and Interviews

The Berlin Airlift - The Cold War Mission to Save a City

Watch them right through to the very end, they fully document the historical event behind the scenes of the monumental, logistical operational effort to supply the besieged city. Entirely by air, flying huge numbers of transport planes into Berlin's airports every three minutes, while the city's lakes were used as landing sites for seaplanes.

The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) No. 41 Squadron was a transport unit. The squadron was formed in 1944, and conducted transport flights in the south Pacific during World War II. It remained active after the war, and flew supplies to the New Zealand occupation force in Japan.

Three crews from No. 41 Squadron Dakota crews (each crew comprising a pilot, a navigator and a radio operator) were dispatched to Europe in 1948 to operate with the Royal Air Force as New Zealand's contribution to the Berlin Airlift.

The crews were based at Lübeck and conducted two flights into Berlin each day they were on duty. A second group of three crews was later dispatched to replace the first group.

Following the end of the Soviet blockade of Berlin, the detachment returned to New Zealand in August 1949.

At this time the main body of the squadron in New Zealand had been forced to reduce its flying hours due to a shortage of technicians to service the Dakotas.

Thus the RNZAF contribution to the Berlin Airlift was fairly small by comparison with the American and Britsh Aircrews.

New Zealand provided Two 6 month long group rotational deployment of 3 RNZAF Transport Aircrews that comprised of a pilot, a navigator and a radio operator.

In total a year long deployment for the RNZAF transport unit personnel involved 18 RNZAF Aircrew members to assist the western allied forces during the Berlin Airlift.

In contrast the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) transport squadron formed to participate in the Berlin Airlift. The unit operated for one year, between August 1948 and August 1949, and was raised specifically for the operation, drawing crews from two existing RAAF transport squadrons. In total the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) contributed 40 Aircrew members from the RAAF transport squadrons.

R.A.A.F. Berlin airlift crews home without a scratch

Thanks Radar88 for all kind answers, explantions, and hyperlinks.

I already saw those videos before.

I was trying to find specific RAF DC-3s/C-47s that Aussie pilots and NZ pilots flew in Berlin Airlift. I guess it is not going to happen as you said it would be impossible to find which DC-3/C-47 registration number.

Regards,

Aharon