Description:
The image depicts round the clock maintenance on C-54's at RAF Burtonwood Depot, England, in preparation for "Operation Vittles", which was code name for the Berlin Airlift. On June 24th 1948, the Soviets blocked ground access into the city in an attempt to sabotage the allies' control of the western part, and unite it to the eastern, and communist controlled part of the city. Only two days after the blockade, the United States, Britain and France swiftly created an air bridge to sustain the city and furnish it with vital supplies like food (vittles), medicines, and fuel. Although US military presence was diminished at the depot after WW II (occupied by the 8th Air Force during the war), operations were ramped up again to recondition, service, and wash down aircraft for the airlift. The twenty-four hour overhauls performed by the maintenance crew and efforts of all personnel involved, made this mission a resounding success and handed the soviet union their first major defeat of what was to become known as the "Cold War".
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