Candy Bomber Sunset

"Candy Bomber Sunset"

This C-47 twin-engine airplane called "Placid Lassie" was instrumental in reaching drop zones in Normandy, France on D-Day during World War II. Then later for sustaining life and freedom to Germans in West Berlin during the Cold War.

In June 1948, Soviet troops closed all railway, roadways, and canal access to the city of Berlin in an effort to beseige the city, choke it off, and to eventually control the entire capital of Germany. This prompted the United States and its allies to come up with a bold plan to supply more than 2 million tons of goods by air.

US and the UK commandeered hundreds of daily cargo flights into a divided Berlin in an attempt to assuage the effects of a Soviet blockade. At the start of the Berlin Airlift, British advisors estimated that they’d need to bring at least 1990 calories per person per day to Berlin in order to sustain the population. Failure to do so would either lead to the fall of the city or Berliners starving or freezing to death.

Against all the odds, one of the greatest airlift humanitarian efforts was sustained for fifteen months and over two million tons of supplies of which 2/3 being coal was airlifted to Berlin. This aircraft played an instrumental role in making that happen. While the RAF’s prolific used the Douglas Dakota as its main transport vehicle, the US used the C-47 Skytrains as one of their primary aircraft for the airlift. C-47s were the militarized and Americanized version of the civilian Douglas DC-3, which the British called Dakota. 

The Soviet siege on Berlin started from June 26, 1948 and ended on September 30, 1949. American and British air forces flew over Berlin more than 250,000 times, dropping necessities such as fuel and food. Original plans were to airlift 3,475 tons of supplies per day. But by the Spring of 1949, that number was doubled and peak daily deliveries at times 12,941 tons. American C-47 and C-54 (aka Candy Bomber) transport airplanes, together, flew over 92,000,000 miles (148,000,000 km) during this Cold War event, which is almost the distance from Earth to the Sun! During this long extended operation, a total of 101 airforce personnel (40 UK & 31 Americans) lost their lives in the effort to keep Germans in West Berlin free from Soviet communist rule. 

All our prints are shipped in high quality aluminum frames. Our EFX watermark will not be printed on the final artwork. All of our products are printed on archival quality UV light resistant polyester.

Color Changing Fine Art Print
Photographer: WorldInMyEyes from Germany
Composition by: EFX Gallery
© 2022 EFX™ Gallery

Keywords: candy bomber, aircraft, flyer, wing, airfield, runway, propeller, rear, evening, flying, airport, old, propeller plane, military, historic, sunset, dusk

Sources:

"World War 2 C-47 airplane named Placid Lassie", Stan Roher, April 23, 2021, https://www.alamy.com/world-war-2-c-47-airplane-named-placid-lassie-this-restored-historic-aircraft-led-over-800-c-47s-over-the-drop-zones-of-normandy-france-on-d-day-image424995606.html

"The aircraft of the Berlin Airlift hauled and delivered over two million tons of supplies to the people of Berlin.", Alex Carchidi, Disciples Flight, https://disciplesofflight.com/aircraft-of-the-berlin-airlift/

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade