Museum dedicates memorial, Airman shares perspective

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Kasey Zickmund
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  A pilot with the Allied Forces shouts as a powerful spotlight shines in his eyes, then BOOM! As flak is shot up from the ground, aimed at the aircraft by Soviet Union ground forces, the aircraft starts rolling side-to-side, pitching up and down as the pilot and co-pilot attempt evasion in order to deliver supplies to those in need living in Western Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949 - the Berlin Airlift.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charles Childs, pilot, and other surviving members of the Berlin Airlift and their families are scheduled to visit the South Dakota Air and Space Museum Oct. 3, at 10:30 a.m. for a memorial dedication ceremony in their honor and to mark the Berlin Airlift's 60th Anniversary.

The event is scheduled to have a memorial service, where the airlift veterans will unveil a new plaque dedicated to the anniversary inside the museum. The memorial service will consist of two guest speakers, the reading of the 31 names of the American Airmen who lost their lives during the airlift and a firing party by the 28th Bomb Wing Honor Guard.

"I'm looking forward to meeting Colonel Childs, shaking his hand and the hands of his fellow Berlin Airlift veterans in October," said Col. Peter Castor, 28th Bomb Wing vice commander. "We're fortunate to have an Airman within our local community who can personally speak of this unique event in Air Force heritage."

The Berlin Airlift started when the Soviet Union cut off supplies to Western Berlin, thus making it impossible for Allied Forces to send supplies by ground. Allied Forces had three open air corridors over Berlin as part of the agreement when Germany was defeated in World War II; the Allied Forces used these corridors to deliver supplies by air.

Colonel Childs was a captain during the Berlin Airlift and piloted a C-54 Skymaster. He flew through the open air corridors over Western Berlin delivering food, coal, blankets and other items necessary to those in need.

"The air corridors were so crowded there simply wasn't any room for error or to attempt a second landing," Colonel Childs said. "If you missed your approach you had to take your load back; I never missed." 

Another problem pilots faced were the Russian military forces who had control of airfields on either side of the air corridors.

"Russian Yak-7s and Yak-9s would fly up and harass us," Colonel Childs said. "They'd shoot guns and flak up from the ground, and they'd start with the bright lights."

Russian military forces would shine powerful spotlights into his C-54's cockpit in an attempt to blind the pilots, he said. They also tried their hand at electronic warfare, interfering with aircrew radio communications.

These actions had the potential to bring the world closer to war than some may think.

"If any of our airplanes had been shot down, we'd have been in World War III right then," Colonel Childs said.

For more information on the memorial dedication ceremony, contact the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at (605) 385-5188.