Shame on Berlin

[uscob]

I'm so angry about the Red Berlin Government as they forbid the Flying, Candy Dropping and Landing of the remaining 20 of orinially planned 40 Candy Bombers for the 70th Anniversary of the End of the Berlin Airlift.
In Western Germany they had several good Celebrations with Landings, Plane touching etc. but Berlin Government blamed themselves with a 3rd Class Volksfest at TCA.
These Day's I'm so ashamed to be a Citizen of this Great City what isn't able to honour the Heroes who saved the City, and also my Parents from starving. !948/49, the Reds tried to hunger out the City, now they lead us.
What to expect.

Worst for me, The Federal President was Head of this Event and he did nothing to have it happened.


https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/land...ner-politik-ab
https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/p...6588.bild.html


One of the Reasons was that these 20 Planes interupt the Air Trafic, but when they host the ILA Air Show, 400 are ok.
What to expect from a Town who can't build an AIrport in time.

[WalterB]

I'm so angry about the Red Berlin Government as they forbid the Flying, Candy Dropping and Landing of the remaining 20 of orinially planned 40 Candy Bombers for the 70th Anniversary of the End of the Berlin Airlift.
In Western Germany they had several good Celebrations with Landings, Plane touching etc. but Berlin Government blamed themselves with a 3rd Class Volksfest at TCA.
These Day's I'm so ashamed to be a Citizen of this Great City what isn't able to honour the Heroes who saved the City, and also my Parents from starving. !948/49, the Reds tried to hunger out the City, now they lead us.
What to expect.

Worst for me, The Federal President was Head of this Event and he did nothing to have it happened.


https://www.bz-berlin.de/berlin/land...ner-politik-ab
https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/p...6588.bild.html


One of the Reasons was that these 20 Planes interupt the Air Trafic, but when they host the ILA Air Show, 400 are ok.
What to expect from a Town who can't build an AIrport in time.

I am sorry to hear about Berlin's recent decision. Very unfortunate. In connection with the Candy Bombers, here are some items that I saw at the SOS related to that and which I found to be pretty neat:

[uscob]

Thank you for the Picture.
I love the leaflet on the right.

[KeithRic]

Weirdly I just finished reading a great book on the Berlin Airlift (I say weirdly as it isn't a particular interest, and I just happened to pick up the book in a used bookstore as it was cheap and looked vaguely interesting). It is called "The Candy Bombers. The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour" by Andrei Cherny. You can get it on-line pretty cheap.

It is one of those instances where I thought I knew the general out-line of what happened, and it turned out to be mostly wrong. It's a big book (600 pages) and I'd say only 25% is directly related to the airlift, but the rest is important background that gives context.

Anyone interested in the airlift - or in understanding how the hell we went from being mortal enemies of the Germans to best buddies in a few short years - should read it.

[KeithRic]

For anyone interested below is a machine translation of the article "Landeverbot für Rosinenbombe. Helden-Piloten rechnen mit Berliner Politik ab" posted by uscob. By the way "Rosinenbombe" - which translates literally as "raisin bombers" is the German term for the "candy bombers."

Landing ban for raisin bombers
Hero pilots discount Berlin politics


It could have been a historic moment - but it became an embarrassment for all of Germany. Her loud hum announced the raisin bombers. But: The red-red-green Senate gave the rescuers of yesteryear no landing permit.

S. Klier, K. Mössbauer, H. Ravic, A. Häntjes, T. Kittan and P. Volkmann-Schluck

70 years ago, the Allies rescued West Berlin by airlifting from starvation. Sunday, the raisin bombers returned for the anniversary. At 14.53, 13 historic airmen reached the capital. Goosebumps moments at 250 km / h, a loud hum from the past.

But: The Berlin Senate has not allowed them to fly over the restricted area of the city center, nor to land, nor to throw sweets!

The aircraft had to return to Faßberg in Lower Saxony, where coal was loaded during the Airlift.

They had come from all over the world. Over the Atlantic, nearly 150 pilots and crew members in 20 original machines (type Douglas DC-3 / C-47). At up to minus ten degrees in the cockpit, with five stops (including Greenland, Iceland).
Deadlines not met

For this, the pilots got the permits. Not for Berlin. A Senate spokeswoman blames the organizers of the club 70 years of airlift: "Although deadlines have even been extended, the private club has not managed to submit the necessary documents completely and correctly."

[At the Tempelhofer Field people watched the raisin bombers. They could not marvel at them from close by (Photo: Ralf Lutter)]

The US Embassy is astonished. "We would have loved to fly over Berlin to commemorate the Airlift, but we were told that the city of Berlin would take care of the necessary arrangements. The current confusion over the granting of the respective permits leaves us a bit baffled," said a spokeswoman for the US Embassy for B.Z.
Landing in Tempelhof would have been possible

From June 1948 to September 1949, the Allies had approached the Berlin-included Berlin 277,569 times, supplying the city every three minutes with food and everything necessary for everyday life. Many pilots and helpers died in accidents.

Thomas Feuerhelm (57), a lawyer from Tempelhof, says: "It would have been possible for the raisin bombers to land here. The occasion 70 years airlift would have justified that. Because without this humanitarian aid, many Berliners would have starved. "

The retired chimney sweep Eberhard Kirsch (84) was waiting as a child in Tempelhof for sweets - and is disappointed: "I find it very sad, even embarrassing that there is no landing in Berlin the raisin bomber. And then not even a party on the Tempelhofer Feld, where all Berliners can wave the plane. "
Senate breaks the airlift pilots heart

US pilot Gail Halvorsen (98) tries to remain friendly despite his disappointment in the interview with B.Z. With his decision not to grant landing permission to the historic airmen who rescued Berlin 70 years ago, the Red-Red-Green Senate has broken the hearts of airlift pilots.

"Pity," says veteran Halvorsen, "I'd like to drop candy. So that today's children get an impression of how things used to be. "

Many memories come to life. To the children who were beaming at him when he distributed chewing gum at the airport gate, and later on he made parachutes out of handkerchiefs, dropping sweets on his approach to Tempelhof.

The pilots had brought 5000 US pounds of sweets for Berlin. Vain. So Halvorsen, who can still fly despite his age, was only allowed to observe how the raisin bombers flew over the eastern part of Tempelhof. "Previously, the government did not mind us landing here," he says. "I am very upset about the decision"

The Senate should have helped with the organization! At least that's what another US pilot, Captain Sherman Smoot, sees it. "I am very upset about the decision," he says, "we will never come back. Not even for the 75th anniversary. "

It cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to bring everything to Germany. Smoots bitter conclusion: "Berlin should then be starved by the socialists. Now they rule and make that decision! "

[pauke]

sad

A sad commentary on how a time of humanitarian relief that had a special heart for children is "appreciated" in modern times. I had a couple of friends who flew during that relief effort and they were happy to recollect their time involved in it. Thanks for bring this to our attention as I had no idea about this "almost" commemoration and a couple of old Berliner friends I had who fondly remembered the time are also long gone.

[Seigfried]

I'm so angry about the Red Berlin Government

I agree, and still can't forgive them for:

1. Hideous glass dome on Reichstag
2. Pile of concrete blocks in front of it

[uscob]

Sadly we have more serious Problems like these.
A while ago there was a big discussion in the Media and social Networks about the Decision of an employee of the District Government for the Görlitzer Park, where he marked areas for Dealers to sell their Drugs that they don't have to use other Areas where maybe Families want to recreate with their Kids.
Many of these Guy's are Afracan Asylum Seekers, so as long as the Seeking is Pending, they even won't get imprisoned and an hr. after the Arrest by the Cops, they're back in the Park with new Drugs.
Another "funny" thing I read, as the City is short of Space for Schools, they want to use parts of old Cemetaries for them.

They just want to cover the Surface and when somebody find's Bones or Urns, "well then we have to re-bury them" but only when found an official said.
That's the Problem when everybody can be a Politician, evne when they didn't studied it.

[hoover]

It is a big, big shame of the Berlin Gouvrnment for loosing that one in a lifetime event.

I have heard of so many ridiculous problems the organizers were faced with, like the danger of falling sweets on small parachutes, the noise of landing and string DC 3 at Tempelhof, the problems of handling possible thousands of visitors and a lot of more.

Even in this historical important event the Berlin Gouvernment failed in all aspects.

Now it is a shame for whole Germany.