Legasee's Mission to Record Britain's Berlin Airlift Veterans

View fullsize

In 1982, the TV series Airline appeared on our screens. The series was set in post-war Britain and followed the exploits of Jack Ruskin (played by Roy Marsden), a former RAF pilot who starts his own air transport business. In the final episode of the series, Too Many Promises, the Berlin Airlift offers Ruskin an opportunity to save his fledgling company from financial ruin. Unfortunately, the planned second series of Airline was cancelled, and the viewing public never got to find out if Jack Ruskin succeeded.

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift of 1948-49 represented the first major confrontation of the Cold War, yet this pivotal humanitarian mission has faded from the public consciousness. The only feature film on the subject, The Big Lift (1950), which starred Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, is a curious piece of cinema history, also forgotten. The film, shot on location in Berlin, offers a rare, authentic glimpse of the city’s devastation, resilience, and Cold War realities.

Today, the UK’s Legasee Educational Trust, a registered charity dedicated to preserving the stories of British military veterans through filmed interviews, has returned to the subject of the Berlin Airlift.

The Forgotten Crisis of 1948

The Berlin Blockade emerged from mounting tensions following the Yalta Conference of February 1945, where the USA, Great Britain and USSR discussed the reorganisation of post-war Europe. Perhaps inevitably, Berlin proved a flashpoint in the developing Cold War.

Since the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, Germany had been divided into four zones of occupation, each controlled by one of the Allies. The German capital, Berlin, lay inside the Russian zone and was also divided into four zones of occupation. Access to Berlin for the Allies was by way of road, rail and canals, and via three specific air corridors.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin wanted to keep Germany weak and use it as a buffer zone between the USSR and the West. The Western powers saw things differently. Learning lessons from the Treaty of Versailles, they did not want to see Germany financially crippled again. This meant introducing a new, stable currency and more jobs for workers in the Western sectors.

The crisis escalated when the Western Allies began using Marshall Aid funds to rebuild the German economy, introduced stable currency, and created 'Bizonia' by joining the British and American zones in 1947. On 24 June 1948, Stalin responded by cutting all land access to Berlin, leaving the city accessible only by air and creating critical shortages - West Berlin possessed merely 36 days' worth of food supplies.

The Berlin Airlift represented the first practical test of American containment policy to prevent the spread of communism. Rather than forcing passage by land and risking another war, the Allies chose to supply their sectors through air corridors. This operation continued for eleven months until the blockade's conclusion in May 1949.

Operation Plainfare: Britain’s Contribution

Despite the scale of the operation, the British contribution has often been overlooked. At the airlift's height, aircraft landed at Berlin's Templehof Airport every minute, with the operation costing the USA $350 million and Britain £17 million. The Allies initially aimed to transport 4,500 tons of supplies daily, increasing this target to 5,000 tons by autumn 1948, with coal comprising a substantial portion of the tonnage required for the city's energy needs.

British forces mobilised the Royal Air Force and contracted twenty-five additional charter companies to transport primarily oil and gasoline into the city. Beyond their approximately 23 per cent share of total freight tonnage, the British assumed responsibility for the majority of passenger transport during the blockade.

Legasee's Archive of Service

Legasee was founded by Martin Bisiker, a videographer whose personal mission began when his grandfather passed away without sharing his experiences as a Desert Rat. The organisation has created the largest freely available film archive of British military veterans online, conducting filmed interviews that capture stories in veterans’ own words.

Between 2012 and 2013, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Legasee captured fifty interviews with British veterans who participated in the airlift - pilots, ground crew, engineers, and support staff. Working alongside the British Berlin Airlift Association, the Norfolk & Suffolk Aviation Museum, and Bungay High School, the project created a permanent exhibition commemorating the 65th anniversary of the airlift.

Individual Stories of Service

The recently launched podcast series The Veterans' Voice: Berlin Airlift draws from these archived interviews. The four-episode series chronicles the progression from rising tensions through ultimate victory in the skies:

Episode 1 features Terence Crowley, Jean Eastham, Tom Holland, Tom Henshaw and Fred Danckwardt recalling the uncertain atmosphere of post-war Germany and early signs of the looming blockade. Episode 2 covers the immediate response to the June 1948 blockade, with veterans Jean Eastham, Leo Hatcher, David Edwards, Len Hurst, Tom Holland and Fred Danckwardt describing the chaos, pressure and resolve of those initial days.

The third episode documents the winter escalation, as John Eddy, Dick Arscott, Leo Hatcher, Larry Lamb, David Edwards and Fred Danckwardt recount the operation's massive scale, dangerous flying conditions, and essential camaraderie. The final episode features Tom Holland, John Curtis, Dick Arscott, Fred Danckwardt, Freddie Montgomery and William Ball reflecting on the airlift's ultimate success and their later welcome back to Berlin by the people whose lives they had helped preserve.

Dick Arscott's Legacy

Among these voices stands that of Dick Arscott, whose story exemplifies both the operation's human dimension and the challenge of preserving veteran testimony. Arscott was one of the RAF pilots flying Dakotas into Berlin's precarious corridors, enduring freezing conditions, constant Soviet harassment, and relentless pressure while maintaining professionalism and determination.

Arscott passed away in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when restrictions meant only his children and their partners could attend his funeral. His granddaughter Kate discovered the full extent of his service through his 2013 Legasee interview. She noted: “To us, he was just Grandpa... Family was at the heart of his life, and gatherings were filled with his steady presence, gentle humour, and stories that rarely touched on his wartime experiences”.

The interview revealed previously unshared details of Arscott’s character, including an incident where “he once flew a Meteor jet under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, an act for which he was 'severely reprimanded', but which brings a smile to the family.” Kate Arscott observed: “He also used to borrow an aircraft just to fly home and see my grandma for the weekend. It's typical of the devotion and quiet daring that defined him.”

Watch A Veteran Interview with Dick Arscott. Interview by Martin Bisiker. Legasee, 9 Nov. 2012.

West Germany and the Soviet Collapse

The Cold War nation of West Germany, officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany, was established on 23 May 1949, by a declaration of the German Parliamentary Council, which represented the former zones of occupation held by the United States, Great Britain, and France after World War II. West Germany was an essential part of the American and Western European economic and military shield against the Soviets and their Eastern European satellites during the decades of the Cold War.

Forty years and six months later, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union. Soviet-occupied East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic, was reunited with West Germany on 3 October 1990. The Soviet Union collapsed a year later. Regrettably, the initial optimism that surrounded the collapse of the USSR quickly dissipated in a storm of economic instability, corruption, political, ethnic and nationalistic tensions and violence.

Preserving Historical Memory

Martin Bisiker, Legasee's founder, emphasised the broader significance: “Dick was part of one of the greatest logistical efforts in modern history, but the individual stories of those men and women who served are rarely told.” The Berlin Airlift succeeded without military force, resolving the first Cold War crisis through logistical means, though not without casualties - at least 78 people died in aircraft accidents, their names engraved on the Airlift Memorial in Berlin's Tempelhof district.

Legasee's mission remains essential: these stories represent “primary source material that offer unique insights into military service, personal resilience, and the social history of their times.” As the generation that lived through these events passes away, organisations like Legasee provide the crucial link, ensuring their experiences continue to educate and inspire future generations.

The project received support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust, reflecting recognition of the urgent need to “record and share the lived experiences of British veterans before they are lost to time.” Through their work, individual voices like Dick Arscott's continue speaking to new audiences, preserving both the operational history and human dimension of this defining Cold War episode.

The Veterans' Voice: Berlin Airlift podcast series is available on major platforms, accompanied by the complete digital archive of filmed interviews at www.Legasee.org.uk.

References:

• Airline (1982) ITV Drama series

• The Big Lift (1950), 20th Century Fox,  a drama war film that tells the story of “Operation Vittles”, the American codename for the 1948–49 Berlin Airlift

• Legasee: The Berlin Airlift (1948-49) 50 interviews with British veterans who took part in the airlift

• The Allied Museum, The Berlin Airlift 1948/49 – statistics and timelines

• West Germany Established

• German Reunification