70th Aniversary of the Berlin Blockade
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70th Aniversary of the Berlin Blockade
My father flew the record number of sorties during the Blockade of any pilot, civilian or military, of any nationality. He flew Avro Yorks for 206 squadron.
The story goes that my dad's CO at 206 squadron noticed that the Americans were assigning one pilot in particular to more duties than any other in order to say that their pilot had flown the most sorties of any nationality, however they were counting their flight from to berlin as one trip and their flight back as a second. Just so we weren't going to be beaten by the Americans, my dad's CO started assigning my dad the lions share of flights and made sure that he flew more sorties than them even though we were counting Wunstorf to Gatow and return as 1 trip. I believe the American pilot notched up 402 trips and so my dad ended up with 404 sorties which makes 808 in the American counting system. My dad was awarded the AFC for his part in the Airlift to go with his DFC awarded for his tour on Lancasters in 1944.
I have often wondered that, if he had been an American pilot, he might have been as well known as Gail Halvorsen, but as he was English this record has slipped into obscurity.
I contacted a number of air museums in Britain including Duxford who have one of the Yorks my dad flew, and none of them are planning to celebrate the anniversary with any displays or such like. I think that is a shame. I have offered to loan some of my dad photos and his airlift log book to the Allied museum in Berlin for a display to mark the occasion. I guess it was more important to the Berliners than to us
The story goes that my dad's CO at 206 squadron noticed that the Americans were assigning one pilot in particular to more duties than any other in order to say that their pilot had flown the most sorties of any nationality, however they were counting their flight from to berlin as one trip and their flight back as a second. Just so we weren't going to be beaten by the Americans, my dad's CO started assigning my dad the lions share of flights and made sure that he flew more sorties than them even though we were counting Wunstorf to Gatow and return as 1 trip. I believe the American pilot notched up 402 trips and so my dad ended up with 404 sorties which makes 808 in the American counting system. My dad was awarded the AFC for his part in the Airlift to go with his DFC awarded for his tour on Lancasters in 1944.
I have often wondered that, if he had been an American pilot, he might have been as well known as Gail Halvorsen, but as he was English this record has slipped into obscurity.
I contacted a number of air museums in Britain including Duxford who have one of the Yorks my dad flew, and none of them are planning to celebrate the anniversary with any displays or such like. I think that is a shame. I have offered to loan some of my dad photos and his airlift log book to the Allied museum in Berlin for a display to mark the occasion. I guess it was more important to the Berliners than to us
incredible sacrifice of airman and crews during this in 1948 - the start of the real cold war - many awful accidents trying to fly supplies in down the corridor
"Mildly" Eccentric Stardriver
8igRob, Have you tried the RAF museum? If Hendon give you the cold shoulder, try Cosford directly. There the National Cold War exhibition has a large section devoted to the Berlin airlift, including a York. Good luck, and respect due to your father.
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Ah - Thank you for that, I really enjoyed it! My Dad spent a couple of months flying Liberator tankers (G-AHZR and 'HDY) for Scottish Air Lines flying from Schleswig to Tegel.
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Thanks
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If you do a google search for "Flt Lt Roy Mather DFC AFC" you will find my website with some contact details on. A clue to the website: he flew Vickers Valiants
I look forward to hearing from you.
