HERO pilots have gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, which served as the turning point of the Cold War.
HERO pilots have gathered to mark the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, which served as the turning point of the Cold War.
The airlift, which was carried out over 11 months between June 1948 and May 1949, saw British and American airmen ferry supplies in and out of the war-torn German capital after the Soviets cut off road and rail links to western areas of the city.
More than 70 people, including 39 Britons, died as the western allies' transport planes battled with severe weather in an effort to prevent the Soviet Union taking control of Berlin and pushing the Iron Curtain west.
Today, at the Imperial War Museum's aviation base in Duxford, veteran pilots Zeke Hacke, 87, and Geoff Boston, 82, met to remember the end of the operation.
The pair, who both live near Cambridge, recalled the airlift as an operation which “saved Europe” and - although perhaps forgotten in Britain - was much appreciated in Berlin.
- Watch the video to learn more.
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