Who Was Involved In The Berlin Airlift ?
The main parties who were involved were the Soviet Union, who were on one side, and the Allied Forces on the other side. The United States, Britain and France formed the Allied Forces. |
The Russians caused the Berlin blockade in an effort to stop all supplies, including food and fuel, to the western sector of Berlin which was under the Allied forces control and influence. They thought that once all supplies were cut off, the western sector would starve, and the Allies would be forced to give control over to the Soviet Union. So, they stopped all traffic via rail, road and river in June 1948.
The Allies did not take this lightly. They did not want to fight the Russians or give in to their ruthless act. So they decided to deliver all supplies by air. The main players involved in the airlift were the Americans and the British.
The Americans had about a 100 C-47s to be spared for the airlift. The RAF contributed about a 150 Dakotas along with a few Avro Yorks. Together, they could airlift about 700 tons of supplies. They flew over the legal air space, and as they did not violate the Soviet air space, they were safe. The Russians helplessly watched the massive effort and could do nothing other than try to scare them away with a few random harmless shots.
Thus the Soviet Union and the Western Allies were involved in the Berlin Airlift, with the Soviets being on the wrong side of the fence and the Allies on the right side.
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