German reacts to Berlin Airlift - Biggest Logistical Flex Of All Time - Fat Electrician 

Thanks!

When Gail Halvorsen, AKA "The Candy Bomber" passed away in 2022 at the age of 101, the German Government declared an official day of mourning.

Under Capitalism, you occasionally have breadlines. Under Communism, you occasionally have bread.

You are right, it wasn’t 92,000 miles, 92,000,000 miles.

The opposite side of the coin of "Don't touch the USA's boats" is "Never tell someone in the USA that something can't be done". Messing with our boats will end badly. Saying that something can't be done is just a challenge for someone here to figure out how to do it.

My Dad fought in WWII as a US Army Combat medic. After the war, he was riffed out wth several million other men, he rejoined the US AirForce when it started up and switched his occupation to food service. Through my who life, he rarely talked about the war, but ask him about the Berlin Airlift and he lit up and you could not stop him from talking. He was part of it in Germany and I think he was far more proud of that than all of the war that preceded it.

My mom was one of the last surviving veterans of the Berlin Airlift, and she worked directly for some of the US Generals in charge of the Airlift until it finally ended. She used to have lunch with the air crews who dropped candy on their final approaches into Berlin Tempelhof, and on the weekends she spent a lot of time time traveling all throughout Europe. She told me some incredible stories about how much destruction she encountered due to the carpet bombing during the War and she marveled at how industrious the German people were in reconstructing the areas that had been bombed. (She was stationed in Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt.) All of this happened before I was born a few years after the Airlift. My mom passed away a couple of years ago at age 98, but she lived a very productive life, most of which she spent working for the Pentagon in Arlington, VA.

Its crazy to think some of the German mechanics served with the Luftwaffe fixing and maintaining German aircraft before. With the Berlin Airlift, they were serving British and American aircraft making them arguably the most knowledgeable plane mechanics on the planet!

Having not being bombed , I could understand the Americans being magnanimous towards the Germans . But the British did suffer on a personal level ,which makes their involvement even more generous

Here a little more background. At the same time the U.S was doing the Berlin Airlift. Feeding west Berlin. The U.S was also sending even more aid and supplies to Japan, China, Philippines. Who was making all this aid. The U.S was shoulding the burden of feeding the world for about 10 years after WW2. Little lesson on your confusion about capitalism vs communism. The United States is a constitutional republic with a capitalist economy. All communist countries are socialist dictatorships. With a oligarchy economy. Meaning no matter what you do. You work for the state.

my maternal grandfather escaped communism ... he would be in agreement with the Fat Electrician ... plus I believe my paternal Uncle Garfield was involved in the Berlin Airlift (he would also agree with the Fat Electrician)

He meant to say 92 million miles. Good catch. 600,000 hours of flight time.

What’s amazing is that the UK was not exactly rolling after the war, AND the Germans used their home field knowledge to make this work. A testament to what magnanimity after conflict can lead to.

The CANDY BOMBER 🍬 is my favorite part of this story. Just a random act of kindness that just spiraled into becoming one of the most memorable parts of the biggest humanitarian effort in history ... just ... legendary.

Basically, the US told the Soviets "We are flying unarmed US military cargo planes from our sector of Germany to our sector of Berlin and if the Soviets shoot down one, WWIII will pretty much be on. Do you want that?" The Soviets didn't. The treaty setting up the zones never mentioned airspace.

I think some of Chris's confusion about communism is a terminology thing. In the US, we tend to refer to communism as being the whole package, and socialism as being bits and pieces, such as the social safety net that he mentioned. So you could say a policy was more socialist or capitalist, but when people talk about communism, they're including the country, policies, and everything. And of course there's overlap and ambiguity, but those are the tendencies.

1. The USSR controlled most of the Eastern European countries, forcing them to communist or they got punished. 2. Communism has killed MILLIONS because they HAVE to rule by fear, and they must stamp out any who do things that the “government” does not tell them to do, even when the government has no idea what it’s doing. Look at china’s “Great Leap Forward”. 3. My college American history professor was a former Russian who was born under the USSR. I asked him one day after class what his childhood was like and if he ever visited Russia again. He told me that when he was 10, his family made a desperate attempt to get over the communist border to freedom. He and his parents made it, but his grandparents were to slow. Just 20 feet across the border, he watched the police capture his grandparents still in the communist border then get shot by the police while being declared traitors by the state. He said he has never gone back and he is so depressed by the college kids he sees going to these protests in America trying to advocate for communism.

Sir, there is a grassroots organization of people in the US decrying capitalism and extolling communism constantly, that is why he often talks about it. Love your videos and Fat Electrician’s videos. Loved the time I spent in Germany, it was awesome, my daughter still can speak German (I only speak English, Spanish and Korean). Be safe sir, love your content.

I am retired Air Force and was stationed in Germany 2 for 7 years. This is also required learning in the Air Force as it was the first true test of the newly formed Air Force back then. There is also a monument to this at the Frankfurt Airport. It is a statue that is curved and reaches the sky towards Berlin. There is the other one at Tempelhof Flug Platz pointing to Frankfurt.

My uncle was involved in the Berlin Airlift. I never knew that until I found his military records and found that he was awarded a medal from the US Air Force.

My dad was part of that. He has a Berlin Airlift - Occuoation of Berlin medal. After landing on the beaches of Normandy , and fighting the Battle of the Bulge. Among others. He said how beautiful Germany is when there’s no fighting. And the one thing he talked about a lot was a cathedral in Cologne . And another in a town/city whose name currently escapes me at the moment. Sorry.

Recently, in the US, young impressionable people have been seduced by the siren song of Marxism.

I don’t know why but parts of this made me cry, this is about the time my grandpa was in Germany as a Marine.

Random German "I have never seen a communist in my life" America "Your welcome"

NATO is the best thing ever, having allies like you guys and the Brits, and French, and everyone else. It's so good knowing the we have each others' backs!

Americans generally refer to the Soviet Union as communist and communism. He clearly knows what the precise definition of communism is versus capitalism. It is generally how Americans talk about it. Also, the Fat Electrician was also making many jokes, American style, which as a German you were not recognizing as jokes. It is similar to how the Germans didn’t understand the American response during the battle of the Bulge in WW2, when the Germans asked for the Americans to surrender and the American response was only the single word, “nuts”.

“Starvation is bad for business” - capitalism

We must not forget those who sacrificed their lives for the people of West Berlin. A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the Air Lift operations, which included 40 Britons and 31 Americans. Seventeen American and eight British aircraft crashed during the operation causing most of the deaths.

"A little Austrian painter started it"🤣 Well-said, sir! Well-said, indeed!

You're right it was earlier. I was in Berlin in the early 80s. It was very sad. You could see over the wall to the other side. It was quite depressing seeing the difference in the quality of life from one side of the wall to the other. The guards at Brandenburg Gate looked like they would not hesitate to delete you if you made a false move.

My grandfather was one of the pilots of the Berlin airlift I'm very proud of him R.i.p thank you all

My name is Steve. My wife is Lyn. I am 71 and out of high school I joined the army. I spent 1971 and 1972 in Frankfurt then Berlin. Going from Frankfurt to Berlin thru E Germany on a train we were guarded by Russian soldiers with machine guns. There were 5 Russian divisions surrounding us. I would be at the Berlin wall and look over at the barbed wire and minefields known as no mans land on the eastside. A few of us went thru checkpoint Charlie to E Berlin. We had to wear our uniforms and it was like going from a thriving W Berlin to a still wrecked E Berlin. I loved the German people and took lots of pictures. I was born in Colorado and now live in Sioux Falls SD, the Rushmore state. If you are ever in the USA stop by and I will take you to the mountain with the Presidents faces. PS I also visted Munich, Hamburg and a few other countries. GERMANY was amazing!

As an american (USAF member briefly) let me just say I love this story and my German brothers and sisters who needed this desperately.

A member of the communist party (yes we have some here) and a communist regime are both referred to as communists. You're expected to know the difference because of the sentence's context. Keep in mind that English, especially American English is far more nuanced than any individual European language...we have been a melting pot since our inception...British, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French...to name just a few. Just because Hitler was Austrian doesn't mean the a large percentage of the brainwashed German people and military warmongers weren't supporting his overweaning ambitions. Aloha from Hawaii.

I was stationed(USAF) in Germany during reunification on a 4 year assignment. Being there during Deutsche Wiedervereinigung was pretty special. An actual Historical event that I was a part of. Myself and 3 of my other friends(1 Air Force and 2 German guys) all rode our Motorcycles to Berlin. We were told to not enter the construction areas were they were dismantling the wall. We did it anyway and took chunks of the walls for ourselves. It was one of my German friends that brought the hammer and chisels. His mother was from Berlin when it was under Soviet control. I still have that fist sized chunk of concrete from the wall sitting on a shelf here at home all these years later.

A running joke on this channel (and several others who are friends with TFE) is that "Americans will use anything but the metric system." This video has a rare example where he does provide a metric measurement, but usually he will use things like blue whales or Volkswagens instead.

I am American, but myy grandparents are from Bremen, and i was stationed in Ansbach. I appreciate your channel as it helps get me back to my German heritage. Vielen danke!

Shows how treating Germany differently than at Versailles made an ally. The West would not let Berlin starve.

I was in West Berlin from 1981 to 1984 when it was a divided city. Stalin expected the airlift to fail because of the Luftwaffe's performance during the Battle of Stalingrad. During the Berlin Airlift, the 509th Bomb Group (the only nuclear strike force on the planet) deterred shooting down the unending stream of cargo planes by fighter/interceptors and anti-aircraft artillery. About the candy bombing--Britian was still on wartime food rations and those UK children who had been bombed during WW2 sacrificed their limited candy rations for Berlin children. If that's not impressive, someone has no heart.

I like the fact that you were so quick to catch his math error. To me it says that you were listening closely.

Under Communism, the people line up for bread. Under Capitalism, bread is lined up for the people.

Truman said, "We will stay in Berlin, period."

My father was in the Air Force and ran the control tower in West Germany that sent out the planes to Berlin. It really was a logistical nightmare, but they got the job done by working their tails off.

I remember watching the Berkin Wall come down. Reminder: Communism killed 100 Million people in the 20th Century.

I appreciate your German perspective. Thanks for the reaction.

My neighbor growing up grew up in East Berlin. Her stories in my childhood was an early lesson to always be thankful for what you have. It amazed me the first thing they ventured into West Berlin for after the wall came down was bananas. She hadn't had one in years at that point. It's the little things.

IMPORTANT: Thanks for your notices that the word Communism as a totally different meaning in 🇺🇸 and 🇩🇪. We mostly use it to describe just the economic system and not the ideology or countries itself. Just for a clearification nobody in 🇩🇪 (or only some few idiots) want communism. We are all happy with our Soziale Marktwirtschaft (social market economy) and love to be able to choose our job, starting our own business and seeking our luck in life, while having the safety nets of affordable health care, free education, subsidized public transportation and financial help for people in need. Although I am a bit envy of the lack of regulations and bureaucracy that you have in 🇺🇸. I removed the parts with my misleading use of the term communism. Sorry for the misunderstanding. 😊

He meant to say 92 million miles 😂

the berlin airlift is one of the many good things US president Harry Truman did after being initially derided when he replaced Roosevelt after his sudden death. Afterwards UK PM Churchill said to Truman " At first I detested you after you succeeded Roosevelt. But you have done more than any one man to save western civilization. ⚛😀

Communism wouldn't be so bad under a perfect system, but a perfect system could never exist.

Declaring a no fly zone (shutting down the sky) is viewed as an act of war in many cases. That's why the USSR didn't stop the planes coming in. Nobody wanted to take that final step to total war.

The Berlin Airlift was my favorite battle of the Cold War. We won without firing a shot.

I was an American Military member during the reunification of Deutschland. I lived in Berlin from 1990 -1993. I married a German woman in 1992…..still married to this day. Germans are great people that have the strongest economy in Europe. Berlin is still my favorite city to this day.

Pretty amazing what people can accomplish when they work together. The personal stories of your family as well as learning your perspective on this made this a very enjoyable watch. Thanks for Sharing :)

My great-uncle (Louis F. Budenz) was one of the top Communists in America back in the 30s and 40s before he converted back to Catholicism in 1945. There were many Communists in America back then.

Your description "A LITTLE AUSTRIAN PAINTER STARTED IT" was brilliant! Greetings from Coventry U.K.

We were stationed at Rhein-Main Air Base, now the Frankfurt am Main International Airport. At the gate of Rhein-Main was a three pronged statue to commemorate its role in the airlift. It was affectionately known as the Hunger Rake!

Please please please look up videos on the horrors on communism

You should find a video explaining what McCarthyism is and how that effected the US and still does to this day, it would really help you gain insight into American attitudes towards communism.

Communism is a dirty word in America. ❤Love this story❤

When I was in college, I took classes in Diplomatic American History. During the lecture on the Berlin Airlift, my professor noted that the air traffic control towers were maned by air traffic controllers from all the allies, Americans, UK, French and Soviets. He stated that during the entire duration of of the airlift, The Soviet controllers never missed an assigned shift or ever placed an aircraft in a hazardous position.

My old man was one of those pilots. The Soviets did attempt to close the air space - the US and UK said like hell.

After your comment, about the German money only being worthless after WWI, I did a quick check, and it does seem that after WWII, the German currency was also next to worthless. The main difference was, that after WWI, Germany was being taken advantage of by the Allied powers, and also be bled to death by the reparations demanded by Allies. After WWII, the Allies, while slowly, helped support the German economy rebuild itself. I really enjoy you channel, and always give it a thumbs up, keep up the good work👍👍

Imagine being the people living underneath the flight path. Good luck sleeping lol

I was stationed in Wiesbaden when they had a 50th anniversary of the Berlin airlift. Seeing a C-54 on the airfield broght tears to eyes of those who went through ordeal.

“Operation Vittles”: The German Airlift. The actual English word is “victuals” (pronounced vittles) meaning food. There are videos about Operation Little Vittles; I would suggest you review one of them. Operation Little Vittles was the name of the dropping of candy for E Berlin children. “Colonel Gail S. Halvorsen, also known as the "Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggly Wings", was a United States Air Force pilot who dropped candy to children in West Berlin during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-1949. Halvorsen's actions helped to boost the spirits of the children and others suffering during the Soviet blockade, which cut off food, supplies, electricity, and roadways from more than two million people.” “Halvorsen's story began when he encountered a group of children outside Tempelhof Airfield and gave them some gum from his ration pack.” (Each American serviceman received chocolate, gum, and cigarettes in each of their ration packs. M&Ms were created for this because the hardened candy coating kept them from melting as quickly as regular chocolate bars would.) “When he saw the children share the gum and even the wrappers, he promised to drop more candy for them the next day.” [He was so touched by the children breaking up the gum into tiny pieces to share with others and even tearing the wrappers up to share so they could sniff the gum scent later.] “Halvorsen attached chocolate bars to handkerchief parachutes and dropped them from his plane, often wiggling the wings as he flew over the airport to let the children know it was him. He also asked other pilots to donate their candy rations, and soon the operation became known as "Operation Little Vittles". In total, 23 tons of candy and other treats were delivered to Berlin during the airlift.” “Halvorsen's actions are considered to have changed the lives of the children and may have even helped the West win the ideological war with the Soviets over Germany's future.”

It's an eye watering, heart wrenching beautiful part of history

I'm 72 and the daughter of a career AF pilot. I remember our family watching this on TV and being so proud of both our and UK's Air Force and the German people in Berlin. They even saved their zoo animals. It was absolutely AMAZING!!! I remember the "candy drop"! We kids in the US were all in it to send candy to the kids in Berlin! And it was all on TV, the brand-new mass media in the world. Yes, Chris, they even delivered cars to West Berlin. Chris, please study the ideology and methodology of communist movements beginning with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, Stalin's forcible industrialization and murder of the Russian peasantry, the Holodomor in Ukraine, keep on going to Mao's actions in the 20th century and the USSR's behavior in eastern Europe. There is so much more, but that's a start. Then we can talk.

We did it Because every Human is worth it.

Great video dude! I'm glad that the U.S. and Germany are now allies! Even though I'm an American.…I have German ancestry in me, and I'm proud of what the Berlin Airlift accomplished!! The German people are great people, and deserve to have freedom and economic prosperity!

I am in Michigan, I am German, Dutch, Irish and Welsh. My sister Linda found our generation from the 60 s

I think the Berlin Airlift was a lot about healing. Yes, the Germans were starving because communism was trying to choke out democracy. But I think everyone needed a win too. Americans needed to stay busy with the scars of the war and the Germans needed to heal too. The candy drops and school children donating candy, the two countries working together for something good, finally.

An important part of the air lift was that it showed the German people that America and our western allies had nothing against them. We fought WW II to remove the Nazis from power, but we wanted the Germans to be our friends. It also showed the Germans how powerful America was. Today Germany is a dear friend of America and that friendship will last forever. 🙂

The US is KING in logistics. No other country can come close.

Irish like their potatoes too, but a diet of potato soup with no variety can starve you slowly.

While stationed at Ramstein AB in the 70's, we took the troop train from Frankfurt to West Berlin. The train was sealed, and made no stops during the trip until reaching Tempelhof train station. We toured West Berlin, then took a military transport through Checkpoint Charlie, and toured East Berlin. Night and Day. There was nobody on the streets in the East, the majority of the buildings were stark, gray concrete. Upon returning back through Charlie to the West, everything was lit up, people were out on the streets, and the difference in architecture was stunning.

Hey Chris, this is my first time sitting in with you on this fine day! Thank you so much for allowing me to do that! I enjoyed the time I spent here, listening to your commentary of the Fat Electrician, I subscribed and left a like for you! I am from the Great Lake state of Michigan! How are you? Best of luck with your channel! Deb Everybody loves potatoes but not for every meal, every day especially if you only have bread to go with it!

Thank you, Chris, for reacting to this excellent video!

If you don't mind, what part of Germany do live in or near? Do you have grandparents or great-grandparents that have stories of the candy for children? Or remember where they were when the Berlin wall fell? I'd love to hear their stories from their perspective. You can't go wrong with a Fat Electrician video. The Iran navy one is a classic.

The reason the air route was not closed was because at the Yalta conference beforethe war ended, 3 air routes for the west were agreed upon and put in writing. If the USSR closed those routes, it would be braking the treaty while the land route being open was depending on their good will and wasn't in writing, and they didn't think it could be done by air alone, so as they saw it they could get their way without braking the treaty.

My house has been standing since 1955. The reason we use wood is because it's a renewable resource and highly available here in the States. Your main resource in Europe are the stones, not much wood in Europe. that's why you see more stone and concrete and brick.

You sound funny sometimes too! 🤣🥰

Loved visiting the American Sector of Berlin! Walked across at Checkpoint Charlie and went to Alexanderplatz and Museum Island.

My uncle (from Michigan) was involved in the Berlin Airlift. He passed away 2 years ago at the age of 94.

Es ist schön, die Perspektive eines Deutschen darauf zu sehen. Vielen Dank!

That's funny my grandmother family also escaped from communist Berlin and went to Chicago I'll. Chicago is Berlins sister city. I am still here part of the Berlin wall is here I'Chicago and the German sub in the museum. Chicago is very German German stores and food. German words and letters on the stores. You can still speak German outside German consulate and German Airlines. German culture center and teach to speak German. The Dank House

Stalin would say it was communism.

At the end of world was 2 so many were hell bent on revenge against Germany and Japan that they forgot their humanity and became worse than the bad guys. Shame. Thank God it was short lived.

It has largely gone forgotten in modern times but the Allied Forces occupied the city of Berlin until 1994. It wasn't until the Soviet Union collapsed and the communist ideology of the USSR ended that the Berlin Wall was torn down and the countries were re-united. This wasn't that long ago.

When he said that the E. Germans had to watch this he was speaking figuratively. Meaning that they didn't actually have to see it they were hearing about it. And thank you for correcting my pronunciation of Deutsche mark. I've been saying that wrong for 40 years.

im sorry for spamming. we dont need to agree, im not as german as you but i am german enough to hate the soviets and the nazis. love u my friend❤️❤️❤️❤️

Another historical "cold war" fight against communism was Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. They were based in Munich, but had huge broadcast towers scattered throughout Europe, so people in the communist countries could hear the news and broadcasts, including Rock & Roll. RFE/RL would have public service announcement commercials on United States television asking for monetary support. I still remember the Radio Free Europe commercial of a man that escaped from Hungary. There are RU-vid video's about RFE/RL, check them out. I'm glad to see a young man wanting to learn history.

Chris, you and you're countrymen are very welcome! We Americans and the other Allies of western Europe may have had to fight y'all in the War, but nothing said we should kick you when you're down. It was a horrible situation the folks in Berlin were in, and I like to think that it would've been the cruelist of insults for us to do nothing. Thankfully, that was not the case, and the good people of Germany were an integral part of making this effort successful. In my opinion, regardless of what path that spiteful Austrian painter lead you down, y'all more than earned your honor and pride back during the Airlift. You and yours take good care, Chris! Loved seeing your reaction to this video!

We just covered the airlift in history class this past semester at the high school where I work. It was an amazing feat, and I'm going to watch this video again.

Research Dieter Dengler, one of my personal heroes. Born in Germany, father was killed on the Eastern Front. As a kid, he saw an American fighter plane during the war and decided he would be a pilot. As a young adult, he traveled to the United States, where he eventually became an American Air Force and Navy pilot. Was shot down over Laos, and was one of only two American pilots to successfully escape from POW camps during the Vietnam War.

My grandmother (born in America 🇺🇸)is half German with the other half being from Luxembourg. Her father was from Gillenfeld in the Rheinland area of Germany and her mother was from a place in northern Luxembourg that starts with an M and is quite a long name. Both of them spoke German and English.

18:00 Damn. Good Catch. Accuracy matters. Probably should have bee 92 million miles, not 92 thousand.

Communism is still slightly taboo in the U.S. In the 50’s we had the “Red Scare” where everyone was suspected of being a communist and people lost their jobs and had accusations made against them. Unsurprisingly, communism was, and still is, associated with the USSR which was our arch-rival. We are also a very individualistic society, which is incompatible with communism, so there’s that as well. This was a great video btw! :)

I LOVE YOU BOSS! My Grandfather served in the U.S. Navy in WW2. He was a cook on a battleship in the Pacific. I walked to my grand parents house in the 3rd grade (1990 something) crying because my school mates laughed about the fact he was a cook. He sat me down and told me to go and tell them the next day to try serving 5000 men food they cooked IN HIGH TIDE AND IN A TYPHOON! It worked. when the Korean war hit guess what, the Navy would not take him back because he developed a heart condtion (Murmer if I remember) . However, the army BEGGED HIM TO SIGN UP NOW and he did. when he was passing (dying) in his final days he was asking my uncle to help him call in artillary and airstrikes on those commie scumbags because in those last day's he was killing chinese and north korean troops. sorry for my bad spelling, but thank you for the video and your time. J.D.S.

In the beginning there was little hope just to get supplies and then Berlin survived. The story of the candy bomber. He was almost court marshaled. I grew up when that little bit of candy meant a lot. It's as big as the air lift it's self. I was born in Berlin Wi. 1954 on a farm. A treat...that was gold to me. Just like the kid's of Berlin !