Deutsche Post "Berliner Bauten" - DC-54 over Templehof

 

DEUTSCHE POST issued the "Berliner Bauten" series of stamps from 1949 to 1954. This West Berlin definitive stamp series consisted of 24 one-color stamps that were printed in sheets . Some of the stamps were also available in stamp books and on rolls . It was the first of two independent Berlin postal stamp series. Before that, the so-called black and red overprints had been used on stamps of the Allied occupying powers. These stamps continued use until about 1957. 

 

Amongst the stamps issued was the one shown here, the Douglas C-54 Skymaster flying over Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin. This lime green stamp was first released in 1949 after the end of the Berlin Airlift. The postmark cancellation for this block set is 1956.

 

The Western Allies organised the Berlin Airlift (also known as Berliner Luftbrücke, literally "Berlin Air Bridge" in German) from 26 June 1948 to 30 September 1949 to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population.

 

It was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. The Soviets offered to drop the blockade if the Western Allies withdrew the newly introduced Deutsche Mark from West Berlin.

 

The Berlin Airlift officially ended on 30 September 1949 after fifteen months. The US Air Force had delivered 1,783,573 tons (76.40% of total) and the RAF 541,937 tons (23.30% of total), totalling 2,334,374 tons, nearly two-thirds of which was coal, on 278,228 flights to Berlin.

 

The C-47s and C-54s together flew over 92,000,000 miles (148,000,000 km) in the process. At the height of the Airlift, one plane reached West Berlin every thirty seconds. Seventeen American and eight British aircraft crashed during the operation. A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation.

 

The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe and played a major role in drawing West Germany into the NATO orbit several years later in 1955. 

 

Source: Wikipedia