In the early days of the Cold War the Soviet Union blocked all the Western Allies’ rail and and road access to West Berlin in efforts to force them to hand over control of the entire city.  The Berlin Blockade lasted from 24 June 1948-12 May 1949, and resulted in the Berlin Airlift: the Western Allies flew over 200,000 flights carrying fuel and food to West Berlin that year.

I love this story in particular (via wikipedia):

Gail Halvorsen, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his hand-held camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on 17 July on one of the C-54s and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft. He introduced himself and they started to ask him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out his only two sticks of Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum, and promised that, if they did not fight over them, the next time he returned he would drop off more. The children quickly divided up the pieces as best they could. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over, and he replied, “I’ll wiggle my wings.”

The next day, on his approach to Berlin, he rocked the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Every day after that the number of children increased and he made several more drops. Soon there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to “Uncle Wiggly Wings”, “The Chocolate Uncle” and “The Chocolate Flier”. His commanding officer was upset when the story appeared in the news, but when Tunner heard about it he approved of the gesture and immediately expanded it into “Operation Little Vittles”. Other pilots participated, and when news reached the US, children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon, the major manufacturers joined in. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin, and the “operation” became a major propaganda success. The candy-dropping aircraft were christened ” raison bombers” by the German children.

Also, and in true Berlin form, the lineup for the Berlin Festival is looking like a pretty good time.  Originally constructed in the 1920s by the Nazi Government and apparently once counted among the world’s largest buildings, I would normally make a small list of reasons to visit the now defunkt Tempelhof Airport, including architectural interest, historical significance through the Second World War and the Cold War, and current (extensive) use of the former runways and surrounding open spaces by barbequers, in-line skaters etc.  Next weekend, you can add Santigold, Beirut, the Bloody Beetroots and Diplo to that list.