Photograph showing the interior of a 'Dakota' airplane loaded with kitbags full of coal, destined for Berlin during the airlift of 1948. This particular airplane carried 10 tons of coal in the bags, which was unloaded at Berlin within 15 minutes. Between April 1948 and May 1949 Stalin, leader of the USSR, imposed a land blockade on supplies from Western Europe to West Berlin. In response the British and American governments organised an enormous airlift to supply food and other essentials t