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Transcripts of 45 interviews recorded for The Berlin Airlift , a television documentary produced by 3BM Television for Channel 4's Secret History series and broadcast on 29 June 1998. Those interviewed include individuals and or relatives of individuals connected with the airlift operation which took place in response to the Berlin blockade, 24 June 1948 - October 1949, notably members of the armed forces of UK and USA including the RAF, RN and WAAF, a representative of the Foreign Office, journalists and authors, German interpreters, German civilians and children, members of Soviet administration and relatives of servicemen. Attention is given to direct roles and experience of the airlift but also seeks views of its historical significance to them personally and to the wider world. Topics covered in the interviews relate to causes of the blockade, Stalin's aims for Germany after 1945, the potential threat of war in 1948, British and US responses to the blockade, Soviet intelligence gathering and espionage in the UK Foreign Office, attitudes of British servicemen to American servicemen in Germany and vice versa, German experience of the Soviet conquest of Berlin in 1945 and ensuing occupation, living conditions at the air bases in West Germany and in Berlin, food and fuel shortages, rationing, operation of the black market, prostitution, relations between conquered and occupying forces, 'no fraternisation' rule, the logistics of the airlift operation - aircraft maintenance, loading and unloading of supplies, Soviet harassment, experience of pilots and crew, incidents such as air crashes, evacuation of Berliners including children, and Operation Little Vittles. The role of significant individuals such as Ernest Bevin (1884-1951), British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the time, and Gen. Lucius D. Clay (1897-1978), Military Governor of Germany 1947 - 1949, are also discussed. Notable participants include Sir Frank Kenyon Roberts (1907-1998) diplomat and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during 1948 - 1949, Mrs Jessamy Waite, widow of Air Cdre Reginald Newnham Waite (1901-1975), who devised and organised the airlift operation, and Col Gail S Halverson who became known as the 'Candy Bomber' for his drops of packages of candy attached to miniature parachutes to the children of Berlin. Transcripts include questions and answers, and the tape counter numbering has been logged. The interviewer is not identified. Where interviews were translated this has been noted. Some names, places or phrases have been guessed at, or spelled phonetically by the transcriber. No information is given about the date or identity of the transcriber.

Three scrapbooks containing newspaper and magazine cuttings, invitations, envelopes, menus, postcards, programmes, telegrams and correspondence, 1839-1906, notably including manuscript orders for Keppel, commanding Nile flotilla, from Lt Col Francis Reginald Wingate, ordering HM Gunboats SULTAN and ABU KLEA to Fashoda, Sudan, and for Keppel to communicatethe intentions of any Europeans found there to Maj Gen Sir Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Sirdar of Egyptian Army, 18 Sep 1898; cuttings from The Illustrated London News, The Daily Graphic, The Navy and Army Illustrated, Black and White and The Penny Illustrated Paper, mostly relating to the Nile Expedition, 1885, the Sudan campaign, 1898, including the Fashoda incident, Sudan, Sep 1898;invitations and envelopes addressed to Keppel's father, Capt Hon Henry Keppel, RN, 1839-1856. Three photograph albums with 454 photographs relating to Keppel's career, 1888-1913, including service on HMS ALEXANDRA, Mediterranean, 1888-1889; the loss of HMS SULTAN, run aground, Comino Channel, Malta, 1889; RN Gunboats on the river Nile, 1897-1898; the launch of HMSDREADNOUGHT, Portsmouth, 1906; Keppel's service as Commodore of the Royal Yachts, 1905-1909; the funeral of HM King Edward VII, 1910; the coronation of HM King George V, 1911; Keppel's command of HMS MEDINA on voyage to India with HM King George V for the King Emperor's Durbar, Delhi, 1911; Royal visit to Berlin and Potsdam, Germany, 1913. Typescript volume entitled 'Reminiscences of Admiral Sir Colin Keppel GCVO KCIE CB DSO. Collected from his diary' by Rt Hon Sir Algernon Edward West [1947].