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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.

Copies of papers, 1909-1974, comprising typescript copy of the 'Interim Report of the Advisory Committee for Aeronautics', 1909; night order book, HMS THESEUS, Korea, 1950-1951; newspaper cuttings on HMS THESEUS' departure from UK to Korea and subsequent return, 1950-1951; typescript transcript of Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies lecture by Bolt, Oct 1951, entitled 'HMS THESEUS in the Korean War and some special problems of naval aviation in that theatre' (subsequently published in the Journal of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies; standard circular letters to all retired admirals, containing Royal Navy news and information, from Chief of Naval Staff and First Sea Lord Adm Sir Varyl (Cargill) Begg, 1966-1968, Adm Sir Peter (John) Hill-Norton, 1971, and Adm Sir Michael (Patrick) Pollock, 1972-1974; article by Bolt on minesweeping in 1940-1941 by Vickers DWI (Directional Wireless Installation) Wellington aircraft entitled 'Minesweeping Wellingtons: Part 1: equipment and technique: early operations in the Thames Estuary', published in Air Pictorial (Apr-May 1979), with nine uncaptioned photographs of Wellington aircraft and a captured German magnetic mine.

Papers relating to the military career of Maj Gen Sir John Edward Capper, dated 1900, [1910] and [1913], 1917-1918, principally comprising typescript notes on military aeronautics, [1910]; text of his lecture to the Staff College on the effect of aircraft on war, [1913]; telegrams between German High Seas Fleet and V Adm Sir David Beatty, Commander-in-Chief of the British Grand Fleet, concerning the surrender of the former at Scapa Flow, 1918; 'Report of the commission appointed by Act of Parliament to enquire into the operations of war in Mesopotamia' (London, HMSO, 1917). Copy of typescript text on the Capper Medal Collection, Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, [1969], including brief biographies of members of the Capper family.

Photograph album containing photographs on board the HMS CALYPSO and HMS PEMBROKE I, including crew attending a sporting event, 1925; aeroplane wreckage and the forced landing of an air liner, Corfu, 1926; ship football team and officers, 1926; torpedo firing, 1927; and crew dressed as clowns for Navy week, 1928.

Just a Bit of Time , memoir of the life and service of Captain Michael Hugh Hutton, 1931-1985; including descriptions of training at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, 1938; service as midshipman aboard HMS JAMAICA and HMS ROCKET, 1942-1943; the Battle of Barents Sea, Dec 1942; involvement in Operation TUNNEL for the interception of German shipping in the English Channel which resulted in the loss of HMS CHARYBDIS and HMS LIMBOURNE, Oct 1943; the bombardment of the Normandy coast by HMS WARSPITE, D Day, 6 Jun 1944; training to become a pilot, 1945-1948; work as personal pilot to Vice Admiral Sir John Eccles, 1954-1956; service aboard HMS BULWARK, Singapore, 1963-1965. With photocopied photographs of Hutton as Captain, HMS JAMAICA, HMS ROCKET, HMS WARSPITE, HMS OCEAN, a Firefly aircraft approaching a landing deck and HMS HARDY.

Papers of MRAF Sir John Slessor, 1965-1968, including: correspondence regarding the Defence Review on Naval Airpower with Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Elworthy; W M Mills, Ministry of Defence; Edward Shackleton, Ministry of Defence; Hawker Siddeley Aviation Ltd; Air Marshal Sir Kenneth Cross, Transport Command; and others, 1965-1968, particularly debating the use of aircraft carriers. Correspondence regarding the Battle of the Atlantic with Vice Admiral Sir Peter Gretton; Capt Stephen Roskill, historian; the Air Historical Branch; the Naval Historical Branch; and others, 1966-67, including statistical analysis of efficacy of RAF and information and statistics from Air History Branch regarding U-Boat destruction, 1955. Correspondence with Capt B H Liddell Hart, 1965; with Rear Admiral Samuel Morison, USNR, 1968; with Professor Arthur Marder, 1966. Articles by Slessor relating to the Defence Review on Naval Airpower, including: 'An Integral part of the Fleet', 1964; 'The Capital Ship Complex', 1965; 'Air Power - Seabourne or Shore-based', 1965; 'Naval Air Power - Is it Worth It?', 1965; 'The Story of Jutland: Some reflections on Vol. 3 of "From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow" - Arthur J Marder', 1966; 'Air Power and the Defence Review', 1966; 'Air Power East of Suez', 1966; 'The Purchase of the F111', 1966; 'Meeting Today's Defence Needs: Virtues of Shore-Based Planes', letter to The Times , 1968; and 'The Air League's Memorandum on Defence - January 1967', 1967. Also articles by others including: 'The case for the Aircraft Carrier' by Fletcher Pratt, and response 'The Case for Land-Based Air Power' by Francis V Drake, The Reader's Digest , 1949; German, Italian and Japanese U-Boat Casualties during the War: Particulars of Destruction , (HMSO, 1946); A memorandum on Defence , The Air League, 1967; and 'Merchant Aircraft Carriers' by Kenneth Poolman, Air Pictorial , Oct 1968.

Copies of official photographs of HMS RAJAH, 1944-1945, including details of anti-aircraft guns; aircraft on board (some crashed onto deck); aircraft being unloaded by crane; Suez Canal; wardroom and ratings messdeck, Christmas 1944; boxing and hockey on deck. Also copy of a certificate of service for 1943-1946; wireless history sheet, 1943-1945.