In July 1948, the West Schuylkill Press-Herald newspaper reported that Lt. Joseph A. Elonis of Donaldson, PA was flying supplies into Berlin during the Soviet blockade, part of the airlift that kept West Berlin from being starved out.
A World War II veteran pilot, Elonis wrote home about his return to Europe and the Berlin Airlift:
Greetings from the E.T.O. I’m over here again to fly supplies into Berlin while Russia is keeping the highways and railroad into Berlin closed or else under Russian inspection prior to passage through the Russian sector into Berlin.
I flew over here in a C-54 from Texas to Westover Field, Mass., to Newfoundland to the Azores and then to Frankfurt. Now we have a 24-hour flying schedule between Frankfurt and Berlin.
Our biggest problem is the large number of planes confined to such a small area in bad weather which has prevailed since we arrived here on 1 July 48.
When the Soviets sealed off West Berlin in June 1948, they gambled that cutting the roads and rails would force the Western Allies to abandon the city.
Instead, American and British crews flew coal, food, and fuel into Berlin around the clock for nearly a year, landing a plane every few minutes at the height of the operation.
Elonis and his C-54 were part of that lifeline – one Coal Region airman among the thousands who turned back a blockade without firing a shot.
Read more about pilots, crews, and the Air War in Europe
Schuylkill County airmen win War Bonds for bombing Berlin | 1944
Shot down and on the run: A Shenandoah, PA airman in Yugoslavia | 1944
Lackawanna County airman killed in bombing raid featured in “Masters of the Air”
A Pennsylvania airman’s letter about the air war over Europe | 1944
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