More airlift capability was needed, and larger Douglas C-54s began to arrive on June 30 to replace the C-47s, all of which were relieved by October 1. Tonnage figures rose, and within 28 days the planes were flying 3,028 tons of food, clothing, coal, medicine and petroleum products into the city each day.

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The Allied planes carried nearly 121,000 tons in August, and the West Berliners were gradually getting enough supplies for a bare subsistence. In September, seeing that the two airfields could not handle the rising demand for coal shipments, Clay ordered several large steamrollers to build a new airfield, Tegel, in the French sector. Too big to be carried by C-54s, the steamrollers were cut into sections with acetylene torches, flown to Berlin and welded together again. A Douglas C-74 Globemaster and a Boeing YC-97A Stratofreighter were each flown experimentally for a short period, as were five Fairchild C-82 Flying Boxcars.

The Air Force had a few Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters in West Germany in case the Soviets started a shooting war. To back them up, the 36th Fighter Group pilots and mechanics, with P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters, were ordered from the Panama Canal Zone. Arriving in Scotland on a U.S. Navy carrier, they were flown to Furstenfeldbruck, near Munich, to patrol the border with East Germany.

The approach of fall brought freezing conditions that caused delays. To get rid of ice that formed on aircraft wings while planes were on the ground, a de-icing unit using a jet engine was constructed. Master Sgt. Paul G. LeBeau conceived the idea of mounting an engine from a P-80 on a truck and maneuvering it into position in front of a plane so that the hot air blast would melt the ice. It not only melted ice but also blew the wing dry. Six similar de-icers were ordered for the airlift.

It appeared that the operation would continue indefinitely. So the Air Force called on Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner, a World War II veteran who had led transport operations from India across the Himalayan “Hump” to China. With British assent, he was named commander of the Combined Airlift Task Force. He brought experienced members of his staff from the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) with him. Their first major concern was aircraft maintenance. All planes had to be inspected after 25 hours of flight, then taken out of service after 200 hours for a more thorough check. Those inspections were conducted at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich. Later, a base at Burtonwood, England, handled this requirement.

Aircraft were returned to the United States for 1,000-hour checks. Engines were overhauled by the Navy machine shops at Alameda Naval Air Station, Calif. Two Navy squadrons furnished 24 Douglas R5Ds, the Navy equivalent of the C-54s, which also participated in the airlift effort. The British furnished 58 Dakotas at first, then 40 Yorks for the effort. DC-4s from various civilian air carriers participated in the auxiliary transatlantic lift in support of Operation Vittles.

It soon became obvious that the sod runway with pierced steel mats at Tempelhof would be unsafe after much usage by the heavier four-engine aircraft. The runway was strengthened while construction of two cement runways began next to the steel strip. Other needed bases were obtained by Tunner with the British at Celle and Fassberg.

Much coal would be required in the bitter Berlin winter, and Air Force Colonel William Wuest spent hours flying over Berlin looking for a suitable place to drop it in burlap bags from low-flying bombers. A military firing range seemed appropriate. Its abutments could be used to stop the rolling lumps. But the experiment was discontinued when the coal was consistently smashed into dust.

“What I found was badly needed was better timing of the flying operation,” Tunner said in an interview at his Virginia home in 1969. “Valuable time was wasted in Berlin as crews landed, parked, shut off engines, took off for the snack bar and then strolled over to Operations to make out their return clearances. I laid down an order: No crew member was to leave the side of his aircraft while the Germans unloaded it. Each plane would be met by an operations officer who would hand the pilot his return clearance all filled out, and a weather officer would give him the latest weather back at his home base. Mobile snack bars tended by some of the most beautiful girls in Berlin would move to the side of each plane. Turn-around time was cut in half to 30 minutes.”

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