Holiday Special

"We expect," said General Lucius Clay last July, "to build the airlift up to 4,000 tons a day." Last week, airmen of the U.S. Air Force and Britain's R.A.F. set new airlift records and doubled the general's goal. On Washington's Birthday they landed one plane every 90 seconds, flew 7,513 tons of supplies into besieged Berlin. Next day, learning that the Russians were celebrating Red Army Day, airmen stepped up their load again, roared in with 7,897 tons. Two days later, with their holiday momentum still intact, they brought in 8,025 tons.

This was more than 80% of what Berlin's west sectors used to get by land before the Russians started their blockade; besides food and coal it included the other things that make a city hum: machinery and industrial raw materials. West Berliners now get 2,000 calories of food a day, 270 more than when Berlin was supplied by land.

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