Added by Steve Jeal on 08 February 2019

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In 1948/9 the York was one of a fleet of Allied aircraft which delivered the largest humanitarian airlift ever attempted.

The interior of Avro York G-ANTK has been reinterpreted for visitors to Duxford to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this record-breaking event. G-ANTK is part of the British Airliner Collection and visitors can board and experience a partly-loaded aircraft preparing for a flight to Berlin. The hazards of flying so many aircraft along restricted air corridors and the skills needed by pilots and navigators in the 1940s are explored together with photographic evidence of life in post-war Berlin.

The story of the Airlift is a mixture of post-war hardship, idealogical positioning between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union and the morale of the Berliners as they tried to rebuild their lives in a bombed city.

Mounting an Airlift was far from straightforward and relied heavily on Berliners to fix runways, unload supplies and help with distribution. The Airlift not only saved the local population from starvation but also delivered fuel for the only remaining power station and essential materials for post-war reconstruction.