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I've read 2 books lately about the Berlin Airlift. One was titled "The Candy Bombers" and the other "Daring Young Men". I recommend both.
I learned a lot I didn't know, especially the RAF and French contributions. The Russians had a couple of radio towers that were used for propaganda broadcasting that were in the French sector. They were asked to move then as they were very close to the landing pattern of one of the runways being used, the Russians refused, the French blew them up (well, down).
Here is a couple of excerpts from "Daring Young Men" by Richard Reeves to let you know what the pilots and ground grews went thru:
"The most dangerous tricks, as November began, involved deicing planes before takeoff. The safest way was to use J-33 jet fighter engines with their exhaust turned toward the wings of the C-54s. The alternative used at Wiesbaden, was spraying alcohol on the planes. "We just sit there and pray there are no backfires on take-off" said Laferty. "Because if there were, there was going to be a fire". Page 160
"Another pilot, Lieutenant Earl Hammack, could not move his control yoke coming into Tempelhof until using both his feet and all his might he pushed it forward enough to land. Mechanics found coal dust, rags, and two crescent wrenches jammed around the plane's control cables. Page 160
"There was very little maintenance capability at Tempelhof and overworked engines often would not start easily, especially in wet, cold weather. One way to get going, which tended to slow down the parade, was for a pilot to start the takeoff roll with only 2 or 3 engines firing until the airstream spun the propleeers of the dead engine or engines and they coughed tio like--the same trick as rolling a car downhill, then popping hte clutch to kick start it--then aborting the takeoff and taxiing back to start again with four engines running.
That was replaced by wrapping an elastic rope (bungee cords from parachutes) around the hub of the propeller, attaching one end to a jeep and then pulling away the vehicle and releasuing the cord to start the prop spinning, the way old fashioned auto cranks did. Page 159
"If worn-out spark-plugs were the problem, mechanics would replace only the plugs in the four lowest cylinders, the easiest to get at without taking off the engine cowl, and that would usually do the trick. Page 159
"This time the problem was his own carelessness. In walking around his Avro Tudor he forgot to take out the bolt used to keep the tail elevator from flapping in wind on the ground, and the flap would not move as he reached the end of the runway. He managed to muscle the plane into the air, barely--as German construction crews working on the runway ran for their lives--using the little trim tabs on the elevator. Then he made three wide turns around the airport at an altitude of three hundred feet until he was able to use the trim tabs and changing engine speeds to line the plane up above the runway and force it down. To get the plane down again, he ordered the other three men aboard to run back and forth between the cockpit and tail to make the plane nose-heavy and then tail-heavy as he landed. Page 160
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