Hi,
My Grandfather was a Berlin Airlift pilot in C-54's. I never met him, so I can only pass on a story from a letter that he wrote to the family.
A quick back ground on him. His name was Major Clement W. Tromblay USAF. During World War 2 he was a B-24 Bomber pilot in China-Burma-India. In 1948 he was called up and went to fly in Germany, his rank was a Captain.
The story that I remember reading, was about flying in the narrow corridors between airfields in Berlin. On more than one occasion, the Russian would have there pilots, flying Mig's, play "chicken" with our pilots. The Mig pilots would fly head on, right at the cockpit, trying to get the C-54's to turn and violate the corridor airspace. In his letter, he said that on an occasion, the Russian pilots would even fire there guns, which you would see light up on there wings. But he would just continue flying his coarse, and not deviate.
I only have few pictures of him, while he was in the Berlin Airlift. I know he brought back a dog, named Dutch, that my Dad played with. In some of the pictures you can see the dog, which was a Boxer, in the cockpit. In total, he flew 254 mission and 2 Trans-Atlantic crossings in the Douglas C-54. He stayed in the Air Force for 30 years and retired as a Major. He flew many other types of airplanes and had many other adventures. The only picture I have on this computer is with his B-24 crew during World War 2. He is in the back row, standing, all the way to the left.
My Grandfather was the biggest inspiration for me to become a pilot, mechanic, airplane owner and restorer. I have a goal in my life to fly all of the planes that he did and I'm about half way there.
I hope this helps and good luck with your report.
Bill Tromblay
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