Air cargo the area surrounding the city and thus land access. As this access was closed, in the so-called Berlin blockade, an airlift remained the only option to get increasingly urgent deliveries of food, coal, and other supplies to West Berlin. Over 330 days to 12 May 1949 a total of 2.26 million tons of cargo were airlifted to Berlin, an average of 6,800 tons a day, 80% by the US and 20% by the UK. Although freight traffic developed modestly, reaching only 800,000 tonnes worldwide by the mid-1950s, the world economy was hitting its post-war stride. Germany and Japan were emerging
Merchant aircraft carrier maintained and stored on deck. Armament: 1 x single 4 in (102 mm) QF MK IV, 2 x single 40 mm Bofors, 6 x single 20 mm Oerlikon cannons. These ships were called "Triple Twelves" because with a deadweight tonnage of 12,000 each consumed 12 tons of fuel per day at a speed of twelve knots. "Amastra" and "Ancylus" ceased operating Swordfish in late 1944, the empty decks often being used to ferry aircraft from the USA to the UK. Merchant aircraft carrier A merchant aircraft carrier (also known as a MAC) was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British