Operation Plainfare, the British component, ran in parallel with Operation Vittles from the beginning. British aircraft departed from RAF bases in northern Germany and flew into Gatow airport in the British sector of Berlin. The British contribution was not simply a junior partner’s effort: by January 1949, British aircraft in the airlift numbered 147, compared to 249 American aircraft.
British aircraft included Avro Yorks, Handley Page Hastings transports, Avro Lancasters converted for cargo use, Sunderland flying boats (which could land on the Havel lakes in West Berlin, supplementing land-based operations), and a fleet of aircraft operated by commercial charter companies under contract to the Royal Air Force. The British contracted approximately twenty-five civilian charter companies to supplement military capacity, an approach that gave Plainfare access to aircraft and crews that would not otherwise have been available.
The British contribution included a notable milestone: on February 18, 1949, a British York aircraft landed the one-millionth ton of cargo in Berlin. That the milestone fell to a British aircraft rather than an American one was not coincidental; the British had been flying throughout the operation and their aircraft had contributed substantially to the cumulative total.
RAF Air Commodore John W.F. Merer served as Tunner’s deputy after the two commands were merged in October 1948. The combined headquarters at Wiesbaden was multinational, though American officers and procedures dominated. The merger was necessary for operational efficiency: having two separate commands managing overlapping air corridors and shared airports was not sustainable as the operation grew.