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The Berlin Airlift: A Race to Save the City Posted: 29 Sep 2021 03:10 PM PDT William "Bill" Tunner—"Tonnage Tunner" to his comrades—had a track record unlike any other. From autumn 1944 until the winter of 1945, he had commanded one of the most exhilarating aerial operations of World War II. His task had been to fly in guns and explosives to Kunming, in China, where the beleaguered forces of Chiang Kai-shek were fighting a rearguard battle against the occupying Japanese. The route necessitated flying over the eastern Himalayas, traversing some of the most desolate mountain ranges in the world. Now Tunner was to apply his talents to the German capital, accepting with alacrity the offer of running the Berlin Airlift. Shortly after, he headed directly to Wiesbaden, in the American zone of Germany. Tunner was appalled by the amateurishness of the existing airlift, describing it as "a real cowboy operation." There were no schedules, no discipline, no sense of purpose. "Everything was temporary," he said. "Confusion everywhere." This confusion reached a breaking point on Friday, August 13, 1948, "Black Friday," when Tunner flew into Berlin in the company of Red Forman and Sterling Bettinger. It was the day on which the airlift would be forever transformed. The weather was atrocious, with scudding black clouds and driving rain. Visibility over the Harz Mountains was down to zero. Tunner recalled the words of the comedian Bob Hope: "Soup I can take, but this stuff's got noodles in it." The chaos on the ground forced the control tower to stack planes in the skies above Berlin, with scores of aircraft circling blindly in a 9,000-foot soup of cloud. The chaos on the ground forced the control tower to stack planes in the skies above Berlin, with scores of aircraft circling blindly in a 9,000-foot soup of cloud. As they bucked and shuddered, the pilots could be heard on the airwaves in a state of high alarm. The principal problem with the existing airlift was a lack of discipline. No sooner was Tunner on the ground in Berlin than he instigated two cardinal rules that were to govern the airlift from that point on. Rule one was a standard practice that governed all flights. Henceforth, all planes were to fly an unchanging flight pattern determined solely by instrument. Technology was to govern everything, a risky strategy at a time when radio compasses were often faulty. Rule two was no less controversial. To avoid the hazard of stacking planes in the congested skies over Berlin, any pilot who missed his landing slot was to return immediately to base. "It caused a great deal of comment," Tunner noted, "particularly among air traffic experts." But his rigid application of Reginald Waite'... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips

Grammar Quirks: Ellen Feldman on Using Grammar to Create Characters Posted: 29 Sep 2021 09:57 AM PDT Grammar Girl: What's your favorite word and why? Ellen Feldman: Where to begin?  I love the word "feisty," because, like its meaning, it comes out swinging. I'm fond of "compassion" for the same reason, that it sounds like what it means. There, the S sound is not toughened by the T.  It's, well, compassionate.  I also like "clement," though I couldn't say why, except that just saying or writing it makes me feel calmer. And one of my favorite words has wandered in from another language. "Schadenfreude" carries in one long mashup both its pleasure and its shame. GG: What's a word you dislike (either because it's overused or misused) and why? EF: "Share."  I don't mind it in its original sense.  I'll share my lunch with you or give you a share of my winnings, but people who want to share their feelings or an anecdote rather than simply tell me about it set my teeth on edge. GG: What word will you always misspell? EF: I have a lot of trouble between lose and loose, but perhaps that comes under the heading of grammar rather than spelling.  I love words, but I am not a good speller. I love words but I am not a good speller. GG: What word (or semblance of a word) would you like to see added to the dictionary? Why? EF: I'm ashamed to say that I cannot think of a single word now, though I often put words together when I'm writing. The language is already so rich that I wish more people used more of those that already exist. GG: Any grammar pet peeves we should know about? EF: The mistake that makes me want to commit violence is using the nominative after a preposition. Would you like to join Sally and I?  It happened between he and I. I think the reason I find this so offensive is that it's pretentious. For some reason people think "I" and "he" sound more erudite than "me" and "him." I also hate email that begin with "hey," and my name, and I'm shocked at how many of them I get professionally. Yes, I know I'm showing my age here. GG: To what extent does... Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips

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