Jack Bennett; First Berlin Airlift Flier

Jack O. Bennett, an American civilian pilot credited with making the first flight of the Berlin Airlift, has died. He was 86.

Bennett died Aug. 26, his family announced Sunday in the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper. They did not provide details.

A guest student at the Technical University in Berlin before World War II, Bennett--who had started flying at age 14--returned to Germany after the war to work in Frankfurt for American Overseas Airlines, which flew to and from West Berlin.

Berlin’s city government and the Berliner Morgenpost credited him with making the first flight of the Berlin Airlift in June 1948, flying a Douglas DC-4 loaded with potatoes.

Britain, France and the United States launched the operation after the Soviet Union cut off all land and water routes to West Berlin in an attempt to starve the Western powers out.

The Western allies responded with the biggest airlift in history, some 278,000 flights around the clock that delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies to the city. After almost a year, the Soviets gave up the blockade in May 1949.

A native of Ebensburg, Pa., Bennett graduated from Pennsylvania State University and studied aeronautical engineering at MIT. After wondering why German planes flew much faster than similar American aircraft, he applied for a study grant and moved to Berlin.

He lived in Berlin and continued flying to and from the city for Pan American Airways until 1974.

He later wrote a book, “40,000 Hours in the Sky,” on his experiences--among them, meeting Hermann Goering, chief of Nazi Germany’s air force, in prewar Berlin.

The Berlin city government expressed its sorrow at Bennett’s death.

“Bennett, like so many of his fellow pilots, put his life on the line during the blockade to ensure the existence and freedom of Berliners in the face of the Soviet threat,” spokesman Albert Eckert said.

“Bennett embodies the change in the relationship between Germany and the United States that took place,” Eckert said. “The victorious power became a protecting power, and Bennett became a Berliner.”

Bennett was buried in a private service, the Berliner Morgenpost reported. He is survived by his wife, Marianne.