Short Sunderland Mk. V (VB887 4X-X) of 230 Squadron on Lake Havel during the Berlin Airlift, 1948

This photograph shows the first Sunderland flying boat to land on Lake Havel during the Berlin Airlift, the first major confrontation between the East and the West during the Cold War.

As part of the huge effort to relieve the besieged city, the British adopted unusual solutions. Short Sunderland flying boats were even used, flying from Finkenwerder on the Elbe near Hamburg to the Havel river next to RAF Gatow. They were used to deliver baking powder and other salt into the city as they had special corrosion-resistant hulls as a result of being designed to operate from the sea.