During the height of airlift operations the Air Force had 354 C-54 aircraft allocated to the operation, but the average daily number of C-54s available (in commission) was only 128. In other words, on any average day there were only 128 C-54s actually carrying supplies to Berlin. Where were the other 196 C-54s allocated to the airlift? They were down for maintenance or spare parts.

  The average airlift C-54 "in commission" was flying eight to ten hours each day. This was actual "flying time" and not counting loading or unloading or time for crew changes. These aircraft were making four to five trips a day to and from Berlin. The C-54 was a passenger plane that had to be modified for cargo hauling. The aircraft was carrying heavier loads than it was designed for, making numerous take-offs and landings at glide angles that caused hard landings. There was excessive ground idling time while aircraft waited in line for take offs. All of these factors and others, including the cargo hauled such as coal, not usual in normal C-54 operations, caused abnormal maintenance problems.

Thousands of tires, checked constantly for deterioration, were kept in a state of readiness at Rhein-Main Air Base for use on the Skymasters flying round-the-clock into blockaded Berlin.

  The Air Force required that 50 hour maintenance checks be performed at the airfield from which the aircraft operated and work went on at these bases 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When the aircraft had gone through three intermediate 50 hour maintenance inspections and was getting ready for a fourth, and more detailed one, it would be flown to Burtonwood, England, where the Air Force had established a maintenance depot early in the airlift operation. After four such cycles and due for a fifth, the aircraft was flown back to the US to contractor facilities in New York, Texas, or California for a complete 1,000 hour inspection. When one realizes that this was the cycle of regularly scheduled maintenance and did not account for engine failures, crashes, and other unscheduled maintenance and repairs, it becomes more apparent why it took 354 aircraft to keep an average of 128 in daily operations.

The line of maintenance docks during night crew operations at the Oberpfaffenhofen Air Force Depot.

The Wash Dock installation at Oberpfaffenhofen Air Force Depot, 7 September 1949. The Wash Docks were used in the first stages of 200 hour inspection of C-54s engaged in the airlift.