The first airlift memorial was built 1951 in front of the Berlin airport Tempelhof planned by Eduard Ludwig (1906-1960). It remembered the airlift and the airlift's victims and is popularly known as Hungerharke or Hungerkralle .
The three "hooks" approaching to the west are symbols of the three air corridors between West Berlin and the former Trizone (later Federal Republic of Germany). The inscription on the circular base reads: "They gave their lives for freedom in the service of the Berlin Airlift 1948/1949". Below are the names and ranks of all the accidents recorded deceased. Read more at Wikipedia.
The BERLIN-AIRLIFT (Codename: OPERATION VITTLES) has been the biggest airlift in history (more info) and many allied pilots lost their lives within this operation. The (West-) Berlin citizen are deeply grateful to THEIR allies until today. The C-47 planes (called "ROSINENBOMBER" by the citizens) concentrated from all over the world and their pilots assured the survival of the city that's today the German's capital again.