"Cold Peace" Part VII - "Dove's View" Plotline

 While the Berlin Airlift has been called the "first battle of the Cold War," it was first and foremost a humanitarian effort. It was an operation designed to feed, heat and keep healthy more than two million civilians cut off from their regular sources of food, fuel, medicine and other goods. This "battle" was not won by guns, tanks and bombs, but by cargo planes carrying milk and children's shoes, by candy bars and chocolate on miniature parachutes, and by the medical evacuation of vulnerable residents. Furthermore, many of those who saved Berlin were not in military uniform at all; they were civilian fliers. I thought they deserved a plot line of their own.

Although, I knew I wanted to feature civilian fliers in this novel, it wasn't until I sat down to write that inspiration struck and I saw an opportunity to step outside the box and do something innovative. Rather than a civilian cargo or tanker company, I decided to feature an air ambulance business. Although there is no specific evidence of such a company, the need to evacuate people from Berlin grew to crisis proportions by the end of 1948, and there is no reason to think that a young man with entrepreneurial spirit and the proper training would not have seen the opportunity right at the start. So "Air Ambulance International Ltd" was launched. 

The "Dove's View" or humanitarian plot line uses the device of "Air Ambulance International" (AAI) to expose the reader to the state of Berlin's hospitals, and as the series progresses, will also give the reader insight into the impact of undernourishment and mass rape on children. Furthermore, as a civilian company, AAI can be international not only in its operations but its staff. AAI brings British, Commonwealth, German and eventually American characters together, all working to fulfill the common task of helping the most vulnerable. 

At the same time, this plot line exposes the obstacles and difficulties encountered by private companies attempting to operate in such a complex and tense political environment. Below a Wellington painted white like the ambulance aircraft of AAI. Just picture a red cross where the roundels now appear.