Dissecting "Cold Peace" Part VIII - The Characters of the "Dove's" Plot Line

 The "Dove's Plot Line" highlights the humanitarian aspects and character of the Berlin Airlift. It does so by introducing a private air ambulance company that helps evacuate Berliners with acute health issues to hospitals in the West.  In the course of the Bridge to Berlin Series, the ambulance company faces many challenges and setbacks, yet like the Airlift itself, it bridges the differences between former enemies and forges a new alliance at the personal level between British, Americans and Germans. 

The characters of this plot line are all involved with the air ambulance in one capacity or another. First and foremost, there is David Goldman. The son of a Jewish German banker, who moved his family and business to Canada in 1934, David receives a substantial inheritance and the duty to track down the assets of his dead German relatives at his father's death. David dutifully resigns his commission in the RAF and goes to Berlin to sort out what happened to his uncle's properties. Here he recognizes the business opportunity Berlin offers to a small flying company offering ambulance service to the better equipped hospitals in the West. 

When he founds his company, Air Ambulance International (AAI), he has only one partner, Charles "Kiwi" Murray, a New Zealand, ex-RAF pilot. Kiwi was "de-mobbed" after the war and has not found his footing in the post-war world. AAI offers Kiwi a way to get back into flying, start earning money, and get over his recent divorce. 

David, however, rapidly recognizes the need for market research, operations and planning, facilities management, marketing, customer and public relations. He turns to someone he has worked with before on an informal project to turn an old barn into a Bed & Breakfast: Emily Priestman. She is the wife of his former squadron leader and now stationed with him in Berlin. She is also a former pilot for the Air Transport Auxiliary, and is soon back to flying as well. 

As the Bridge to Tomorrow Series continues, they will be joined by a motley collection of other characters from around the globe.