Before his involvement in the Berlin Airlift, Ken Weaden grew up in the small village of Easton-in-Gordano in Somerset, where he witnessed the devastating aftermath of the Bristol Blitz.

As part of the RAF, Ken went first to Manchester, then to Canada to complete his training, before taking on the position of Navigator during the war, in which he helped with the transport of supplies across Europe.

After being demobbed, Ken struggled to adjust to the monotonous routine of his old job and soon returned to the RAF. In this interview, he recalls being stationed in Wunstorf, Germany, then Lübeck, dealing with the fast-paced nature of the job and the frequent flights to Gatow, where new aircrafts would arrive every two minutes.

Due to the shift system used, one downside of the role was its noticeable lack of downtime. On his only proper night out, Ken remembers being invited to a dance at a hospital club in Hamburg, which was surprisingly full of English medics. 

In total, Ken spent 11 months on the Airlift. Despite the workload, he retains humorous anecdotes from his time in service, like one occasion shortly after the war when his crew were forced to land in a Japanese airfield, and attempted their first meal using chopsticks, with little success.

Looking back at his work, Ken considers it a job well done, and affirms that the crews did what they were supposed to do. After two extra years in the RAF, he decided it was the right time to leave.