THE FLIGHT Under the relentless logistics of Major General William H. Tunner—who had honed his craft flying the Hump over the Himalayas—the operation standardized on the C-54 Skymaster, whose ten-ton payload quadrupled that of the C-47. RAF Avro Yorks, Handley-Page Hastings, and even Short Sunderlands alighted on the Havel See with precious salt. The Allies built three modern concrete runways at Tempelhof while the old parade ground shook beneath the stream of four-engine transports. On Easter Sunday 1949, the "Easter Parade" maximum effort flew 1,383 sorties in twenty-four hours, delivering 12,941 tons—triple the city's daily minimum. By the spring of 1949, the airlift was moving nearly 9,000 tons per day. Stalin lifted the blockade on 12 May 1949; the Allies kept the air bridge open until 30 September 1949 to ensure Berlin would survive the winter. In all, 2.3 million tons of coal, food, and medicine were delivered, solely by air—an unprecedented accomplishment. Some sixty-five to eighty-six pilots, crewmembers, and civilian workers gave their lives in the effort.