LONDONDERRY, NH — When Ralph G. Dionne graduated from Nashua High School in 1946, World War II had just ended.
But Dionne’s timing was perfect for him to participate in the first major confrontation of the Cold War: the Berlin Airlift.
Dionne, now 92, will recount his work as a U.S. Air Force mechanic and flight engineer during the historic Airlift on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. at the Aviation Museum of N.H.
Dionne participated in 61 supply missions for a total 0f 300 flight hours during the airlift, which required U.S. and British aircraft to fly narrow corridors over Soviet-occupied Germany to supply Berlin during a Soviet blockade.
The Berlin Airlift remains the largest non-combat military operation of the 20th century. Historians credit it with halting the spread of Soviet-style communism in Europe after World War II.
The Aviation Museum’s 70th anniversary program, in honor of the upcoming Veterans Day, is open to the public with Museum admission. Dionne’s presentation will include documentary footage in which he appears and is interviewed; attendees will also have an opportunity to ask Dionne about his experiences.
“This is an increasingly rare opportunity to hear a first-hand account of the Berlin Airlift from a New Hampshire resident who actually took part in it,” said Jeff Rapsis, executive director of the Aviation Museum. “It’s also a great chance to salute and remember the efforts of all who participated in this historic mission,” Rapsis said.
The museum plans to record the presentation for its archives so future researchers will have access to Dionne’s experiences in the Berlin Airlift, which overall ran from June 1948 to September 1949.
After graduation from Nashua High School, Dionne’s original ambition was to enlist in the service and train as a pilot.
Lacking necessary height requirements, the U.S. Army sent him to Texas and Mississippi, where he trained as an aircraft mechanic, achieving the rank of Corporal. Dionne was then stationed at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Mass., promoted to Sergeant, and then called to serve in the Berlin Airlift in 1948.
Dionne was in Germany for six months, eventually serving as a flight engineer on C-54 due to a chronic personnel. shortage. He and his crew members on the big four-engine Douglas “Skymaster” transports joined a continuous 24-hour convoy of supply aircraft that enabled Berlin’s citizens to withstand the Soviet blockade during the long winter of 1948-49.
British and U.S. forces ultimately flew 277,569 missions into Berlin and delivered 2.3 million tons of supplies.
Dionne returned stateside, but left the service six months later to go to college rather than re-up. He attended Boston University on the G.I. Bill and got married in 1952, settling in Dracut, Mass. He pursued a successful business management career, serving with Ingersoll Rand Corp. for 35 years. Dionne retired in 1991.
After leaving the service, Dionne still wanted to be a pilot. So he earned his private pilot’s license in 1955, maintaining it for 20 years.
He also became involved in the Berlin Airlift Veterans Association, a group that with the passage of time now numbers only several hundred active members. They continue to hold an annual reunion and other commemorative events.
Last summer, Dionne traveled to Berlin as a veterans group guest of the city, where they were honored for their service in keeping the German capital from falling to the Soviets. This fall, he participated in an Airlift program at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
Attending commemorative events, Dionne has befriended many of his fellow Berlin Airlift veterans, including Gail Halvorsen, a U.S. pilot who became famous as the “Candy Bomber” for dropping packages of candy via parachute to Berlin children.
Halvorsen, 99, lives in Utah and remains actively involved in Berlin Airlift activities.
“I didn’t meet him until about 10 years ago, and we’re now close friends,” Dionne said.
The Aviation Museum’s Berlin Airlift Commemorative Program with Ralph Dionne will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 11 a.m. at the museum.
The presentation is included with museum admission of $10 per person; $5 seniors 65+, veterans/active military, students under 13. Members and children under age 5, free. For more info, visit www.nhahs.org or call (603) 669-4820.
Weather permitting, Dionne’s program will be preceded at 10:30 a.m. by a re-enactment of the Berlin “Candy Bombing” outside the Aviation Museum.
At that time, a hovering helicopter will attempt to release candy packages via parachute from above the Museum’s open field area.
Families are invited to be on hand to witness the “candy bombing,” and to retrieve candy packages once they’ve safely landed on the field and the chopper has cleared the area.
The “Candy Bombing Reenactment” on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 10:30 a.m. is free and open to all, and is subject to weather conditions.
In addition, the Aviation Museum’s Berlin Airlift Commemoration will include a pair of documentaries to be shown on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Aviation Museum.
Dionne will be also on hand as the museum screens ‘The Berlin Airlift,’ a 2007 PBS documentary; and ‘Thunder Under the Big Sky,’ a documentary about training programs in Montana that many Berlin Airlift participants went through.
“We thought running these films Thursday night would be a good way to set the stage for Ralph Dionne’s program on Saturday,” Rapsis said. “The Berlin Airlift was a complicated operation, and this might help remind everyone of the history involved.”
The pair of documentaries on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. is included with museum admission of $10 per person; $5 seniors 65+, veterans/active military, students under 13. Members and children under age 5, free. For more info, visit www.nhahs.org or call (603) 669-4820.
The Aviation Museum of N.H. is located at 27 Navigator Road, Londonderry, N.H. The museum is open Fridays & Saturdays 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.nhahs.org or call (603) 669-4820.
The Aviation Museum is a non-profit 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization dedicated to celebrating New Hampshire’s role in aviation history and inspiring the young aerospace pioneers and innovators of tomorrow.
