Lucius Clay 1897 1978 American army general and Governor of the American Zone of occupied Germany who devised the Berlin Airlift to relieve the besieged city Fine content Tls lp 4to New York Apr. 4, 1972 concerning the Berlin Airlift: The "Airlift" was a precisely timed operation which at peak landed more than 600 planes per day carrying more than 12 000 to of coal food and other supplies It required careful packaging and yet done at high speed so that the plane would be quickly available for another flight.