It is an Ill wind that blows nobody any good - from Berlin to Haiti

For as long as I can remember I have been reading the phrase "EDI has its beginnings in the Berlin Airlift in 1948". The next bit of history usually jumps to the 1960's American Transport industry. I read this again recently and for once it got me wondering. What electronic communication was there in 1948? What message was it and in what format, and how was it delivered? How was it developed and agreed? What was it about the Berlin Airlift that needed an EDI message?

The details took quite a bit of tracking down (I have included some links below), but the best source I could find for this bit of history is one Maj. Edward Guilbert who was a traffic manager in Berlin. On leaving the army he went to work... ...in the transport industry.

To answer the questions above,

What electronic communication was there in 1948? Teletype.

What message was it, in what format, and how was it delivered? Manifest or Advanced Ship Note. No examples are believed to survive. It was radioed by teletype to Berlin from the planes departing airport, as soon as possible after the planes wheels left the ground.

How was it developed and agreed? You're in the Army now. You do as you are told. I don't know if the supplying airports and plane companies adopted the same procedures for their other business, but I doubt it. But it made clear what was possible.

What was it about the Berlin Airlift that needed an EDI message? In a word "Bottleneck" Every last kilo of supplies was vital but it couldn’t just sit on the ground at the Berlin airports. At the rate of a plane every few minutes, parking space for planes would soon disappear. Even if planes unloaded and departed, hangers would soon fill up. The goods needed to be moved on which meant the right people needed to be ready to receive the right goods.

There is a wonderful story about how they tried to stop the incoming pilots disappearing for a hot drink and a snack, by supplying mobile refreshment manned by pretty young frauleins, all to shave valuable minutes off the turnaround time.

It struck me that what was game changing about this was not Electronics or Message Formats. It wasn’t about Cost Saving. When you are fighting a Cold War, cost is no object. It seems to me that what made all the difference was Standardization. Different parties, all did the same thing, in the same way, to speed up processes that would otherwise jam up and slow to a crawl.
The Berlin Airlift would make a good motion picture. The struggle to overcome adversity through perseverance and ingenuity. How the little guys succeeded by teamwork and coordination. I can see it now, “EDI – The Movie”. Well OK, maybe not.

When listening to news reports of the Haiti earthquake relief efforts, I was struck at the similarities in the problems they experienced at the airport. It seems there is nothing new under the sun.

Computerworld Article - 1910 Telegraphs to XML

ECommerce Google Books - The Maj. Edward Guilbert Story

Ecommerce Connexion Artitcle - A short history summary of the Berlin Airlift