Today in History—June 26: The Berlin Airlift Takes Flight
After World War II and the fall of the Third Reich—the Nazi regime that left scars crisscrossing Europe—no one quite knew what to do with Germany. Even among the Allies, there were deep divisions, lingering resentment, and few agreements.
So the Allies carved up Berlin into four occupation zones.
Meanwhile, Berliners were starving, living in the ruins of a bombed-out city.
Relations between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union began to chill. Then they froze solid when the Soviet Union discovered that the United States, the United Kingdom, and France were moving to create a new West German state.
In June 1948 both sides introduced new currencies in their respective zones. The day after the Western Allies’ currency launched, the Soviet Union cut electricity to West Berlin.
Then, on June 24, Soviet forces blocked rail, road, and water access. No supplies could reach West Berlin. Its 2.5 million residents had little more than a month’s worth of food and fuel in reserve.
The Allies were outnumbered militarily by the Soviets. Their only option was to take to the air.
Two days later, on June 26, the United States launched Operation Vittles, the start of what would become known as the Berlin airlift, one of the largest aid missions in history. It was risky: Soviet interference with the humanitarian flights could trigger an all-out war.
But the first 32 American flights arrived unchallenged. The British and the French soon joined the effort.
At first, the whole thing was precarious. But efficiency improved dramatically over the next few months, and West Berliners came to depend on the steady stream of food, coal, medicine, clothing, and other essentials arriving by air.
After a child asked an American pilot for gum, “Operation Little Vittles” dropped 250,000 handkerchief parachutes of candy into the city. Children called the pilot Uncle Wiggly Wings because he dipped his wings to signal to them.
By the following spring, Allied aircraft were delivering as much cargo each day as had once arrived by rail. The Allies were confident that they could keep it up indefinitely. At the same time, their counterblockade of East Germany was beginning to bite the Soviets.
The Soviet Union had hoped to force the Western Allies out of Berlin. Instead, the blockade was becoming a public relations nightmare for Moscow—and the airlift a symbol of Western resolve.
At 12:01 am on May 12, 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade. The Berlin airlift continued until September anyway.
- 1 plane every 45 seconds: Peak of the Berlin airlift delivery system
- 276,926: Flights during the Berlin airlift
- 2.3 million tons: Total supplies delivered
- 1945: The UN gets its charter at the San Francisco Conference
- 1976: Canada’s CN Tower opens to the public as the tallest building in the world
- 2015: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down state bans on same-sex marriage
