Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
as, say, the Berlin airlift, the
biggest airlift in history.
Dateline Germany, 1948.
Hoping to drive his Western
adversaries out of Berlin,
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
orders his troops to cut off all
access to the city.
Blocked by land and sea, the
Allies respond from the sky with
the most massive airlift in
history.
On June 26, 1948, a fleet of
U.S. Air Force C-47s carries 80
tons of food into Berlin.
This landmark airlift is but the
first of what will become a
mammoth mission of mercy.
>> Paul Lerner: They airlifted
cargo to keep the population
alive, to give the population
resources, energy.
Two-thirds of all the cargo that
was brought over was coal,
because the Soviets had shut off
the electricity supply to the
western parts of the city.
Obviously, during the winter,
this was a particular problem.
>> Rowe: The operation is soon
joined by the U.S. Navy and the
British Royal Air Force.
With these added reinforcements,
Operation: Vittles kicks into
high gear.
On Easter Sunday, April 16,
1949, the Allies organize the
"Easter Parade"-- an airlift
that will be the dramatic climax
of Operation: Vittles.
Over a frenetic 24-hour period,
American and British planes
touch down and lift off every 30
seconds.
The Allies deliver an astounding
12,940 tons of cargo, including
enough coal to fill 1,100 rail
cars.
>> Lerner: The scale was
completely unprecedented in the
history of military operations.
>> Rowe: The Easter airlift is a
crushing blow to the Soviet
blockade, rendering the
operation futile.
In the face of Western resolve,
the Soviet Union officially ends
the blockade on May 12, 1949.
The final tally of the airlift
is astonishing.
Operation: Vittles lasted an
incredible 15 months, from June
of 1948 to September of 1949.
By the end, American and British
pilots had flown 92 million
miles on 277,000 flights,
delivering nearly 2.3 million
tons of supplies.
Simply put, the biggest airlift
in history.
On each mission, the planes of
the Berlin airlift flew several
hundred miles into hostile
territory, all for the sake of
salvation.
But for the sake of money and
precious garments, even the