Tempelhof Airlift

In June 1948, as the Russians cut off access to Berlin from the west, the United States and Britain set up “Operation Vittles” – the airlift of food and other essentials into the city. Here, children watch a plane come in at Tempelhof Airport.

The flight was one of 278,228 made over 15 months by the United States, Britain and France to supply West Berlin with food and other essentials after the Soviet Union cut off access to the city, then surrounded by Soviet-controlled territory.

Henry Ries (1917-2004), a The New York Times photographer, reduced the tense showdown between great powers to this image of children on a hillside watching a plane gliding in. A viewer might feel the pilot was about to throw out a handful of chocolates, as often happened. In 1998, this image was made into a commemorative postage stamp marking the 50th anniversary of the airlift.