In June 1948, the Soviet Union blocked every road, railway and river into West Berlin and cut its power. Millions of people suddenly faced a winter with dwindling food.
The Soviets left three narrow air corridors open, apparently believing Allied planes could never carry enough. The airlift that followed lasted 15 months, and the US, Britain and France called their effort Operation Vittles.
The numbers were enormous. Pilots flew roughly 2.3 million tons of supplies on about 277,000 flights, in workhorse C-47 and C-54 planes, with a flight landing about every three minutes.
At Tempelhof airfield, Lt. Gail Halvorsen noticed German children watching quietly from outside the fence. They didn't beg. He promised to drop candy to them on his next flight.
He had little to give, so he tied treats to handkerchiefs as tiny parachutes. Reportedly, he started with no authorization from superiors, and the first drops came in July 1948.
News reached the US, and candymakers and children mailed in sweets and handkerchiefs by the thousands. By January 1949, over 250,000 parachutes had fallen, earning him the nickname "Candy Bomber."
Halvorsen also won the 1948 Cheney Award for a humanitarian act of valor. A small promise to kids at a fence became one of the airlift's most remembered stories.
Source:nationalmuseum.af.mil
