Berlin Airlift

The 1948–1949 operation that supplied West Berlin by air during a Soviet blockade. It kept the city’s western sectors supplied until the blockade ended.

Operation Vittles: The United States Air Force’s name for its part in the Berlin Airlift. Its aircraft and crews formed the largest national component of the supply operation.
Allied-occupied Germany: Germany’s postwar division into occupation zones administered by the Allied powers. The airlift crisis arose from tensions between the occupying powers over how Germany should be governed.
Harry S. Truman: The 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. He chose to sustain West Berlin by air rather than abandon it or force open land routes.
Lifting of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet ending of restrictions on surface access to West Berlin on 12 May 1949. It ended the immediate crisis, though the airlift continued briefly to build reserves.
Operation Plainfare: The British name for its contribution to the Berlin Airlift. British aircraft carried a major share of the supplies into West Berlin.
Four-Power administration of Berlin: The joint occupation arrangement under which the United States, Britain, France, and Soviet Union governed Berlin. Berlin’s divided administration persisted despite the city’s location deep inside the Soviet zone.
Ernest Bevin: British foreign secretary from 1945 to 1951 and a central architect of postwar British policy. He pressed for a firm Western response to the blockade.
Federal Republic of Germany: The West German state founded in 1949 from the western occupation zones. The blockade crisis accelerated the establishment of a separate West German government.
Tempelhof Airport: An airport in Berlin that served as a principal airlift destination. Its runways received constant cargo flights inside the blockaded city.
Bizone: The economic and administrative union of the American and British occupation zones, established in 1947. Soviet leaders viewed western consolidation as a threat to their influence in Germany.

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