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24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949

Stalin bet West Berlin could not be fed from the air. For fifteen months a plane landed, on average, every 2 min 23 s.

On 24 June 1948 the Soviet Union blockaded the western sectors of Berlin and the over two million people who lived in them. For 322 days their coal, their food and their medicine came by air — 278,228 flights in all.

Children standing on a mound of rubble watch a four-engined C-54 transport fly low overhead on its approach to Tempelhof.
A C-54 Skymaster comes in over Berlin to land at Tempelhof, 1948. US Air Force photograph, public domain.

Tons flown into West Berlin a day

Dated daily tonnages flown into West Berlin, June 1948 to May 1949, against the daily requirement.
One day's total Daily average over the month What the city needed each day
A black-and-white studio portrait of a dark-haired man in a US Air Force uniform with four stars on each shoulder and ribbons on his chest.
General Curtis E. LeMay, commander of the US Air Force in Europe when the Airlift began; official portrait from his later years as a four-star general.U.S. Air Force. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

26 June 1948

Day one: 80 tons

On 25 June 1948 General Lucius D. Clay, the US military governor, telephoned LeMay: could his aircraft haul coal? “We can deliver anything,” LeMay replied. The next day 32 C-47s, about three tons apiece, flew 80 tons into Tempelhof. It was Clay’s decision, not LeMay’s; by the end of 1948 LeMay had gone home to run Strategic Air Command. The city needed 4,500 tons a day.

An elderly man in an olive military jacket and peaked cap bends towards four smiling children in front of a brick building.
Gail Halvorsen, the “Candy Bomber”, in his wartime-style uniform, talking with children at a dedication in his honour, 2012.Airman 1st Class Ashlee Galloway, 2012. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

July 1948

The Candy Bomber

A C-54 pilot out of Rhein-Main, Halvorsen began dropping sweets on handkerchief parachutes to children at the Tempelhof fence in July 1948, wiggling his wings so they would know him. He flew 126 missions. The drops he started, Operation Little Vittles, released over 23 tons of sweets on more than 250,000 parachutes.

A black-and-white portrait of a grey-haired man in a dark US Air Force uniform with pilot’s wings and rows of ribbons.
Lieutenant General William H. Tunner, official US Air Force portrait.U.S. Air Force, 1960. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

28 July 1948

Seven weeks to beat the target

William Tunner, who had run the wartime airlift over the Himalayas, arrived on 28 July 1948. On 12 August 1948 the Airlift landed 4,724 tons in a single day — the first day over the target.

A black-and-white photograph of a seated man in a dark suit and glasses, looking to one side.
Ernst Reuter, Oberbürgermeister of Berlin, at an SPD meeting in Freiburg, 1952. No freely licensed photograph of his speech at the Reichstag was found.Willy Pragher, 1952. Landesarchiv Baden-Württemberg, Staatsarchiv Freiburg W 134 Nr. 022167. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0.

9 September 1948

Ernst Reuter speaks at the Reichstag

On 9 September 1948 Reuter spoke to some 300,000 people in front of the burnt-out Reichstag: “People of the world … look upon this city and see that you should not, cannot abandon this city and this people!” The aircraft overhead were the answer.

An aerial photograph, in a mount with a handwritten title, of a wide levelled construction site with vehicles, sheds and spoil heaps.
“Aerial view of Tegel airstrip, 29.9.48”: the new airfield under construction, US Army Signal Corps photograph.United States. Army. Signal Corps, 1948. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

October 1948 – March 1949

The target rose. So did the deliveries.

In October the daily requirement was raised to 5,620 tons for the winter. On 5 November 1948 the first aircraft landed at Tegel, the new airfield in the French sector. January brought in over 170,000 tons, March nearly 200,000.

A soldier stands on a heavy road grader on a gravel runway bed while a four-engined transport plane descends towards the airfield behind him.
A C-54 Skymaster comes in to land at Tempelhof while an engineer levels the base of a new runway, 1948; US Air Force photograph. No freely licensed photograph of the Easter Parade itself was found.United States. Air Force, 1948. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

noon 15 Apr – noon 16 Apr 1949

Easter: 12,941 tons in a day

From noon 15 Apr to noon 16 Apr 1949, crews flew 1,398 flights carrying 12,941 tons — on average one landing every 62 seconds, across all three airfields.

Two uniformed British soldiers stand at the tailgate of an army lorry by a roadside sign reading “To Berlin” with an arrow.
12 May 1949, after midnight, at the Helmstedt–Marienborn crossing: British soldiers with “To Berlin” route signs for the autobahn as the traffic restrictions are lifted.Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S85162 / Heilig, Walter / CC BY-SA 3.0 de

12 May 1949

Stalin gave up

After Easter the Airlift averaged 8,893 tons a day — more than the city needed. The blockade was lifted on 12 May 1949, after 322 days.

The timetable

One landing every 2 minutes 23 seconds, on average, day and night for fifteen months

That is the average across all 462 days of the Airlift, 26 June 1948 to 30 September 1949. In the air the aircraft flew 3 minutes apart. The counters run from the moment you opened this page.

Landings since you opened this page — at the Airlift's average
0
— at the pace of the Easter Parade, 15–16 April 1949
0

The cargo

Two thirds of it was coal

Of 2,325,809 tons flown in, 1,586,530 were coal — for heating, for the power stations and for industry. Even so, West Berlin lived on about 4 hours of electricity a day that winter.

An overhead view of a row of twin-engined transport planes parked on a vast apron, each with an army lorry loaded with crates beside its door, the terminal building behind.
C-47s in the unloading line at Tempelhof, 1948–49, lorries drawn up at their doors; US Air Force photograph.United States. Air Force, 1948. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Coal — for heating, power stations and industry68% · 1,586,530 t
Food — flour, dried potato, milk, meat23% · 538,016 t
Everything else — liquid fuel, medicine, machinery and the rest9% · 201,263 t

Who flew it

Britain flew a third of the flights but carried under a quarter of the cargo

American C-54s, ten tons a load, carried most of the coal into Tempelhof. British aircraft — the RAF and British civil airlines — took the awkward loads. France flew 424 flights; its contribution was on the ground.

Civilian workers in aprons walk away from the open cargo door of a twin-engined RAF transport plane, an army lorry drawn up beside it on wet paving.
An RAF Dakota of No. 53 Squadron unloaded by German civilian workers at RAF Gatow in the early weeks of the Airlift, 1948.Unknown photographer, 1948. Imperial War Museum (HU 98409) via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
Share of flights
US 68%
Britain 32%
Share of tonnage
US 77%
Britain 23%

The third airfield

Berliners built a third airfield in three months

Ground was broken at Tegel, in the French sector, on 5 August 1948. The first C-54 landed there on 5 November 1948, and the airfield opened on 1 December 1948. Its runway was the longest in Europe at the time.

A photograph in a mount with a handwritten title: heaps of sandy spoil on open ground, with tractors pulling trailers and groups of workers in the distance.
“Another view of dumping spoil, Tegel air strip, 12.8.48”: lorries and crowds of workers on the site a week after ground was broken; US Army Signal Corps photograph.United States. Army. Signal Corps, 1948. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
19,000
workers at its peak, most of them Berliners
2,428 m
of runway
92
days from first spade to first landing

The cost

78 names on the memorial at Tempelhof

The Airlift memorial honours 31 Americans, 39 Britons and 8 Germans who died in it. Wider counts, which include Germans killed on the ground, reach 101.

A tall curved concrete monument ending in three prongs, among trees, with the long stone front of the Tempelhof airport building behind it.
The Airlift memorial on the Platz der Luftbrücke at Tempelhof, 2008.Wolfgang Pehlemann, 2008. Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
American31
British39
German8

The first battle of the Cold War was won without a shot fired: with coal sacks, flour and a runway Berliners built by hand.

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Berlinfographics (2026). “The Berlin Airlift, 1948–49”. Berlin Experiences. https://berlinfographics.com/berlin-airlift/

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{{cite web |title=The Berlin Airlift, 1948–49 |url=https://berlinfographics.com/berlin-airlift/ |website=Berlinfographics |publisher=Berlin Experiences |date=2026-11-05 |access-date=2026-11-05}}