| Original caption: “Berlin “Airlift” of 1948-1949 broke through Soviet blockade of the city by non-stop supply shipments to beleaguered garrisons and two and quarter million civilian population of West Berlin.” A United States Air Force (USAF) Douglas C-54 Skymaster lands at Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof during the Berlin Blockade. Heinz “Henry” Rees (September 22, 1917 – May 24, 2004) made this iconic photo during the Berlin Blockade. Soviet Premier and Dictator Joseph Stalin (December 18, 1878 – March 5, 1953) imposed the Berlin Blockade from June 24, 1948, to May 12, 1949, cutting off all land and river transit between West Berlin and West Germany. The Western Allies responded with a massive airlift to come to West Berlin’s aid. The United States Air Force (USAF) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) responded with around-the-clock operations to bring in food, medicine, and coal. The “Candy Bombers” were a public relations promotion for the airlift, when USAF Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen (October 10, 1920 – February 16, 2022) took to dropping chocolate out of his C-54 upon landing. Sensing good publicity, the USAF circulated the story, resulting in thousands of Americans sending candy to be dropped over Berlin. Halvorsen and other pilots rigged their planes to deploy the candy with parachutes. Ries, who was working for The New York Times, reduced the tense showdown between great powers to the image of children on a hillside watching a plane gliding in. The knowing viewer might feel the pilot was about to throw out a handful of chocolates, as often happened. The picture was made into a commemorative postage stamp in 1998, the 50th anniversary of the airlift. The photograph also formed the basis of a variety of exhibitions in Berlin and the United States between 1948 and 2008, including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, the Goethe Haus in New York City, the Willy-Brandt Haus in Berlin, the Berlinische Galerie in Berlin, and the German Historical Museum in Berlin. It was on display in an exhibition held in 2003 in conjunction with the German government awarding Ries the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit, the highest award for citizens of other countries. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0777.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.83 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 4876 x 4301 |
| Photographer | Henry Ries |
| Photographer Title | New York World-Telegram and the Sun |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | August 1, 1948 |
| Location | Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof |
| City | Berlin |
| State or Province | Berlin |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | Library of Congress |
| Record Number | LC-USZ62-136389 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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