Planes flew a distance equivalent to flying to the moon and back 63 times
Ceremonies have been taking place in Berlin to mark the 60th anniversary of the ending of the blockade of West Berlin by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
In 1948, Stalin cut off all land links into West Berlin in an attempt to force out British, French and US troops.
Instead, the Western nations launched the biggest airlift in history to keep 2.25 million residents from starving.
For the next 11 months, planes landed every two minutes, bringing in total more than 2.5m tonnes of supplies.
Seventy-eight aircrew died in plane crashes during the operation.
Thousands of people, including dozens of American, British and French veterans, attended ceremonies at Berlin's recently closed Tempelhof Airport on Tuesday to pay tributes to those involved in the unprecedented effort.
Seventy-eight aircrew died in plane crashes during the Berlin airlift
So in 1948, the late Soviet leader cut all road, rail and river links into West Berlin in an effort to starve its residents into submitting to Soviet forces and to pressure the British, American and French troops into withdrawing.
But the Allies launched the biggest airlift in history, bringing food and fuel and machinery, to keep the West Berliners from starving.
Horst Simon, who was six years old at the time of the blockade, told the BBC that he remembered how West Berliners were praying for the airlift to succeed.
"The West Berliners had the hope that the Russians are not coming to West Berlin, and so I think that the West Berliners at this time had the hope that the Allies can help us," he said.
Stalin officially ended the blockade on 12 May 1949, although flights continued until that November to ensure the city was well stocked in case of further blockades.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.