Operations Manna and Chowhound
Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were humanitarian food drops to relieve the Dutch famine of 1944–45 in the German-occupied Netherlands undertaken by Allied bomber crews during the last days of the war in Europe. Manna, which dropped 7,000 tonnes of food into the still Nazi-occupied western part of the Netherlands, was carried out by British Royal Air Force (RAF) units and squadrons from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and Polish Air Force squadrons in the RAF. Chowhound dropped 4,000 tonnes and was undertaken by the United States Army Air Forces. In total, over 11,000 tonnes of food were dropped over one and a half weeks with the acquiescence of the occupying German forces to help feed Dutch civilians in danger of starvation.
An Avro Lancaster with a food drop over Ypenburg during Operation Manna
RAF ground crew loading food supplies into slings for hoisting into the bomb bay of an Avro Lancaster heavy bomber of 514 Squadron (1945).
Many Thanks spelt-out on the ground in tulips after Operation Manna
Operation Manna Commemoration Plaque
An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible troops, themselves often airborne forces, airdrops can also refer to the airborne assault itself.
A Kawasaki C-2 military transport aircraft conducting an airdrop demonstration over Miho Air Base, 2018
A C-17 Globemaster III airdropping humanitarian aid supplies after the 2010 Haiti earthquake
Freedrop packs being airdropped out of a C-130 Hercules
Gravity airdrop of CDS bundles from a C-17