Around noon on May 7, 1945, a number of photographers saw a heavy bomber flying over the Dam. This turned out to be a B-17 of the American Air Force. It may have taken part in the food drops at Schiphol. May 7, 1945 was the last day of Operation Manna (British Air Force) and Operation Chowhound (American Air Force)
A photo of the crowd on Dam Square was taken from this B-17
Operation Manna and Operation Chowhound were the names of the Allied food drops in April/May 1945, at the end of the Hunger Winter in World War II in the Netherlands. These food drops had become necessary because many hundreds of thousands of Dutch people in the western Netherlands had been deprived of all kinds of food, clothing and relief supplies for months.
After months of consultation between the Allies and the Germans, the Achterveld Agreement was concluded and signed on May 1 1945 after the Hunger Winter. During the first preliminary discussion on 28 April, agreement had already been reached on food distribution, which allowed food aid to be provided by the Germans.
The Germans had agreed with the Allies that food and emergency rations would be dropped from bombers at low altitude. To ensure that no paratroopers were dropped from these aircraft during this armistice, the German High Command secretly ordered the mobilization of FLAK anti-aircraft guns. The German Security Service would also conduct random checks to determine whether these dropped shipments actually contained food and not illegal arms shipments.
Immediately after the food distribution had been agreed, the first airdrops were to begin on April 28, but due to bad weather this could not be carried out until April 29.
Operation Manna was an operation led by the British, the name being derived from the Biblical manna. The first food drop for starving western Netherlands, which lasted 8 days, was carried out. Among others, the 625th Squadron in Scampton (Lincolnshire), the (Australian) 460th, the 467th, the 100th and the 101st Squadron of the RAF were deployed for this. The 300th (Polish) Squadron was also present at these drops. In total, more than 30 English squadrons and 11 Bomb Groups of the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) were involved in these drops. During the first mission, 242 Lancaster heavy bombers flew to the Dutch coast via an agreed corridor. On 29 April 1945, 535 tons of food were dropped by the RAF.
Some bombers were nevertheless shot at by the Germans with light handguns during these flights. However, they were able to drop their packages without too many problems.
In the meantime, the 8th Air Force of the USAAF also went into action. Due to bad weather, they were only able to participate in the operation later, which they called Operation Chowhound. The name is derived from the word ‘chow’, which was introduced in the United States in the mid-19th century and means food or meal. A chowhound is then a person who likes to eat and eats a lot. On May 1, 1945, more than 400 American B-17 bombers took off from England towards the Netherlands. From now on, the Americans and British worked together and doubled the number of food drops. As a result, the number of dropping zones was increased from five to eleven.
After 1 May 1945, the RAF and USAAF had their own zones. The RAF zones were: Valkenburg Airfield, Duindigt racecourse, Ypenburg Airfield, Terbregge, Waalhaven Airfield and Gouda. The USAAF had the following zones: Schiphol Airport, Vogelenzang, Bergen Airfield, Hilversum (Westerheide) and Utrecht (Lage Weide). In these eight days, more than 11,000 tons of goods were dropped over occupied Dutch territory. RAF Bomber Command carried out 3,100 sorties and the USAAF 2,200 sorties. The worst suffering for the population was then over, also because a lot of food could now be brought in by ship, including bread flour from Sweden.
Food drops alone were not enough, because in the Terbregge drop zone near Rotterdam, for example, 4,000 men were needed to collect the food parcels from the fields. This was because there were insufficient means of transport available. Among others, members of the Air Raid Protection Service were called in to collect the food parcels.
The contents of the food parcels included: bags of flour, tins of ship’s biscuit, army rations, tea, powdered eggs, beans, Spam (now known as Smac), cigarettes, chocolate and margarine.
The drops at Schiphol, May 7, 1945 were carried out by the 100th Bomb Group, a mission with 36 aircraft (B-17s). It is very possible that 1 of these aircraft flew over the Dam.
Overview of missions of the 100th Bomb Group during operation Chowhound
Overview of 100th Bomb Group missions during Operation Chowhound
Robert Sharp flew 35 flights from England as a B-17 pilot. He returned to America before Operation Chowhound began. His son-in-law Bill Dion is making a documentary in 2024 about his time in the US Air Force and is filming a number of places that matter. Including the name stones on Dam Square.
See also the website Flowers From Robert
note: the article Manna and Cowhound is largely taken from Wikipedia, which in turn refers to the website Hungerwinter ’44-’45 by P.G. Verhoeven, which is no longer accessible.