Philco Television Playhouse
Operation: Airlift
TV Flash files “Operation: Airlift” as hour 130 of 256 in the TV Flash guide — Philco Television Playhouse (1948–1955) on NBC, season 3, episode 40, aired 1951-06-17, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S03E40: listed hour 130 of 256 in the Philco Television Playhouse guide, hour 40 of 56 in season 3. It aired 1951-06-17 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “The Fast Dollar” (S03E39). Next is “Dr. Hudson's Secret Journal” (S03E41).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
The story of the Berlin airlift, when the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. The success of the airlift humilated the Soviets claiming that such a thing would never work.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Operation: Airlift sit in the Philco Television Playhouse guide?
S03E40 is listed hour 130 of 256 — hour 40 of 56 in season 3, season 3 episode 40.
When did Philco Television Playhouse S03E40 air?
Operation: Airlift aired 1951-06-17 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
Start with Marty (May 24, 1953, Rod Steiger) — the teleplay that became the anthology-to-Oscar dream — then sample other surviving Coe/Mann hours.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Philco Television Playhouse is Chayefsky's kitchen-sink live plays: ordinary lives, extraordinary telecasts, Marty with Rod Steiger before the Oscar film. Watch it now as the rise of intimate realist TV drama — Fred Coe's shop, Delbert Mann, and the anthology-to-Hollywood dream in one sponsor's title.
The close-up is a butcher's loneliness, not a gown — kitchen-sink light, live cameras, ordinary lives getting extraordinary writing. NBC's *Philco Television Playhouse* (1948–1955), 256 episodes across seven seasons, Fred Coe's shop, directors like Delbert Mann, Paddy Chayefsky's *Marty* telecast May 24, 1953 with Rod Steiger. A kitchen sink as an Oscar machine. The Philco/Goodyear tandem nights made anthology drama a dual-sponsor prestige ritual. The timeline can call domestic realism mid. The silhouette was a…