Found 80 years later. 1946 media coverage: Veterans Air/UNRRA flight to Vienna
“today or tomorrow.”
On July 7, 1946 this Air Lines: column below provides our only media source. In the left column, 7th paragraph down, the columnist reports “Veterans Air Express will leave…today or tomorrow…for Vienna…” when the weather clears1.
The Newark Sunday Call, July 7, 1946.
Head shaking discovery
In 2025, it’s astounding news. During 11+ years of this Veterans Air research project, Vienna never once surfaced as a UNRRA war-relief destination. But, the AIR LINES: column by Albert Skea dated July 7, 1946, clearly refers to VAE’s contract with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration – UNRRA. Despite that fact, despite such a strong lead on a very specific trip, no further media coverage surfaced. Neither did a Crew Manifest issued & signed by the United States Immigration Office. And yet, the trip seemed imminently ready to depart for Vienna.
Digging deeper into Archives needed.
The first web search for “UNRRA medical supplies relief July 1946 Veterans Air Express” resulted in the screen shot above.
While the archive date range in the top response was Dec. 1946 – July 1947 (and thus after the July ‘46 Vienna flight in question), this Search Response is an example of typical United Nations Archive structure that I first encountered in 2019. Columbia University houses microfilm copies of certain UN records – as shown in this reference to Relief Supplies and Veterans Air Express held in something called Folder Side 1. However, verification of exact content required layers of direct email and phone contact. At times it extended from Columbia University’s Rare Book, Butler 6th Fl. East (Non-Circulating) department2 directly to staff of the UN Archives for assistance with repository of the original UNRRA documents.
Because the Vienna flight request in 2025 was so granular, I was eventually referred directly to the United Nations Archives. In all cases, I found helpful and interested librarians and fascinating documents revealing the functioning and phenomenal complexity of UNRRA’s objectives3.
However, a Vienna flight never surfaced. Greater tenacity needed.