Tons of additional medical supplies arrived by plane yesterday in Calcutta in a relief movement gaining worldwide momentum to fight cholera among East Pakistan refugees in India.

Cargo planes from Britain and the United States were leading the way, bringing in vaccine, medical equipment and tents while other nations were marshaling their resources to join the relief airlift.

In Geneva, the office of the United Nations high commissioner for refugees announced that world governments and U.N. agencies have contributed more than $17 million in cash and supplies to the relief effort.

The British and U.S. Air Force planes landed at Calcutta's Dum Dum airport, where the cargo was unloaded to be distributed to refugee camps dotted all around India's frontier with East Pakistan, 35 miles east of Calcutta.

Officials at the airport said the flow of some of the medical supplies to the refugee camps was being delayed by various transportation bottlenecks. They expressed particular concern about delays in moving the vaccine, which deteriorates if not kept under refrigeration.

An advance party for an American airlift arrived in New Delhi aboard an Air Force C130 transport and proceeded to Assam to survey technical and ground facilities at the airfield.

The United States plans to help airlift thousands of refugees from the overcrowded areas near the border of East Pakistan to less crowded facilities in Assam, farther north.