Gail Halvorsen
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Gail Halvorsen
Table of Contents
- Gail "Hal" Halvorsen At A Glance
- Gail Halvorsen Photo
- Who Is Gail Halvorsen
- Gail Halverson News
- Wikipedia on the Berlin Airlift
- P.S. If you buy something from this page...
- The Berlin Candy Bomber
- The Candy Bombers
- American Experience: The Berlin Airlift
- Sound Out About Gail Halvorsen
- Just Another Kool Lens by Team Lane...
- SemperFidelis' Latest and/or Greatest
- About Me
- Facebook Fans & Stuff
Gail "Hal" Halvorsen At A Glance
Who was the "Candy Bomber?"
Gail Halverson was a USAAF pilot involved in the Berlin Airlift.
Gail Halverson is remembered because it was he who started the parachuting of sweets to children in Berlin. He used handkerchiefs and small squares of cloth to create the parachutes and he dropped the packages out of the pilot's side-window of the C-47 aircraft that he was flying.
Lt Halverson's actions caused considerable anger to the Russians and glee for the children who were close to the air corridor from Rhine Main AFB to Berlin's Tempelhof airport. Because of the results of this philanthropic act his fellow pilots became involved as did the American Confectioners Association.
Gail Halvorsen Photo
The Candy Bomber Pic
Who Is Gail Halvorsen
The "Candy Bomber"
Colonel Gail Halvorsen (born October 10, 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a former American pilot of C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift ("Operation Vittles") 1948-1949. Halvorsen is most famous for being the original Candy Bomber.
Operation Little Vittles
Shortly before landing at the Tempelhof airport in the American sector of Berlin, Halvorsen would drop candy attached to parachutes to children below. This action, which was dubbed Operation Little Vittles and sparked similar efforts by other crews, was the source of the popular name for the pilots: the candy bombers. Halvorsen had wanted to help raise the morale of the children during the time of uncertainty and privation.
Halvorsen says he had the idea after giving a few sticks of chewing gum to some children watching the planes from outside the Tempelhof base. Wanting to give more, he promised to drop more candy from his plane the next day. Because the planes would arrive every 90 seconds, the children naturally couldn't distinguish his from the others. However, Halvorsen promised to wiggle the wings to identify himself, which led to his nickname "Onkel Wackelflügel" ("Uncle Wiggly Wings").
His actions were soon noticed by the press and gained widespread attention. A wave of public support led to donations which enabled Halvorsen and his crew to drop 850 pounds of candy. By the end of the airlift, around 25 plane crews had dropped 23 tons of chocolate, chewing gum, and other candies over various places in Berlin. The Confectioners Association of America donated large amounts to the effort, and American school children cooperated in attaching the candies to parachutes.
Military Career
Halvorsen would go on to fill several domestic assignments, but would return to Germany in the early 1970s, this time as the commander of the Tempelhof Airbase in western Berlin. In this role Halvorsen was required to host official parties at his house. Being a devout Mormon, Halvorsen became famous for his non-alcoholic concoctions served at these parties.
German-American Relations
Halvorsen's actions as the original candy bomber may have had a substantial impact on the postwar perception of Americans in Germany, and it is still pointed to as a symbol of German-American relations. He has appeared many times on German TV over the years, often paired with some of the children, now grown adults, who received his candy parachutes. In 1974 he was decorated with the "Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz" (Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany), one of Germany´s highest Medals. During the opening march for the 2002 Winter Olympics on February 8, Halvorsen carried the German team's national placard into Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium.
In 1989, Halvorsen engaged in a reenactment of the actions in Berlin for the fortieth anniversary of the airlift. During Operation Provide Promise in Bosnia-Herzegovina, he dropped candy from a C-130. Halvorsen also participated in the 50th anniversary celebrations of the airlift in Berlin in 1998. The United States military has modeled some of Halvorsen's actions in Iraq dropping toys, teddy bears, and soccer balls to Iraqi children. In 2004 Halvorsen hoped to launch a similar action for the children of Iraq.
Legacy
The US Air Force has helped cement Colonel Halvorsen's airlift legacy by naming its next-generation, 25,000-pound capacity aircraft loading vehicle in his honor. The Air Force has also named the award for outstanding air transportation support in the logistics readiness career field the Colonel Gail Halvorsen Award. Also Col Halvorsen's son, Robert, was a USAF C-130 pilot and is currently a captain with Delta Air Lines. Source
Gail Halverson News
The "Candy Bomber" Updated Daily
Wikipedia on the Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Blockade...
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 ? 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War and the first resulting in casualties. During the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway and road access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied control. Their aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to start supplying Berlin with food and fuel, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city.
In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. The United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and the recently formed United States Air Force flew over 200,000 flights in one year, providing 13,000 tons of daily necessities such as fuel and food to the Berliners.Nash, Gary B. "The Next Steps: The Marshall Plan, NATO, and NSC-68." The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 828. Print. Alongside British and US personnel the airlift involved aircrews from the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and South African Air Force.
By the spring of 1949, the effort was clearly succeeding and, by April, the airlift was delivering more cargo than had previously flowed into the city by rail. The success of the Berlin Airlift brought humiliation to the Soviets who had refused to believe it could make a difference. The blockade was lifted in May 1949 and resulted in the creation of two separate German states. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) split up Berlin.Nash, Gary B. "The Next Steps: The Marshall Plan, NATO, and NSC-68."The American People: Creating a Nation and a Society. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 828. Print. In remembrance of the airlift, three airports in the former western zones of the city served as the primary gateways to Germany for another fifty years. [read the rest of the Wikipedia article]
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The Berlin Candy Bomber
by Gail S. Halvorsen
The Berlin Candy Bomber
Amazon Price: $9.43 (as of 06/01/2012)
The Berlin Candy Bomber is a love story-how two sticks of gum and one man's kindness to the children of a vanquished enemy grew into an epic of goodwill spanning the globe-touching the hearts of millions in both Germany and America.
In June 1948, Russia laid siege to Berlin, cutting off the flow of food and supplies over highways into the city. More than two million people faced economic collapse and starvation. The Americans, English, and French began a massive airlift to bring sustenance to the city and to thwart the Russian siege.
Gail Halvorsen was one of hundreds of U.S. pilots involved in the airlift. While in Berlin, he met a group of children standing by the airport watching the incoming planes. Though they hadn't asked for candy, he was impressed to share with them the two sticks of gum he had in his possession. Seeing how thrilled they were by this gesture, he promised to drop more candy to them the next time he flew to the area.
True to his word, as he flew in the next day, he wiggled the wings of his plane to identify himself, then dropped several small bundles of candy using parachutes crafted from handkerchiefs to slow their fall. Local newspapers picked up the story. Suddenly, letters addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings" began to arrive as the children requested candy drops in other areas of the city.
Enthusiasm spread to America, and candy contributions came from all across the country. Within weeks candy manufacturers began donating candy by the boxcar.
In May 1949, the highway blockade ended, and the airlift ended in September. But the story of Uncle Wiggly Wings and the candy-filled parachutes lives on-a symbol of human charity.
The Candy Bombers
The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour
Amazon Price: $9.15 (as of 06/01/2012)
In 1948, West Berliners were suffering and hungry, existing on food rations transported by trucks, trains and barges primarily by the occupying American forces. The Russians, trying to control the divided city, blockaded the transports on June 24, 1948, and American and British pilots risked their lives to airlift in 4.6 billion pounds of food and supplies until the blockade was lifted in May 1949. Pilot Hal Halvorsen won Berliners' hearts by secretly dropping his and his buddies' candy rations by parachute into the waiting hands of the city's children. In the process, says Cherny (The Next Deal), Berliners became devoted to democracy, and Washington foreign policy and military brass learned that the Cold War needed to be won not primarily with bullets but by appealing to hearts and minds. This book could have been cut by a third for better effect; Cherny's prose and his references to 9/11 are manipulative, and his subject, particularly the nuts and bolts of the airlift, will appeal primarily to WWII buffs, who should still find much to savor in this exhaustive, often absorbing and lucid account of America's successful standoff against the Soviets.
American Experience: The Berlin Airlift
PBS DVD Video
American Experience: The Berlin Airlift
Amazon Price: $12.88 (as of 06/01/2012)
If needing a teaching aid or just want to learn the basics about the Berlin Airlift this is the video. This PBS video is often times used to educate.
Sound Out About Gail Halvorsen
What say you about this lens or The Candy Bombers?
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Patsy Allard
Jul 7, 2009 @ 6:19 am | delete
- I first became acquainted with Colonel Halverson in the late 1960's when he was site commander at the 6596th Instrumentation Squadron at Vandenberg AFB. California - Tracking Station. I'm sorry to say it was only many years later that I learned he was the man referred to as the "Candy Bomber" or "Uncle Wiggley Wings". I was a contractor employee at the Tracking Station at the time, and worked right across the hall from his office. I must say he was such a nice, gentle-spoken man and always had a smile on his face. I feel privledged to have had him as 'boss'.
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a girl
May 17, 2009 @ 12:08 pm | delete
- gail halverson is an amazing man. I learned about him at my school. He was interviewed by a student at my school. He taught me that it always makes you feel good about caring for people and helping people. I wish i was there to see it.
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janel beatty
Oct 24, 2008 @ 1:56 pm | delete
- Our school is now learning about gail halvorsen.I tink that ti is pretty coooool!
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