Candy Bomber Successor Takes Flight as USAF Celebrates 75 Years
The end of WWII saw the German capital, Berlin, become a divided city within a divided country. In 1948, when the Soviets attempted to cut off Western access to West Berlin—which was located deep inside Soviet-controlled East Germany—the newly-formed United States Air Force and the R.A.F. undertook a year-long initiative to airdrop food, fuel, and medical supplies to West Berliners.
History remembers the occurrence as The Berlin Airlift, but the military commanders and pilots who pulled it off knew that long, dangerous enterprise as Operation Vittles.
Among its innumerable instances of heroism, Operation Vittles occasioned the odd, poignantly sweet tale of the Candy Bomber.
It all started at Berlin’s Tempelhof Air Field when Pilot, Gail Halvorsen was approached by some German children. At the time it was commonplace for such children to ask American servicemen, “Any gum, chum?” or “Any bon-bon?”—but the children asked nothing of Halvorsen. Taken aback, the aviator offered two sticks of Wrigley’s gum. Witnessing the excitement this small offering engendered, Halvorsen rashly promised to drop candy on his next flight. Thus began the enchanting epoch of the Candy Bomber.
Halvorsen persuaded other pilots to donate their candy rations. Before long, hundreds of children began pouring into the streets when the C-54 Skymasters flew over, each hoping to catch a few of the sweets made rare by war and isolation. As word of the boon spread, letters requesting special airdrops at other points in the city began to arrive. In short order, newspapers picked up and ran with the story, thereby precipitating a windfall of chocolate and candy donations from the U.S.
Halvorsen’s act of spontaneous kindness provided a face for the airlift and the U.S.’s humanitarian mission at large. Americans previously weary of solicitations for food aid embraced the opportunity to gift candy and chocolate to German children.
Halvorsen passed away in February, 2022 at the age of 101. On 23 May, a C-17 Globemaster III was given the name Spirit of the Candy Bomber at a ceremony in Provo, Utah. The ceremony was the culmination of a two-day event held in honor of Col. Halvorsen.
Gen. Mike Minihan, Air Mobility Command Chief, said in a statement, "This C-17, the Spirit of the Candy Bomber, serves as a small token of our larger inheritance from Colonel Halvorsen, and will transport Halvorsen's example around the world, the standard-bearer for the power of the humanitarian mission he began.” The Candy Bomber C-17 dedication coincided with the Air Force's 75th anniversary as an independent military branch.
"When you go eyeball to eyeball with someone in need and you're able to do something about it, there's no better feeling,” stated Col. Gail Halvorsen.
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