C-54 “Spirit of Freedom” Used to Honor Col. Halvorsen’s WWII Acts of Kindness

Nearly a decade after its last appearance at the show, the Candy Bomber Foundation returned to EAA Oshkosh AirVenture to honor the legacy of WWII-era pilot Colonel Gail “Hal” Halvorsen. The organization’s symbolic candy drops from a C-54 paid tribute to the war hero’s inspiring acts of kindness to the children of West Berlin.

Col Halvorsen was 27 years old when he, as a US Air Force pilot, was deployed to Germany to fly C-47s and C-54s as part of the Berlin Airlift efforts. The city had been torn apart and left in shambles by World War II, after which the Soviet Union blocked all land and water access to its Western half.

One day, while delivering lifesaving supplies to Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport, Col Halvorsen was approached by a group of impoverished children at a barbed wire fence. His impulsive decision to hand them two sticks of gum and promise to drop candy from his airplane the next day sparked a movement that was later named "Operation Little Vittles.”

Once the campaign began, there was no stopping it. The children of West Berlin were dropped 46 tons of candy and parachutes from 1948 to 1949. As a result of his kindness, the colonel earned the nicknames ‘Berlin Candy Bomber’, ‘Uncle Wiggly Wings’, and ‘Chocolate Pilot’, and became a widespread representation of hope amid conflict.

Although Halvorsen passed away in 2022 at the age of 101, his legacy has endured. The Candy Bomber Foundation, which the colonel helped to establish in 2016, continues to make frequent symbolic ‘candy drops’ to children around the US. The organization also hosts community events, STEAM-focused school visits, and service projects to spread Halverson’s mission.

This year’s EAA Oshkosh AirVenture had the privilege of hosting one of these candy drops for the first time in nearly 10 years. Children gathered in Boeing Plaza on June 25 as candy was tossed from the cargo door of the C-54 “Candy Bomber” named Spirit of Freedom. This aircraft was flown in the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War, but is now operated by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation.

FMI: www.thecandybomber.org