GAIL HALVORSEN

Gail Seymour "Hal" Halvorsen (*October 10th, 1920 in Salt Lake City) is a former pilot of the United States Air Force. He flew during the Berlin Airlift ("Operation Vittles") in 1948/1949 and became famous worldwide, first in Berlin as the «Rosinen Bomber» and later under the English name of «Candy Bomber». From 1970 to 1974 Halvorsen was commander of Tempelhof Airport. He is a retired colonel and honorary member of CARE Germany-Luxembourg. When he retired with the rank of colonel on August 31st, 1974, he had completed more than 31 years of military service and more than 8000 flight hours. Halvorsen was the first pilot to drop candies (attached to small parachutes) for the children curiously waiting on small debris heaps on the Neukölln side, before landing at Tempelhof Airport, located in the US sector of Berlin. These activities ("Operation Little Vittles") earned the pilots and aircraft involved in the airlift the name of "Candy Bombers". Since the planes flew into Tempelhof at 90-second intervals, the children waiting on the ground could not distinguish his plane from the others. He therefore informed the children that he would "waggle" his wings (hence his nickname "Uncle Wobble Wings") during the approach in order to make himself recognisable. These activities were soon picked up and published by the press. This triggered a wave of support, Halvorsen and his crew soon had 425 kilos of sweets available for dropping every day. By the end of the airlift, a total of about 25 aircraft crews had dropped 23 tons of sweets over Berlin. As a motive for dropping chocolate, chewing gum and other sweets, Halvorsen said that he had done so to bring joy to the children in bombed Berlin, who were used to hardship and deprivation. Many contemporary witnesses agree that these activities had a significant positive influence on the image of Americans in post-war Germany.