Gail Halvorsen was a senior officer in the United States Air Force (USAF). Despite belonging to a force better known for raining death and destruction from the skies, he had the intriguing sobriquet of the “Berlin Candy Bomber” and “The Chocolate Flier”. It was all because he ventured to airdrop candy for German children.

Gail Seymour Halvorsen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 10, 1920. He gained his private pilot’s licence in 1941 and joined the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in 1942. Although he was keen to be a fighter pilot, the USAAF was in urgent need of transport pilots. In July 1948, Halvorsen was assigned as a Douglas C-47 Skytrain pilot for the Berlin Airlift that had commenced just a month earlier. The Airlift was mounted to ferry supplies into the starving city of Berlin, which the Soviet Union had blockaded. Officially known as “Operation Vittles”, it finally became the largest humanitarian airlift operation in history. It proved that an airlift could be used to sustain a large population surrounded by hostile forces.

Halvorsen was an avid photographer and on his days off regularly went sightseeing in Berlin to shoot films. One day, as he was taking pictures of American planes taking off and landing at Tempelhof, the main landing site for the airlift, he noticed a group of about thirty children gathered behind the barbed-wire fence that protected the base. When he went over to meet them, they said that if he could not land due to bad weather, not to worry. They could survive on a little food, but if they lost their freedom, they might never get it back. All over the world, children would beg candy from the Americans. But these children, who were obviously hungry, asked for nothing. Touched, Halvorsen took out two sticks of gum – his personal rations – and handed them over. The children immediately broke the bars into little pieces and shared them out. He promised them (somewhat rashly) that the following day when he would be flying above them he would drop candy out of his aircraft. An excited child asked “How will we know it is your plane?” He replied that he would wiggle his wings. This later earned him another nickname: “Uncle Wiggly Wings”.

That night, Halvorsen, his co-pilot, and his engineer gathered their rations for the next day. Keen to ensure that no child was injured by the falling package, Halvorsen made three parachutes out of handkerchiefs and tied the boxes of candy to them. Besides the regular supply drops, they also dropped three boxes. The waiting children were ecstatic. And their numbers outside the Tempelhof airport fence grew significantly week by week. The children also sent many letters of appreciation and gratitude to Halvorsen. Naturally the action was totally against official regulations, but Halvorsen was determined. Eventually the matter reached the ears of Major General William Tunner, commander of the Berlin Airlift. General Tunner was impressed by the positives vibes Lieutenant Halvorsen’s efforts were generating for the United States. And he encouraged the candy drops to continue.

In September 1948, Halvorsen was sent back to the United States to publicise “Operation Little Vittles” as it was now called. After he appeared on the CBS-TV programme “We the People”, candy manufacturers began donating sweets, and schoolchildren volunteered to wrap them in simulated parachutes made from handkerchiefs and twine. Adults conveyed the parcels to where they could be swiftly transported to Germany. Later, college student Mary Connors of Massachusetts took charge of the now expanding national project, working with the National Confectioner’s Association to prepare the candy and tie the handkerchiefs.

At least two dozen pilots from Lieutenant Halvorsen’s squadron were among those who took part in the gum drops. They became known as “Candy Bombers”. “Operation Little Vittles” lasted from September 22, 1948, to May 13, 1949, airdropping over 23 tonnes of candy for the children of Berlin using over 2,50,000 makeshift parachutes.

In later years, Halvorsen conducted or advocated candy drops in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Japan, Guam, and Iraq. He also helped to develop reusable manned spacecraft for the United States. Halvorsen retired from the USAF in August 1974, after 31 years of military service, having accumulated over 8,000 flying hours. He died from respiratory failure on February 16, 2022, at the age of 101.

In one of his many interviews, Gail Halvorsen remarked, “One of my fellow Airlift pilots had bombed Berlin during the war. I asked him how he felt about flying day and night on behalf of the enemy, the very ones who did their best to kill him as he flew over Berlin in 1944. He hesitated a moment, shuffling his feet and then said, ‘It feels a lot better to feed them than it does to kill ’em.’”