First, the story behind all this:
BERLIN "CANDY BOMBER" "One of the many American pilots to fly the USAF C-54 Skymaster during the Berlin Airlift of 1948-49 ("Operation Vittles")
was Colonel Gail S. Halvorsen of Provo, Utah. During the operation he became known as the "Candy Bomber" because he repeatedly dropped candy to German children from his aircraft on approach to the runways. " ...
Hat tip to JP Curnutt, former classmate from Garibaldi, Oregon.
Below: Lt. Halverson visits with West Berlin children at the end of the runway at Templehof Airport in 1948.
Some of the drawings West Berlin children sent to Lt. Halverson in thanks.
On Gail Halvorson and the Berlin Airlift “ 'Operation Vittles,” as the airlift was unofficially named, began on June 26 when USAF C-47s carried 80 tons of food into Berlin, far less than the estimated 4,500 tons of food, coal, and other material needed daily to maintain a minimum level of existence. But this force was soon augmented by U.S. Navy and Royal Air Force cargo aircraft. On Oct. 15, 1948 to promote increased safety and cooperation between the separate U.S. and British airlift efforts, the Allies created a unified command, the Combined Airlift Task Force under Maj. Gen. William H. Tunner, USAF.
To underscore Allied determination to resist Soviet pressure, three SAC bomb groups were sent to Europe, placing Soviet targets well within B-29 range."
You didn't mess with America back then.
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