United States Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen ties parachutes onto candy bars to drop for German children as part of Operation Little Vittles during the Berlin Airlift.
Credit: U.S. Army

Gail Seymour Halvorsen was born on Oct. 10, 1920, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Halvorsen graduated from Bear River High School in 1939. After high school, he received a scholarship to a pilot-training program. He earned his pilot’s license in September 1941.

In May 1942, Halvorsen signed up for the Civil Air Patrol, the volunteer civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force. Halvorsen attended Utah State University before receiving a call for training in March 1943. He completed basic training in Wichita Falls, Texas. Halvorsen earned the opportunity to train with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in Miami, Oklahoma, and received his military pilot wings in 1944. Halvorsen flew supplies to countries in the South Atlantic, as well as England, Italy, and parts of North Africa, through the end of World War II (1939-1945). After the war, he returned to the United States and flew cargo planes.

In the summer of 1948, Halvorsen was assigned to Operation Vittles, the U.S. arm of the Berlin Airlift. Halvorsen’s schedule included three round-trip flights to Berlin daily. Once, at Tempelhof Air Base in West Berlin, he met children and gave them his gum rations. He was impressed with the children’s manners and promised to drop them more candy. When the children asked how they would know which plane was his, Halvorsen responded that he would waggle the wings of his plane, rocking them back and forth. This habit earned him the nickname Uncle Wiggly Wings.

Halvorsen began dropping candy, chocolate, and gum from his rations and convinced other pilots to donate their rations. He crafted parachutes using handkerchiefs, so the candy would drift safely to the ground. Halvorsen began receiving letters addressed to Uncle Wiggly Wings from the children of West Berlin. His superior officer noticed newspaper articles on the candy drops and thus became aware that Halvorsen was breaking Air Force rules by conducting unofficial drops. Halvorsen was allowed to continue after it became clear that the effort was helping the Allies to gain favor among the Germans and around the world. The United States Air Force named the mission “Operation Little Vittles.” People in the United States began donating supplies. American candy companies began donating candy, and students in the United States volunteered to tie handkerchief parachutes to the candy. Halvorsen and other pilots dropped more than 20 tons (18 metric tons) of candy and 250,000 parachutes from Sept. 22, 1948, to May 13, 1949.

Halvorsen returned to the United States in January 1949. The operation continued without him. The Air Force granted Halvorsen a permanent commission in the United States. He received the Cheney Award for humanitarian actions from the Air Force. Halvorsen studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Florida, graduating in 1951 and earning a master’s degree in engineering in 1952. He served as the project engineer for the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He also worked on the Titan III rocket in Inglewood, California. He returned to Germany to serve as commander of the Tempelhof Air Base until his retirement in 1974. He earned a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Wayne State University in 1973, while stationed in Germany. He logged more than 8,000 hours of flight time in his 31-year career.

After retiring from the Air Force, Halvorsen served as the assistant dean of student life at Brigham Young University from 1976 to 1986. He participated in a candy drop over Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1994. Halvorsen received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor granted by Congress, in 2014. Halvorsen wrote a memoir, The Berlin Candy Bomber (2017).