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Gail Halvorsen

Halvorsen in Berlin, 1983

Colonel Gail Seymour "Hal" Halvorsen (October 10, 1920 – February 16, 2022) was an American career officer and command pilot in the United States Air Force. He was well known as the original Candy Bomber or the "Rosinenbomber" in Germany and a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal.[1] He piloted C-47s and C-54s during the Berlin airlift ("Operation Vittles") from 1948–1949.[2]

Halvorsen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. In October 2020, he turned 100.[3] Halvoersen died at a hospital in Provo, Utah on February 16, 2022 from respiratory failure at the age of 101.[4][5]

Gail Halvorsen Media

  • Halvorsen pioneered the idea of dropping candy bars and bubble gum with handmade miniature parachutes, which later became known as "Operation Little Vittles"

  • Douglas C-54 Skymaster landing at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, 1948

  • United States Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge

  • United States European Command emblem

  • Command missile operations badge

  • Headquarters_US_Air_Force_Badge

  • USAFCommanderBdg

  • US_Air_Force_Inspector_General_Duty_Badge

  • Colonel Gail S. Halvorsen leans out the window of a C-54 Skymaster aircraft on static display at Tempelhof Central Airport during ceremonies commemorating the 40th anniversary of the airlift which ended the Soviet blockade of BERLIN. Halvorsen was known as the candy bomber during the blockade, because of his practice of dropping candy for the children out of his plane.

References

  1. ↑ Standard-Examiner, Contributed to the. "Candy Bomber to receive Congressional Gold Medal". Standard-Examiner. Archived from the original on 2018-09-10. Retrieved 2019-02-15.
  2. ↑ "Error". Archived from the original on 2015-07-21. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
  3. ↑ "As Utah's Candy Bomber turns 100, his sweet story remains timeless". Deseret. October 4, 2020.
  4. ↑ Goldstein, Richard (2022-02-17). "Gail Halvorsen, 'Candy Bomber' in Berlin Airlift, Dies at 101" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331 . https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/us/gail-halvorsen-obituary.html. Retrieved 2022-02-17. 
  5. ↑ "Gail Halvorsen obituary". The Times. 24 February 2022. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gail-halvorsen-obituary-n3k0r9j67. Retrieved 25 February 2022. 

Other websites

  Media related to Gail Halvorsen at Wikimedia Commons

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