Gail Halvorsen: The Candy Bomber

In this installment of ‘Profiles in History,’ we meet a World War II pilot who became known for his unique generosity during the Berlin Airlift.

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

Gail Halvorsen (1920–2022) was born and raised on the farms of Idaho and Utah. Born around the start of the Interwar Years, he enjoyed the quiet serenity of a world at peace for a majority of his early life. While growing up, America played a role in the advancement of flight. Pilots, such as John Macready, Oakley Kelly, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Carl Spaatz, were the heroes of the day, setting records and demonstrating the ingenuity behind American aeronautics. Hearing the stories of high-altitude daring and witnessing planes in the sky every so often, Halvorsen had one wish and that was to become a pilot.

As a teenager, he earned a scholarship for flying lessons and by the time he was 20 years old, he'd received his pilot’s license from the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). The CPTP was founded in 1938 with the objective of training 20,000 civilian pilots each year. This program was initiated due to the possible outbreak of war in Europe. The year after the CPTP began, Germany invaded Poland and started World War II. Shortly after Halvorsen received his pilot’s license, America was drawn into the war when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

From Fighter Pilot to Transport

Halvorsen immediately enlisted into the Army Air Forces, and since he already had his pilot license, he volunteered for an opportunity to join Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) to train as a fighter pilot. While training with the British, he earned his RAF wings.