FReeper Canteen ~ The Berlin Airlift Part 3: Operation Little Vittles ~ 10 December 2018

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[Kathy in Alaska]

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The Berlin Airlift
Part 3:  Operation Little Vittles
All info and photos from this website.

Link to Part 1
Link to Part 2

           

"DER SCHOKOLADEN FLIEGER"
 

OPERATION LITTLE VITTLES
 

40K JPEG	General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force is shown presenting the 1948 Cheney Award to 1st Lieutenant Gail S. Halvorsen, USAF, former Berlin Airlift pilot and originator of Operation Little Vittles while his wife, second from left, looks on.
U.S. Air Force Photograph Negative Number A-35720 AC National Air and Space Archives Videodisc Number 3B-38771

One of the most poignant stories of the Berlin Airlift was that of one 1^st Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen.  Halvorsen was somewhat of an ammeter moviemaker, and on July 17, he decided that on one of his off days, he would hitch a ride as a passenger on a C-54 and visit the City he was saving.  Once at Tempelhof, Halvorsen walked to the end of the runway to film some aircraft landings when he noticed a group of children near the fence watching the planes, too.  He went over to them.  They asked questions about the aircraft, the cargo, how fast it was going and things like that.  During this conversation he noticed that these children, unlike others he had encountered in Europe as a Ferry command Pilot during the War, did not ask him for any candy or gum, like others always had.  This struck him funny, and he knew that they were too proud to beg for such things.  Some having been born during wartime had not even heard of treats like that.  He made a fateful decision at that moment which was to become one of the symbols of the airlift.  He reached into his pocket and found that he had only two sticks of Wrigley's Doublemint Gum.  He remarked that if they did not fight over it, he would drop some candy to them if they were there the next day.  They agreed, took the sticks of gum and divided it amongst themselves, some happy to get only a piece of the wrapper.  Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over.  He replied, "I'll wiggle my wings." 
True to his word, the very next day, on approach to Berlin, he rocked the airplane and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below.  Every day, the number of children would increase and he made several more drops.  Soon there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings', "The Chocolate Uncle" and "The Chocolate Flier". 
Halvorsen didn't tell anyone about what he was doing for fear he'd get in trouble.  Then, he was called into his commander and asked what he was doing.  He replied 'Flying, Sir."  His commander asked again, and received the same response.  He then pulled out a newspaper with a picture of Halvorsen's plane and tiny parachutes trailing behind.  Apparently, a newspaper reporter narrowly escaped being hit on the head with a chocolate bar.  His commander wasn't happy about it, but General Tunner though it was just the kind of gesture that the operation needed.  It was dubbed "Operation Little Vittles".  It continued, and many C-54 pilots participated.  Candy and parachutes were assembled and sent from Chicopee Falls, MA to assist in the gesture.  In the end, over three tons of candy was dropped over Berlin, some even in the Soviet sector.  For this simple kindhearted gesture, Halvorsen became the most recognized pilot of the Berlin Airlift. 

THE EASTER PARADE
 

By April 1949, airlift operations were going rather smoothly, and General Tunner wanted to break up the monotony.  He liked the idea of a big event that would show the capabilities of his command, as well as give everyone a big morale boost.  He wanted to set a record.  In order to do that, much planning was necessary, and it was decided that on Easter Sunday, the only cargo was to be coal.  In fact general Tunner wanted to shatter all previous tonnage records set so far.  Secretly, coal was stockpiled for the event.  Maintenance schedules were altered so that the maximum number of planes was available.  Everyone put in extra effort for this special event.  From 12:00PM April 15, to 12:00PM April 16, 1949, crews worked overtime to deliver more tonnage than had ever been delivered in a 24 hour period.  When it was over, 12,941 tons of coal had been delivered as a result of 1,383 flights without a single accident.  As a matter of fact, as a result, the daily tonnage also increased from 6,729 tons a day before the Easter Parade, to 8,893 tons per day, an unexpected benefit.  This was the straw that broke the camel's back. 

THE END OF THE BLOCKADE
 

On May 12, 1949, the Soviets capitulated.  The blockade was over.  It was decided to continue supplying Berlin by air in addition to the land routes in order to build up a sufficient supply of goods.  The Airlift officially ended on Sept. 30, 1949, fifteen months after its meager beginnings in June of '48.  In total, the US delivered 1,783,572.7 tons, while 541,936.9 tons were delivered by the British totaling 2.3 Million tons from 277, 569 total flights to Berlin.  C-47's and C-54's alone traveled over 92 million miles in order to do so.  These were astounding figures, considering that in the beginning it seemed impossible to even try.  Nevertheless, even the greatest operation is not without risk.  A total of 101 fatalities were recorded as a result of the operation, including 31 Americans, mostly due to crashes. 

The end of the blockade was unexpected; however, as bigger plans were made and bigger planes were set to replace the existing fleet of C-54's.  The USAF had already used a C-74 "Globemaster" and one Boeing YC-97A "Stratofreighter" in the airlift, testing the feasibility of heavy-lift transports and their use in a continued operation.  The Douglas C-124 "Globemaster II" was coming and the plan was to use C-97's and 124's to continue the operation without as many flights.  Fortunately, that was not necessary. 

Boeing C-97 "Stratofreighter" owned by the Foundation         Fairchild C-82 "Packet"                          Douglas C-74 "Globemaster"       

 

...continued and concluded next week....

 

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission!

[radu]

Howdy, PRO.

Was the weather nice enough to go hang out in the yard with the pups this weekend or cold enough to just hunker down at home?

Rainy here yesterday and now it’s cold enough to snow. Fortunately there’s very little showing on the radar.

[The Mayor]

YES! A job coming to an end this week, big repair job, can’t wait to get it out of here :)

[radu]

Howdy, LUV.

I hope your head didn’t bonk the pew this morning after your late night last night. :-)
Has the weather improved down there yet?

[PROCON]

Hiya radu!

It's cold here but I did visit Robin, Zach and the pups. Took the pups out into the backyard to 'water' them and play awhile.

We are getting a bit of snow tonight but not much. We'll see what Winter has in store for us, but it officially ain't here yet!

[luvie]

Howdy, radu!

I managed to make it through the service, but I was sure ready for my nap! LOL! The weather is still pretty chilly..37 right now...but will start warming up a bit. Some people here say they got snow yesterday, but I didn’t see any here at our house!

How are things there? I guess you didn’t get all the snow that’s covering up the east coast. Wonder if beachy got slammed. Is it supposed to warm up or clear up there?

If you’ve been on my JH playlist, there are a lot of cams not online right now. Not sure why unless the frigid temps have messed with them. It was like -4 early yesterday morning. And they want US to move THERE? Heck no!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Good evening Ma and gang!
Hope everyone had a nice Sunday.
Puttering around here, went to market and
picked up stuff for our Indian curry.
Yummy stuff!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, mountainlion...ya gotta stay warm.

They supplied all of their needs! And what a fantastic job they did.

[radu]

BRRRR! I imagine neither you nor the pups wanted to spend too much time outside. More time to visit with Robin and Zach!

We might get a few spits of snow before the night’s over with. The big concern is that everything’s wet from the rain we’ve had the past two days and the freezing temps overnight will leave a glaze of ice. Won’t be a fun drive for those who have to go to work in the morning.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hi there, Pro...a story of great things that our military has done to help others. We must remember.

[mylife]

My Curry is simple, Mae Ploy Curry paste (which one?)

Gold with seafood, green with pork, red with beef.

Mix dem curry and coconut cream.. simmer and simmer the meat, add the fresh ingredients..

Ladle that on the rice or noodles.

Bon Appites

[radu]

Good for you this morning. LOL!
I hope Peaches let you have an uninterrupted nap.

It’s 37 here, too, and is supposed to drop below freezing before the night’s over. Glad I don’t have to go anywhere tomorrow morning since the wet roads will be slick.

We won’t warm up until Wed., when they SAY it’ll be in the low 50s. We’ll see.

I haven’t checked the JH cams in a couple of days. If it’s that cold up there, YIKES! Cams aren’t going to do well in those frigid temps!

I did notice the new owl cam you found. There were three of them sleeping in the branches this afternoon. Cuties, they are.

[mylife]

Mmmm golden curry shrimp and shanghai noodles..

[radu]

Howdy, MS.B!

How are things up your way? Are y’all freezing like the rest of us? LOL
That Indian curry ought to warm ya up!

[mylife]

10 dang inches of snow in Amarillo Tx this AM

Jeeze in Dec?

[luvie]

Hey, there, Sis! (((hugs)))

it was a good day here. Kinda chilly but heck! It’s December after all! :D

Mmmm,,,,,that Indian curry sounds good! I think. LOL! I’ve only had it once years ago in Thailand. I just remember it was very spicy.

[luvie]

Yeah, I ran across that owl cam by accident when I was trying to get the live cams back on all the others that seemed to go down at once. I haven’t seen the owls yet, but it’s good to know they are around.

Peaches went out last night so I did sleep good. :) He sure was ready to come back in this morning though. It got down to at least 29 overnight.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t get below freezing there. It’s already 34 here and y’all are right behind us in this cold spell.

[mylife]

We had venison chili, deviled eggs, pulled pork, brisket, cocktail meatballs and a number of things at the vfw post today.

Not too shabby :)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Ms B...((HUGS))...did you get all your cooking done?

Be sure to stay warm.

[mylife]

Zzzzz’s

[radu]

Say WHAT????? YIKES!!

We’ve just had rain here but there was a lot of ice in parts of TN overnight.
Might get a few flakes here tonight but nothing like Amarillo got!