FReeper Canteen ~ The Berlin Airlift ~ Part 3: Operation Little Vittles ~ 21 December 2020

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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!

[Kathy in Alaska]

I ventured out to take a load of stuff to the thrift store. And since the pizza place is right next door...I brought a pizza home.

Getting off my street was a little dicey, but just don’t stop. I saw a couple cars coming out of side streets to get on the main drag who were stuck in the show berms made by the plows. Lots of shoveling. Never go anywhere without a shovel!

[Kathy in Alaska]

[radu]

Your temps won’t be too bad this week. We wouldn’t mind them here. Close to 60 tomorrow and Wed. but cooler Tues. Rain comes in Wed. and temps drop to 40s Thurs. 30s Fri. ad Sat., then 50s Sun.
Roller coaster ride!

I wasn’t happy about needing to head out into the fog this evening because it was so darn thick. Visibility wasn’t much over zero. I ran into a friend at the store and we chatted a while. By the time I left, the fog had lifted a little and it wasn’t such a white-knuckle drive home.

The conjunction is tomorrow evening but I’m sure it was close tonight. You don’t need a telescope to see it. And you need to turn around .... it’s in the west, not the east. :-) Not far above the horizon just after the sun sets. It will be obvious.

[radu]

Hey there, Kathy.

You got lucky if the snow was gentle at your house. It got crazy at times at the airport. One poor guy was at his business clearing the parking lot with a small snow plow. It started snowing while he was out there and he gave up. Now you can’t tell the difference in where he plowed and where he didn’t.

Saw this posted in chat a few minutes ago ...
“higher elevations around Anchorage are under a High Wind Watch beginning Monday night with possible winds out of the east 60 to 80 mph with gusts to 100 mph possible.”

I wouldn’t want to be one of the Hillside folks. I imagine they’ll get a dose.

Not too cold here the next few days but we’ll be cold by Christmas. Still waiting to see if we’ll get snow.

[radu]

Howdy, E.G.C. ((HUGZ))

Have a good time with Gizmo yesterday? KFC or Sonic for supper? :-)

[radu]

YUM! Pizza! That made it worth the effort to get out and about. Glad you weren’t one of the folks who got stuck in a snow berm. Shoveling the deck is one thing but shoveling out of that kind of mess is back-breaking. Ugh!

[E.G.C.]

We had Sonic for supper yesterday but the fun part was the lake.

There was a guy with two dogs approaching so we got off the path and walked to the beach to avoid him and the dogs.

And then, we walked the rocks from the boat ramp all the way to the dock at the now torn lake house. Gizmo wanted to keep going but instead I lifted him to the dock. (Not too heavy) and we finished the trip.

We will see what adventures await us today but in the meantime here are the pics from yesterday.

[radu]

LOL!! If one is going to hang an upside-down Christmas tree to keep the cat out of it, it should be WELL away from a ledge. That one just BEGGED to be climbed. Kitteh looks mighty proud. :-)

[MoochPooch]

Hi Kathy. I scrolled down — such heroes!

[radu]

It sounds like you two covered some ground out there yesterday. Giz had a happy face.
Bet y’all were ready to chow down after all that running around!

[luvie]

I’m glad you told me where it will be. We were discussing it on the Lookner stream but no one really said WHERE it was. Just that it was going to happen. Thank goodness I won’t need the telescope. I have a feeling my back is going to hate me in the morning. LOL!

It is much cooler there AND damp, which makes it feel worse. I hope you get your shopping done tomorrow so you can stay warm the rest of the week. Or at least till the rain stops.

I need to go soon. The 7:15 am wake-up is now getting to me. LOL! See ya tomorrow! Might be late. We have live-chat tomorrow night and it always goes over the alloted 2 hours.

[E.G.C.]

((LOL))Yep, we were. I slept like a lamb after we came back.

It's a little cold but not as cold as the last few mornings. At least no frost that I see.

Supposed to be windy tomorrow and Wednesday over parts of Oklahoma. We'll see what happens.

[Kathy in Alaska]

I’ve had the “conjuction” on my calendar for awhile, but, alas, we have seen no sky for days now, and it’s still snowing. I was hoping to get a glimpse.

[radu]

You should pay closer attention to threads here. Been plenty of them posted about it. You could have told the Lookner crowd where to look tomorrow evening and been their hero. LOL

I’ve been watching the two planets slowly close in on each other for a little while, champing at the bit for tomorrow. I was so afraid we’d have crummy weather since we usually do when something cool is going on in the skies.
I hope to get some decent pix of it since we’re supposed to have clear skies.

Yeah, dampness makes cool air penetrate to the marrow. It probably affects you more since you aren’t used to it. it can be unpleasant enough for us and we ARE used to it.

I’ll do the grocery shopping Tuesday. It won’t be cold though it won’t be quite as warm as tomorrow. I’d rather wait until Wed. but the weatherfolks can’t make up their minds on when the rain will get here. Some say in the afternoon and some say in the evening.

Sleep well and have a good Monday. Catch ya tomorrow night.

[radu]

Nice that you’re getting a little break in the cold weather. Frost is always a bad sign. You see it and you KNOW it’s right nippy out there!

I hope it doesn’t get too windy this week. There IS a cold front coming through and I reckon it’ll get windy here at some point too.

[radu]

You’re having my usual luck with crummy weather when something cool is going on in the skies. :-(
You’ve definitely had ugly weather up there lately. At least there’s a good blanket of snow to keep pipes warm so they don’t burst in the cold.

[luvie]

I haven’t seen any threads on the sidebar about the stars, so I hadn’t thought much about it till Steve mentioned it. LOL!

[luvie]

Goood 5-days-before-Christmas morning!
Can you believe it's already here?
...and yet 2020 seems to have lasted forever.
Hope everyone is ready for Santa!
Y'all have a very Merry Monday!
((((hugs))))

[radu]

It’s been brought up in several APOD threads lately.
I go through “Latest Articles” every day and that’s where I’ve seen all the threads.

It was cloudy this morning and I was PO’d. But it’s clear now and I hope it stays that way.

[VeniVidiVici]

Thank you!