Candy Bomber wants to fly over Baghdad (pilot who dropped candy in Berlin airlift)

The Associated Press ^ | April 05 2003 | JAMES HANNAH

[knighthawk]

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) -- The pilot known as the Candy Bomber for air-dropping handkerchief-tethered chocolate and gum to the children of Berlin in 1948 wants to do the same thing for the kids of Baghdad.

"I'd give my right arm to do it," said retired Air Force Col. Gail Halvorsen. "I've had the experience of the reaction of the kids on the ground. It's just incredible."

When the Soviets formed a blockade around Berlin after World War II, Halvorsen and other U.S. pilots airlifted food, medicine and other supplies into the city. During that time, Halvorsen collected rations from his Air Force friends and began to quietly drop little parachutes of candy to the children.

"I didn't have permission. I almost got court martialed," he recalled.

Halvorsen later got permission, and he and his colleagues ended up air-dropping 23 tons of candy to the German children.

Halvorsen still makes his trademark candy drops.

In 1994, he flew a C-130 cargo plane over Bosnia and dropped candy-bar parachutes to the children there. And over the past year, he's made a dozen similar flights in the United States to demonstrate the drops to schoolchildren.

Halvorsen said he plans to ask his friends in the Air Force if he can make a candy drop over Baghdad once the war is over.

"I'm planning on how to do that when the dust clears," he said. "I'm going to make a request."

Halvorsen, 82, of Spanish Fork, Utah, was in Dayton to speak at an aviation symposium to mark the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight.

Halvorsen said the candy drops brought hope to the children of Berlin.

"That's what the airplane would bring to Iraq," he said. "They've been mistreated so long, with resources diverted to other things. The bottom line is it would lift their spirits."

Halvorsen said such a drop would be a humanitarian gesture rather than a propaganda move. And he believes it would show the Iraqi people how Americans feel about them.

"It would be a ray of hope, a symbol that somebody in America cares," he said. "That makes all the difference in the world on attitude."

[knighthawk]

Ping

[knighthawk]

UK: Army mum's care teddy bears (sending them to her son to give aqway to Iraqi children
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/885802/posts

[knighthawk]

Another one/

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

My only advice, no frozen Snickers.

[jimkress]

what a moron.

Go ahead and fly this 'mission'. Remember the Iraqi antiaicraft defense system still has some punch. So, this will be your last flight.

[TomB]

retired Air Force Col. Gail Halvorsen

For those of you who don't remember, this is the gentleman Clinton referred to as "she", when he was supposedly honoring him.

[knighthawk]

I don't think he wants to do it now.

[RJL]

The pilot known as the Candy Bomber for air-dropping handkerchief-tethered chocolate and gum to the children of Berlin in 1948 wants to do the same thing for the kids of Baghdad.

This is one of the “damn Americans” the French, Germans, or Canadians couldn't stand with to remove Saddam Hussein, a brutal murderous dictator.

[O.C. - Old Cracker]

Someone will probably say it betrays a deep-seated insecurity on my part, but I don't think I'd want to go down in history known as the 'Candy Bomber'.

[TheSpottedOwl]

My only advice, no frozen Snickers.

Turkish taffy ok? Lolol! He's a nice guy :)

[TheSpottedOwl]

what a moron.

I don't think I'd call him a moron. He has always had a heart regarding kids. He's 82 years old and still cares. Lets have candy companies donate candy and have the Army distribute it when things are under control. That and British teddy bears :)))

Shout out for all the good people still left on this earth!

[longshadow]

what a moron.

Go ahead and fly this 'mission'. Remember the Iraqi antiaicraft defense system still has some punch. So, this will be your last flight.

"Halvorsen said he plans to ask his friends in the Air Force if he can make a candy drop over Baghdad once the war is over." [emphasis added]

Before calling a true American hero a "moron," you might want to read the article.

[oprahstheantichrist]

This could be SO awesome if organized properly. The big candy companies, Mars, et. al., could be contacted to make donations. This way, they could proclaim "proud sponsor of 2003 Baghdad candy drop" and brag about how many tons of their products were dropped over Iraq in their advertising. Kids would talk about it in school, and perhaps it may make a dent in the impressionable young skulls full of mush who may have leftist anti-Bush parents.

Just imagine the PR possibilities....

[Lucy Lake]

Since the first prisoners were incarcerated in Cuba, my thoughts were to give them Hershey's with Almonds candy bars, or Hershey's Kisses with almonds. Anyone eating them for the first time surely would begin to change their outlook on life.

How can we implement Col Halvorsen's idea?

[TomB]

At a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift Clinton praised "the countless acts of individual kindness, like Gail Halvorsen, the famous Rosinenbomber, who dropped tiny parachutes of candy to Berlin's children. She is here with us today, and I'd like to ask her to stand." He stood.

[crz]

A moron hey? You better get in front of a mirror and look at yourself.

This guy flew tons and tons of supplies into Berlin and took pity on the german kids on the ground who watched as the planes brought food and supplies into Berlin while the Russians blocked any other means of getting supplies into it. He decided to simply drop candy to those kids while comming in for the landing. Ask any 70 year old Berliner who experienced this when they were kids if he was a moron. These guys were heros. And I think you best set apologies for the slight you made against him/them.

[petuniasevan]

I read about "Onkel Wackelflugel" when I was in the 4th grade. What a great gesture to the children of Berlin.

I sure hope that we let him airdrop candy to the Iraqi kids, too.

Note: When Halvorsen strayed over into Soviet-held territory to drop candy, the Russkis had a fit and claimed that he was trying to brainwash the kids there.

[TomB]

Before calling a true American hero a "moron," you might want to read the article.

LOL!

Don't you just love the annointed ones around here whose opinions are so invariably correct that they no longer need to even READ THE ARTICLES to comment?