Operation Little Vittles" - an initiative during the Berlin Airlift to drop Allied sweets and chocolates from planes as a gift to the German children below - began on September 22, 1948.

Lt. Gail Halvorsen, a 27-year-old U.S. pilot, had been moved to the gesture by a group of children he encountered one day near Tempelhof airport. After seeing their eagerness to share even the most meagre of resources, he decided to drop sweets for them during his next flight, signalling his arrival by waggling his plane’s wings. The drop soon became a weekly event, remembered by a generation of Berliners, some of whom had never tasted chocolate before.

In this week’s Sunday’s episode, exclusively for our 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴supporters on Apple Podcasts and Patreon, Arion, Rebecca and Olly consider the media reaction to "Uncle Wiggly Wings"; marvel upon the logistical effort involved in the hundreds of thousands of flights over post-War West Berlin; and ask if Europe’s fetishisation of inferior American candy bars started with Halvorsen…

Further Reading:

• ‘How 'Candy Bomber' Gail Halvorsen Waged an Ideological Battle for Berlin’ (History Net, 2022): https://www.historynet.com/candy-bomber-gail-halvorsen/

• ‘How the 'Candy Bomber' Left a Lasting Legacy in Cold War Germany’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2022): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/candy-bomber-who-airdropped-sweets-to-german-children-in-1948-dies-at-101-180979610/

• 'The Candy Bomber' Honored in Germany 70 Years After Historic Berlin Airlift (Voice of America, 2019): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L87u5JM5Bqg

The episode first aired in 2024

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2025.

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