packaging as content
Contact Box Vox
Packaging Songs
join our pack
Recent Comments
- Steve on Postmodern Structural Packaging
- Daniel on Remarkable New Food Packaging Invention
- Lynne on Majestic Milk and Package Receiver
- Daniel on Schaedler Pinwheel
- Daniel on The Trickle-Up Effect
- Zora Göschl on Postmodern Structural Packaging
- David Wilder on Packaging Puppets & Evangelical Ventriloquism
- Astronaut Water | cocinaymatematicas on Astronaut Water Revisited
- Justin on Pipe Shaped Bottle | Bottle Shaped Pipe
- Randy Ludacer on Astronaut Water Revisited
Recent Posts
Archives
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
December 30, 2008
Candy Bomber
Left & upper right: Colonel Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber; lower right: young Berliners awaiting Onkel Wackelflügel
In addition to the 1947 Five Cent War, chocolate bars were to also play an interesting role in the 1948–1949 Berlin Airlift.
Shortly before landing at the Tempelhof airport in the American sector of Berlin, Halvorsen would drop candy attached to parachutes to children below. This action, which was dubbed Operation Little Vittles and sparked similar efforts by other crews, was the source of the popular name for the pilots: the candy bombers. Halvorsen had wanted to help raise the morale of the children during the time of uncertainty and privation.
Halvorsen [gave a few candy bars to] some children watching the planes from outside the Tempelhof base. Wanting to give more, he promised to drop more candy from his plane the next day. Because the planes would arrive every 90 seconds, the children naturally couldn’t distinguish his from the others. However, Halvorsen promised to wiggle the wings to identify himself, which led to his nickname “Onkel Wackelflügel” (“Uncle Wiggly Wings”).
His actions were soon noticed by the press and gained widespread attention. A wave of public support led to donations which enabled Halvorsen and his crew to drop 850 pounds of candy. By the end of the airlift, around 25 plane crews had dropped 23 tons of chocolate, chewing gum, and other candies over various places in Berlin. The Confectioners Association of America donated large amounts to the effort, and American school children cooperated in attaching the candies to parachutes.
wikipedia entry on Operation Little Vittles
Randy Ludacer
Beach Packaging Design
No Responses to “Candy Bomber”
Kudos
Consumer/Culture
-
Rob Walker’s Design Observer Blog
-
The MKTG Tumblr Site
-
Justin Kirkwood's brand fiction site
-
The Unconsumption Tumblr Site
-
What did you buy today?
-
The Church of Stop Shopping
other pack-blogs
links
-
The Man Who Moved Manhattan
-
Belgian journalist, Tom Ronse's blog
-
-
Yah of course,i agree for what you’ve said here in this blog,and chocolate is one of my favorite to replace always in my box thanks for sharing,you have a very yummy blogs!
by:missy