The Secret Bomber

The final chapter in our historic deep dive

Be sure to read part one and part two of this story to make sure you’re caught up!

Operation Little Vittles, taken from the official name of the Berlin Airlift, Operation Vittles, picked up steam dramatically. The military gave Gail two secretaries to help keep things organized. 

Any moment he wasn’t flying, he was sorting candy and gum on his bed and organizing drops. They found larger pieces of silk to use as parachutes, which allowed them to drop bigger packets of candy. Despite this, they ran out of parachutes, and returned to using makeshift pieces of material from old shirt sleeves and corners of sheets.

The children of Berlin, hearing of the supply shortage, began sending letters with homemade parachutes in them. Many contained letters of gratitude, some had carefully hand drawn maps to their house, X marking the spot of where they hoped the pilots would make a drop. 

And it wasn’t long before bags of stateside mail began taking over the base. Gail received a letter from the Lifesavers candy company informing him that they were donating 4,000 rolls of Lifesavers, and would begin sending 1,000 more rolls per week for as long as they were needed.

The Confectioners Association of America sent 6500 pounds of candy. Fabric manufacturers donated thousands of parachutes.