(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 17 - Gail Halvorsen, the former American pilot who went down in history for throwing sweets to the children of Berlin during the embargo imposed by the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 101.
Nicknamed the 'candy bomber' or 'Uncle WigglyWings' for the way he maneuvered his plane so children knew he was coming, he was the first pilot to drop little parachutes filled with chocolate, gum and candy over Berlin and inspired many. other pilots to do the same after him.
"Even if I flew day and night, in the ice and in the snow ... I was happy when I saw the expression of the children waiting for the parachutes. They weren't crazy," Halvorsen said in an interview ten years ago.
At the end of the Second World War, from 1948 to 1949 the Americans and the allies organized an operation called 'The Berlin Bridge' to bring supplies to the 2.5 million inhabitants of West Berlin.
still suffering from the conflict and surrounded by the Soviets who had blocked all accesses to three sectors occupied by the Americans, British and French and cut all rail and road connections.
2 million tons of goods were transported by over 270,000 flyers.
At least 78 American, British and German pilots lost their lives in plane or ground crashes, delivering food and other basic necessities to the exhausted population of Berlin.
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delivering food and other basic necessities to the exhausted population of Berlin.
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delivering food and other basic necessities to the exhausted population of Berlin.
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