Raisin Bombers

A Douglas DC-3, one of the Raisin bombers, known as Candy Bombers in the USA

A Douglas C-47 Skytrain owned by Air Service Berlin does a “Candy Drop” over Tempelhof airport in honor of the 60th anniversary of the end of the Berlin Blockade.

Raisin Bombers (German Rosinenbomber) was the name Berliners gave to the transport aircraft of the Western Allies, which brought in supplies to the western half of the city of Berlin during the Berlin Blockade in 1949.

The name came from the fact that some pilots started voluntarily to throw sweets and candy (and, presumably, also raisins) on little parachutes out of the window to Berlin children lined up on the edges of the airfields watching the planes. These actions were first attributed to American pilot Gail Halvorsen and ordered expanded by Lt. General William H. Tunner into Operation Little Vittles.

When this gesture became well known, it enjoyed considerable support with the US public. This support came in the form of large donations of candy from the confectionery industry while civilian volunteers made the parachutes for the delivery.

References

• Huschke, Wolfgang J., The Candy Bombers. The Berlin Airlift 1948/49. Berlin: Metropol, 1999. ISBN 3-932482-19-0

See also

• Gail Halvorsen
• Berlin Blockade
• Marshall Plan

External links

• Berlin-Airlift Veterans Association
• "Why We Did What We Did" Personal accounts of the Raisin Bombers in the Berlin Airlift
• Rosinenbomber Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Museum in Bonn, Germany)
• Operation Plainfare British contribution to the Berlin Airlift