<text id=00he1309><title>Operation Little Vittles</title>
<history>US Air Force: Events History</history>
<article><hdr>Operation Little Vittles</hdr><body>
<p>The big airlift was called Operation Vittles, that latter word being a rural Americanism for victuals. There was also an Operation Little Vittles, and it came about because Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen got along well with children. He got to know the children who watched the planes come in at Templehof and he occasionally passed candy and chewing gum out on his sightseeing trips around the base. Then he began waggling the C-54 wings when he was on low finals over the kids' heads. The children waved back, and Halvorsen decided the next time he'd drop some candy to them. He made small parachutes from handkerchiefs, and his crew chief slung them out of the door on the final approach.
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<p>Like other humanitarian gestures in wartime, it caught on. The children increased in number, and Halvorsen became the unwitting founder of Operation Little Vittles. People in the US sent bundles of handkerchiefs; packers carefully cut time-expired parachutes into squares. Aircrews donated their gum and candy, and Halvorsen and fellow pilots made the candy run part of the airlift.
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<p>It was exactly the kind of gesture Americans are known for, and it was great public relations for the USAF. Today, people remember Operation Little Vittles, and call the big one the Berlin Airlift.
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<p>Airlift tonnage continued to increase, the curves climbing steadily. The French came into the operation and, although they had no transport fleet to offer, they did have another airport in Berlin, at Tegel, and they made it available. There was an approach hazard; a radio tower, operated by the Russians, presented a menace to instrument approaches. The British and Americans decided to negotiate with the Russians for its removal, but the Russians refused. The stories vary a little from that point on, but in any event, it was the French who solved the problem. They gave a party at Tegel to celebrate the opening of the field, and invited the RAF and USAF contingent. The joie de vivre of the occasion was interrupted by the muffled sound of an explosion. The Russian radio tower had been demolished, perhaps by the French but, certainly, the British and the Americans could not be held to blame because they were, after all, attending a party, were they not? The Russians griped, but did nothing.
