Somehow the crew of the Candy Bomber made it all work. It didn’t matter that the wind at the Dare County Regional Airport was blowing at 30, or there was a hard, driving rain. The kids that came expecting to catch a parachute with a Hershey bar attached to it, were going to have a chance to to that.
So they came up with an alternate plan. The Airport terminal has a balcony, so Mike Halverson, the son of Col. Gail Halverson, the original Candy Bomber from the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, dropped parachutes to the children lined up below. And a few older children as well.
The Candy Bomber has been coming to the Outer Banks since 1998—this is the 22nd visit for the crew and aircraft. They did have to take last year off because of COVID.
Things are a bit different this year, though. Colonel Halverson, now 101 years old, could make the trip, and it is the first time he has not done so.
There is also a new C54. The original Spirit of America, as the aircraft is named, was destroyed in a South Carolina tornado last April. Somehow a replacement airplane was located, and made airworthy in just one year. Since the replacement aircraft had been sitting idle for about eight years, that’s some feat.
The Candy Bomber celebrates a simple act of humanity at a time of fear and dread. After WWII, Germany was partitioned and the Soviet Union—now Russia—controlled East Germany. But Berlin, inside East Germany was also divided. The Soviet Union, hoping to starve the citizens of West Berlin into submission, sealed off all land routes to the city.
What followed is still considered the most extraordinary humanitarian airlift in history as mostly American but also British, French and Canadian aircraft flew nonstop for almost an entire year keeping a city of 2 million alive.
During the airlift, then Lt. Halverson realize the children of the city had little to lift their spirits, not even something as simple as candy, and he began dropping candy parachutes from his plane.
There are remarkable stories everywhere on the Outer Banks. Experience the tales of sea and sand for yourself while staying in a Brindley Beach Vacations home.