MISSION POSSIBLE: Miracle Over Berlin

The Inspirational Story of how the Berlin "Candy Bomber" Brought Joy to a Destroyed City.

This award-winning short-documentary is about the world’s greatest humanitarian relief effort, the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), and the creative pilot who made it famous. It is a heartwarming reminder of American goodwill and generosity, epitomized during the airlift and also by Col. Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin “Candy Bomber.”

In the aftermath of World War II, the beleaguered children of West Berlin had rarely tasted chocolate or candy. Knowing this, pilot Gail Halvorsen decided to drop sweets attached to small parachutes from his supply aircraft to the children below. His actions garnered international acclaim, and mounds of candy soon arrived at his airbase, sent by confectionary companies and good Samaritans. Halverson became affectionately known as the Berlin “Candy Bomber.”

In May, 2019, Jon Helminiak personally invited the “Candy Bomber” to be an honorary crew member aboard the Tunison Foundation’s WWII era C-47 aircraft, Placid Lassie during the airlift’s 70th anniversary commemorative flying in Germany.  The documentary chronicles how Halvorsen, age 99, and his family were greeted by up to 60,000 people at every stop, demonstrating that the German people remain grateful for America’s goodwill during the airlift operations that saved their city from Communist occupation.

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Jon with Col. Halvorsen and Mercedes Wild, one of the Berlin children who received candy dropped by Col. Halvorsen from his Douglas C-54 aircraft during the Berlin airlift in 1948-1949.
Jon and the Tunison Foundation crew flew Col. Halvorsen and his family from Frankfurt, Germany, to the U.S. Army airbase at Wiesbaden aboard the Foundation's WWII C-47 Placid Lassie, where he received a hero's welcome from an estimated 60,000 people.
Col. Gail Halvorsen remains a hero in Germany for his humanitarian candy drops to Berlin's beleaguered children from his C-54 aircraft during the Berlin Airlift in 1948-1949.
Pilot Gail Halvorsen with children at Berlin Tempelhof Airport, 1948.
A Douglas C-54 landing in Berlin during the airlift, 1948.