Just in case anyone is interested in meeting living history, I want to mention an event coming up along the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the small town of Manteo.
Colonel Gail Halvorsen will be making what is likely one of his final public appearances there the weekend of Dec 17-19. The 101-year-old former US Air Force pilot and senior commander gained fame as the original "candy bomber" during the Berlin Airlift, dropping chocolate bars tied to small parachutes to the children of West Berlin during his Airlift flights after meeting a group of children along a fence at Tempelhof Airport who asked him for nothing but freedom.
A 3-minute clip of Col Halvorsen telling how the candy drops began.
A longer documentary about the Candy Bomber.
The event in Manteo was started over 20 years ago by Karin Edmond, an 80-something-year-old lady who gratefully caught chocolate from US planes as a hungry child in Berlin. She will be there, too! Also in attendance will be the Spirit of Freedom, a C-54 aircraft that participated in the Airlift. It will fly over Manteo's small regional airport, dropping chocolates to the kids at the airport.
The current schedule for the weekend:
- Dec 16: Spirit of Freedom arrives at Dare County Regional Airport
- Dec 17: Colonel Halvorsen and the C-54 flight crew will be at the Dare County Center at 6:30 pm sharing their experiences.
During the day, the annual celebration of the Wright Brothers' first flight will happen at the Kitty Hawk National Memorial (with a fly over by the Spirit of Freedom).
- Dec 18: The C-54 will be open to the public for viewing (the old plane [destroyed in a tornado in 2019] had an onboard museum of the Berlin Airlift, but at last word, the exhibits had not yet been installed on the "new" Spirit of Freedom, which just left the paint shop this month).
- Dec 19: Candy drop at Dare Regional Airport at 1:00 pm; Santa Claus arrives on the C-54 after the candy drop!
All activities are free. This will be my fifth year of attendance. It's a great event for families and for history-loving adults.
If per chance you have interest in the event and want to meet up for coffee or a meal, send me a message. I will be in Manteo Thursday through Monday morning.