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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSCandy Bomber is the true story of Lt. Gail Halvorsen, a young American cargo pilot in the Berlin Airlift, told through photographs along with letters and drawings from German children. In 1948, after World War II, the Soviets cut off the trains, cars, trucks and river barges headed into West Berlin, so British and American planes start flying in food and coal for over two million people. One warm July day, Halvorsen walks to the wire fence at the end of the runway at Tempelhof Central Airport and meets about thirty children who care about more than food and do not ask him for anything. He gives them the two sticks of gum in his pocket and promises to drop candy from his plane the next day, and to "wiggle the wings" so they will know which plane is his. That small promise grows into Operation Little Vittles, and soon children all over the city, like nine-year-old Peter Zimmerman and seven-year-old Mercedes Simon, are watching the sky and writing letters to the pilot they call Uncle Wiggly Wings.
Free Battle of the Books questions for Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot"
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot". Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a visitor greet kids with "Guten Tag. Wie geht's?", most of the German he knows?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
The words mean "Hello. How are you?" Lt. Halvorsen used most of the German he knew to greet the kids at the end of the runway, and they answered with a flood of greetings in both English and German.
- First half
In what book is a colonel upset only because a general called with congratulations he knew nothing about?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
Colonel Haun first demanded to know what Halvorsen had been doing. Then he revealed that General Tunner had called him with congratulations. He was only upset at being caught off guard, so he told Halvorsen to keep flying and keep dropping.
- First half
In what book do nurses set aside their worries about sticky sheets and pillowcases?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
Bubble gum could make a mess of hospital beds, but the joy it brought the young polio patients encouraged the German nurses to stop worrying about it.
- Second half
In what book are donated sweets worth a small fortune locked in a jail cell and guarded?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
So much candy and gum arrived from America that there was too much to drop by parachute, so it was flown into West Berlin and locked in a jail cell. Guards watched over it for two or three weeks, since it was worth a small fortune on the black market, until it was handed out at Christmas Eve parties.
- Second half
In what book does a frustrated boy write "How did you guys win the war?" to an American flyer?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
Peter Zimmerman's patience wore thin as the drops kept missing him. In a letter with none of his usual artwork, he scolded the American flyer for missing his target even though he had been given a map.
- Near the end
In what book does an astronaut photograph a cosmonaut and an astronaut holding an old parachute between them?
✓ Answer
Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift's "Chocolate Pilot" by Michael O. Tunnell
In 1995 NASA carried one of the little parachutes from 1948 into space aboard the Space Shuttle. When the shuttle docked with the Russian space station Mir, an astronaut photographed a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut holding it between them.
