MEMORIAL DAY TRIBUTE: How The Halvorsen Loader Got Its Name
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Not such an "oldie" - we first published this in February - but it's a "goodie" considering yesterday's date.]
We put the finishing touches on our February issue last week that celebrates our 20th year publishing the leading voice of the ground support community.
Our cover story is on the history of ground support equipment, which can trace its ancestry all the way back to 1705 when the Goldhofer family started a blacksmith’s shop. Ironically, the professional management of that company was in the news last week, too, when it announced the acquisition of Schopf - by comparison a teenager that got its start in 1945 when Jorg Schopf opened a design office to develop shovel loaders.
We tried our best to celebrate the names behind the brand names throughout the 4,000-word feature. You’ve no doubt heard of Hobart Brothers, the company. But what about Edward, Charles and William Hobart, the brothers?
JLG Industries is currently part of an $8 billion corporation with operations all over the world. But back in 1969 it was just John L. Grove and a couple of his buddies who bought a metal fabrication shop.
Did you know that in 1951 a guy named Fred joined a company started by a guy named Davis to sell electric vehicles to ranchers and nurseries throughout Southern California? You definitely know both their last names by heart, but this might be the first time you've heard their first names.
And just how did NYSE-listed JBT Corp. with almost a billion dollars in sales last year get started by John Bean, who wanted nothing more than to kill the bugs eating away at his California almond grove in the 1880s?
There is, however, one story about one name that we didn’t have room to fully tell.
Col. Gail Halvorsen, a retired career officer in the U.S. Air Force who turned 92 last October, was known as the original “Candy Bomber” during the Berlin Airlift, which provided 4,700 tons of food and supplies to the city between 1948-1949.
Shortly before he landed at the Tempelhof Airport, Halvorsen would drop candy attached to parachutes to children living near the site. Since children couldn’t tell one plane from another, Halvorsen would wiggle the wings of his plane. That led to his nickname, “Onkel Wackelflugel” or Uncle Wiggly Wings.
His action inspired other pilots to do the same. Eventually the candy drops were made official. After press back in America led to public donations, Halvorsen was able to drop 850 pounds of candy. By the end of the airlift, the military figured pilots had dropped 23 tons of candy.
Halvorsen went on to become the commander of the Tempelhof Air Base, and cement relations with post-war Germany.
In honor of the man, the U.S. Air Force gave his surname to its next generation loaders. The first Halvorsen loaders were delivered in 2000 and remain the main equipment to load and unload cargo for U.S. military missions.
We’ll continue to remember the equipment and people that make the industry throughout the rest of 2013. And when you get the chance to read the full issue, let us know if we missed some interesting people.
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