D-Day Squadron Announces Kick-Off for North Atlantic Crossing

[509thPIB]

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbirds-new...-crossing.html

[JanC]

Will be a fantastic event and a once in a lifetime experience

[WalterB]

Will be a fantastic event and a once in a lifetime experience

Here is the actual lead C47 during Operation Overlord. I understand it will be involved in the flights in Normandy this June. I had the privilege of seeing it up close at an Air Show in October. There were actually several C47s there.

[WWIIBuff]

It will be a great event, but they need to make sure they have their DZ finalized. I believe they were originally supposed to drop around Carentan, but then it was officially announced the the DZ would be at Ranville, site of the British 6th Airborne DZ during D-Day.



Now I have learned it has been moved to somewhere around Sannerville, which is farther away from the D-Day invasion beaches.

[JanC]

Here is the actual lead C47 during Operation Overlord. I understand it will be involved in the flights in Normandy this June. I had the privilege of seeing it up close at an Air Show in October. There were actually several C47s there.

Fantastic!

Lucky you

Was about to go watch the paradrop with my wife, but it will be so overcrowded I doubted to go. Now it’s too late I guess.

Will watch it on television or youtube. Would prefer to see it in real. Must be great to hear all those engines in the sky.

[Totenhead]

It will be a great event, but they need to make sure they have their DZ finalized. I believe they were originally supposed to drop around Carentan, but then it was officially announced the the DZ would be at Ranville, site of the British 6th Airborne DZ during D-Day.



Now I have learned it has been moved to somewhere around Sannerville, which is farther away from the D-Day invasion beaches.

Is this true???

[WWIIBuff]

Is this true???

Yes, I have it confirmed by a couple sources, including one of the jumpers.

[WWIIBuff]

Official confirmation of the Drop Zone change...

[WalterB]

Official confirmation of the Drop Zone change...

Now lets see them do it at night and with some flak!

[Alan Smith]

That sure seems like a bit of a risky venture flying these 75+ year old aircraft on a trans-Atlantic flight! Heck, plenty of these warbirds failed to make the journey due to mechanical failure and/or weather issues when being ferried to the ETO 75 years ago, a time when the aircraft were factory new and/or being maintained by active duty USAAC ground crews who had access to Uncle Sam's unlimited supply chain resources.


At least with the flying hours once they arrive in Europe, chances are very good that an aircraft could land safely in the event of a mechanical failure. When out over the Atlantic Ocean, such option is simply not available. Yes . . . I see that the event planners have charted a flight path that will maximize landing possibilities during the trans-Atlantic journey, but there is no getting around the fact that these vintage aircraft will still have to spend a LOT of flight time over open water.


Needless to say, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that all of these irreplaceable historic aircraft survive both the to and from trans-Atlantic crossings, as wells as the further hours flying for the commemorative celebrations in June, 2019.

[can]

http://ddaysquadron.org/d-day-squadron-launch-week/