https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/us/d-day-plane-c-47.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur(from NYTimes)
It took two eagle-eyed historians to track down the plane that led hundreds of Allied aircraft into Normandy during World War II.
A few years ago, the historical treasure was languishing in an aircraft bone yard in Wisconsin.
The plane, a twin-engine C-47 called “That’s All, Brother,” carried American paratroopers into German-occupied France on June 6, 1944, or D-Day. It led the main formation that dropped thousands of men into what became a bloody but decisive battle, paving the way for the liberation of northern France from the Nazis.
Like many other World War II planes, “That’s All, Brother” was sold for private use after the fighting ended. It cycled through a series of owners and its historical significance was in danger of being forgotten.
But in 2007, the two historians started following a paper trail.
From Normandy to OshkoshAt the Air Force Historical Research Agency in Montgomery, Ala., Matt Scales, then a member of the Air National Guard, was researching John M. Donalson, who piloted the plane on the day it soared over the beaches of Normandy.
Mr. Scales and another historian in the Air Force Reserve, Ken Tilley, found its tail number and used it to trace the C-47’s postwar path and see whether it had been dismantled. They were relieved to find that it had not.
“It’s so rare to have a plane that was actually there and did what it did,” Mr. Scales said in a phone interview. “This airplane has been a fighter its entire life.”
The historians discovered that it had ended up in Mesa, Ariz., with a new camouflage-inspired paint job. (The pattern called to mind C-47s that had flown in the Vietnam War, but during World War II, “That’s All, Brother” had stripes.)
“We were amazed to find it in Arizona and that it was for sale,” Mr. Tilley said. “We immediately contacted every museum and major aircraft organization to try to save the plane, to no avail at the time.”
But a couple of years later, Mr. Scales looked for the plane again and found it had been sold to a company in Oshkosh, Wis., where it was in danger of being taken apart.
During World War II, C-47s, a military version of the civilian DC-3, transported cargo and troops. “It’s a rugged airplane, and a joy to fly once you’re in the air,” said Albert J. Parisi, an aviation writer and historian who has flown a C-47.
The planes were indispensable on D-Day, he added, even though many were shot down. “They started encountering antiaircraft fire, and these aircraft are not armor-plated,” Mr. Parisi said. “There’s no protection. Think of a Coca-Cola can with wings.”
Normandy was overcast on D-Day — terrible weather for the operation — but “That’s All, Brother” emerged largely unscathed. The name of the plane, inspired by a song performed by Mae West, was intended as a message for Hitler.
It carried a chaplain (he was unarmed but determined to increase church attendance by parachuting into war with everyone else) and a dog (a Scottish terrier puppy that stayed on the plane and was, by all appearances, also unarmed). Both survived, and the plane made more runs over the course of the invasion before returning to the United States.
