Still Flying High, WWII Plane That Led D-Day Operation Heads to Normandy
Max Gurney, 102, of San Diego is a proud member of the small contingent of surviving veterans who will witness the historic event. OXFORD, Conn.—High above the muddy Hudson River, the D-Day Squadron had flown nearly 100 miles in tight formation to reach the towering spires of New York City.
Straight ahead, the mirror-blue One World Trade Center—Manhattan’s tallest building at 1,776 feet—rose majestically above a drab sea of skyscrapers.
Just beyond was the Statue of Liberty with its torch of freedom reaching toward the clouds.
The five WWII-era aircraft banked left to get a better look at Lady Liberty perched on its island pedestal in the New York Harbor just before the return flight to Connecticut.
Eighty years ago, the view from the squadron’s C-47 troop transport aircraft named “That’s All, Brother” looked much different as it flew into a world war raging 3,528 miles across the Atlantic Ocean.
The massive airborne operation took place in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944--D-Day. That’s All, Brother was the first of hundreds of paratroop transport planes to deliver their human cargo over the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy, France.
The May 17 flight over New York City was a trial run for the D-Day Squadron’s 2024 Legacy Tour, which will commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the historic invasion and the 75th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in Wiesbaden, Germany.
On May 18, the squadron took to the skies once again from Oxford, Connecticut, this time on a trans-Atlantic flight across the “Blue Spruce Route” used during WWII.
According to the D-Day Squadron, the Blue Spruce Route “refers to the ferry and refueling navigational path from North America to Europe that was leveraged during the war.
“The significant undertaking aims to honor the courage and sacrifice of the Greatest Generation, promoting the enduring legacy of freedom and democracy they fought for.”
Piloted by Lt. Col. John Donalson, That’s All, Brother led more than 800 C-47s that carried more than 13,000 paratroopers to drop zones on D-Day in 1944.
“How do you put a price on history like this—the lead plane on the D-Day invasion?” observed Commemorative Air Force (CAF) member and head of maintenance, Ray Clausen, of San Antonio, Texas.
“This is physically the first [aircraft] of the actual paratroop invasion” on D-Day.
Just some bits from an article from the Epoch times,
Peace and remembering their merit this Memorial Day.
