On the morning of June 4, two days before the 70th anniversary of the Normandy landings, a total of eight Douglas DC-3/C-47 variants will leave Lee-on-Solent, near Portsmouth, heading for the invasion beaches and parachute landing grounds in northern France as part of the largest aerial tribute ever put together fora D-Day commemoration. Four of the aircraft will be dropping parachutists, including D-Day veteran Douglas C-47As 42-24064/N74589 Union Jack Dak and Paddy Green's East Kirkby-based 42-100884/ N147DC Drag'em Oot. About 100 paras will be dropped over Carentan, led by the Myersville, Maryland-based Round Canopy Parachute Team. At 19.15hrs on June3, there will be tribute flypast at Lee-on-Solent comprising two Spitfires and Avro Lancaster Mk I PA474 from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and, representing the Royal Navy, the Fly Navy Heritage Trust's North Weald-based Hawker Sea Fury T.20 VX281. This will be followed by a poppy drop from C-47As 42-24064 and 42-100884. The former aircraft, Union Jack Dak, operated by Tradewind Aviation from Waterbury-Oxford Airport, Connecticut, arrived at Coventry Airport on May 10 following an Atlantic crossing. Originally flown by the 73rd Sqn, 434th Trooper Carrier Group, USAAF, at 01.30hrs on June 6, 1944, this historic machine took off from RAF Aldermaston in Berkshire, towing a Waco CG-4 glider to France.
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