sburke 1,805 Posted June 5 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/e2-80-98my-first-mission-was-normandy-e2-80-99-world-war-ii-pilots-recall-role-in-history/ar-AACougR 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wicky 175 Posted June 5 (edited) Timely post - just got back from watching the Daks pass by over Colchester - thought they might go over Para Barracks but instead they were a mile or two to the side so had to dash through the school run to catch em up on the m'bike - thankfully they were flying slowly even though they were running 2 hours late.. They were using Abberton Reservoir, just out of town, as a navigation landmark to swing round, just as they did 75 years ago - and which also was used by Dambusters on low level training runs. Edited June 5 by Wicky 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Michael Emrys 492 Posted June 5 16 minutes ago, Wicky said: ...they were flying slowly... They were flying slowly because that was all DC-3s/C-47s were capable of. When I was a teenager we lived several miles from the municipal airport, and two or three times a week I could hear a civilianized C-47 start up, take off, and fly past my house. From the time it left the ground until it passed out of hearing (I was listening from inside the house with the windows closed, mind), took at least five and more like ten minutes. That's sloooooooow! Michael 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erwin 533 Posted June 6 Have always wondered about the pilots who dropped their paras over the ocean. Did they know they'd just killed them all. Or, would the crews assume they'd dropped them at the correct location. The article says that the crews and paras had all trained together so knew each other quite well. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sgt.Squarehead 911 Posted June 6 (edited) Into the ocean? I've heard of drownings in flooded areas inland, but wasn't aware of drops into the ocean.....Mechanical faults perhaps? Edited June 6 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Erwin 533 Posted June 7 (edited) I thought it was common knowledge, but am sure I read accounts of transports getting lost or spooked and ordering jumps in the wrong location - if over open water that would be fatal for heavily laden troops. Right now Google is swamped with the usual celebratory stuff, so hard to find info. Edited June 7 by Erwin 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sgt.Squarehead 911 Posted June 7 I think it's the flooded inland areas you may be thinking of, it involved a fairly substantial area: https://www.battleofnormandytours.com/american-airborne-assault.html 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
