Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Veteran of D-Day (Serial Number 42-93096)

            The military version of the popular Douglas DC-3, the Douglas C-47 Skytrain served a number of roles in World War II.

This particular aircraft was built in 1944 by Douglas Aircraft Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was assigned to the IX Army Air Force in England. Its role was to drop pathfinders, the first airborne troops to jump into a combat zone. Always the first on the ground, these specially trained paratroopers guided later paratroop drops to the proper location. Arriving in small groups and surrounded by enemy forces, the pathfinders used lights, radio, and radar to guide incoming aircraft to the correct drop zones and mark landing zones for their fellow airborne soldiers. After all of the paratroopers had landed, the pathfinders fought alongside the rest of the airborne forces.

This plane was among the first American invasion aircrat to penetrate France on D-Day. On September 17, 1944, pathfinder again jumped from this aircraft during Operation Market Garden, the Allied invasion of Holland. On December 23, 1944, the plane dropped supplies to the 101st Airborne during the Battle of the Bulge. The aircraft flew its last combat parachute drop during Operation Varsity, the Allied assualt across the Rhine, when it delivered 17th Airborne paratroopers to Germany on March 24, 1945. After VE-Day, the plane carried US service personnel home from Europe.

In 1946, this plane was sold to Finnish Air Lines. In 1976 it appeared in the movie A Bridge Too Far. During the 1980s, the plane was operated by Vermont-based Northern Airways as a cargo transport. In the 2000s, North Carolina's First Flight Out used this plane for charter service. The plane was acquired by the National World War II Museum in 2006.

Seen at the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Lousiana.

Taken in: United States / Louisiana / New Orleans / Central Business District (show map)

Taken on: January 10, 2016

Tags:

1944

2016

C-47

Douglas

Louisiana

Museum

NOLA

National World War II Museum

New Orleans

Skytrain

U.S.

USAAF

War

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World War II

antique

artifact

classic

exhibit

historic

history

invasion

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paratrooper

pathfinder

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Sets appears in: • World War II • New Orleans

Groups appears in: • New Orleans • Military Aviation Photography more » • Warbirds • The Aviation Museum « less

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