AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2018 - 50

PILOT BRIEFING
HISTORY |

Daks over Normandy
Aging wings returning for D-Day anniversary
BY THOMAS B. HAINES

THE ENTIRETY OF "PLACID LASSIE" seemed to quake as all the cylinders in the pair of big radial engines took their time coming
online. The three-blade propellers turned impossibly slowly at low
idle as the nearly 60 gallons of oil on board came up to temperature. You don't hurry a C-47 Skytrain-a.k.a. Douglas DC-3-into
the skies, even on a warm Florida morning during the big Sun 'n
Fun air show. But, give the 75-year-old lady a little time to gather
herself up and she will take you and some 6,000 pounds of gear
and equipment almost anywhere in the world. Come June 6,

PLACID LASSIE is a 75-year-old, still-flying C-47 Skytrain that will

join up with other DC-3s for the seventy-fifth anniversary of DDay in Normandy, France.
50 | AOPA PILOT June 2018

2019, this D-Day veteran will return to the skies over Normandy,
France, where she first visited 75 years earlier, towing a glider
full of troops deep behind enemy lines at the start of Operation
Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe. A member of the 82nd
Airborne Division that day, Placid Lassie would have a presence
at every major battle in Europe in the coming years.
The Normandy visit will be Placid Lassie's second in recent
years. In 2014, for the seventieth anniversary of D-Day, she also
made the trip from her Florida home, taking the well-traveled
Blue Spruce route across the North Atlantic. But Eric Zipkin,
board chairman of the Tunison Foundation, which owns the
C-47, was disappointed that only two of the famed birds made
the crossing from North America for that event. He and a group
of others decided to change that for the seventy-fifth, with the
goal of getting a squadron of the beloved Gooney Birds to the
event. As of this spring they had surpassed that goal, with some
22 DC-3s scheduled to make the crossing next May in preparation for events leading up to the anniversary. They will be joined
by another dozen or so from Europe. Some of the North American
airplanes will stay for a few weeks to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the Berlin Airlift.
To assist other DC-3 owners with fundraising and logistics,
Zipkin and friends formed the D-Day Squadron, a common brand
and website to tell the story of the effort and to commemorate the
role the C-47 played on that world-changing day. Another group,
Daks over Normandy-referring to the British name for the C-47,
the Dakota-is organizing flights over the beach.
Zipkin estimates each DC-3 owner in North America will need
to raise at least $80,000 for the crossing, and some will spend
much more to get their airplanes into condition for such a journey. Expect to see the various airplanes campaigning around the
nation over the next year as they raise awareness of the event and
raise funds.
Among the efforts is "100 in Normandy," a program to recruit
and host one veteran and one student from each American state
to be on the ground during the Daks over Normandy flyovers in
France. As noted on the group's website, "In the pivotal spot that
marked the beginning of the end of the War, past and future generations will stand side by side to observe the significance of this
historic event."
To learn more about the effort, the airplanes, and how you can
help, visit ddaysquadron.org or daksovernormandy.com.
EMAIL thomas.haines@aopa.org

http://www.ddaysquadron.org http://www.daksovernormandy.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2018

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