Crews Recount Their Experiences Crossing The Channel Here At Oshkosh

By: Maria Morrison

Strewn between the vintage and warbird sections of AirVenture last week were several C-47s, many of which were resting by signs describing a historic flight they took to France this past June. A C-53 sits among them, painted in invasion stripes and olive drab. This airplane, D-Day Doll, like the others, has returned from Normandy back to the states and is here at AirVenture as the final leg of their commemorative trip.

When D-Day Doll first crossed the English Channel, she was full of young American men ready to jump into the French countryside to start Operation Overlord. This June, she returned with a crew from the CAF and in company with 14 C-47 “Dakotas” to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

“The airplane has been here before. We’re just doing this for the first time,” said pilot Steve Rose. Although the aircraft normally only flies VFR in the daytime as it tours with the Inland Empire Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, it flew in the night, rain, and ice to cross from the states to Europe.

“It’s been an adventure,” said crew chief John Michael Lindgren. The four-person crew took the northern route across the Atlantic, crossing from their base in Riverside, CA through the states onto New York, moving with the D-Day Squadron group to eastern Canada, Greenland, and Iceland.

On the way, the two pilots and two crew chiefs manned the aircraft, which typically had a five-person crew, through various difficulties. In Greenland, fuel could only come to the field from the town, which was an hour away, one load at a time in the 800-gallon-capacity truck. With 15 airplanes to fuel, the process was long and tiring. Additionally, cruising thousands of feet above the snowy ground, the crews did whatever they could to stay warm. Rose said the cockpit was around 32 degrees, and the rest of the airplane was colder. They all wore multiple layers of clothing and put insulating curtains around the cockpit to preserve heat. Even their supplies were not spared from the cold, and their snack-sized chip bags exploded from the pressure at 10,000 feet.

The trip to Normandy was ultimately a success, and all aircraft returned stateside safely after completing their mission. D-Day Doll, and several others, will continue touring and attending airshows like AirVenture to bring their history to all.

(Image provided by the author)

FMI: ddaysquadron.org