The night before the show was also an opportunity too good to miss when I delivered the jeep.
Anyway, C-47 Drag 'em oot 42-100882 is a true veteran of WWII. Assigned to the 87th Troop Carrier Squadron, 438th Troop Carrier Group, it was based at Greenham Common airfield. On the night of D-Day, Drag 'em oot was to drop paratroopers from the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne to drop zone A where it was aircraft No 2 in Serial 7. Serials 1 to 6 had dropped Pathfinder teams earlier in the night to guide the main body of aircraft to the correct drop zones.
She was also fitted with Model 80 Glider pickup equipment to retrieve assault gliders from the Normandy fields so that they could be re-used for further ops. The specialised pick-up was in great demand especially for the RAF and an agreement was made between the RAF and the USAAF for a straight swap of aircraft and from the 2nd of September 1944 she was in RAF hands. For the rest of the war she participated in Operation Market Garden and Operation Varsity (the largest single airborne operation of WWII where gaining a foothold across the river Rhine was the objective). It is most likely that during these operations, she received the battle damage from flak and ground fire which is still visible inside the aircraft today.
I have a huge interest in the airborne ops of WWII especially during D-Day and it was a privilege to spend some time with a true aviation legend.
Enjoy the photos.
DSC_0894-2forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
DSC_0911forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
DSC_0900forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
DSC_0915-2forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
DSC_0845forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
DSC_1010forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0515forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0500-2forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0544forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0425forum2 by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0545forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
IMG_0522forum by jonesy1275, on Flickr
A huge thank you to Neil Porter, Colin Short and Paddy Green for literally getting this off the ground and awesome flying from the C-47 crew, John Dodd and Mark Edwards.
Thanks for looking,
Neil.
Oh and if somebody has a spare £1000, would they be willing to donate it so that I can get Drag 'em oot to do a flypast over a new memorial in Normandy which is being unveiled on the 6th of June that I'm assisiting?
