C-47 flying over the Normandy beaches in 15 mins

[Taigh Ramey]

Just wanted to say we are departing Caen right now to over fly the beaches if Normandy France then over St Mer Eglise in 15 mins.

More later

[Marauderman26]

Envy.

Make sure you visit the B-26 at Utah..post pictures!

Marauderman26

[StangStung]

Dude. You gotta give me more than 15 minutes to get to Caen. I'm in Dallas for pete's sake!

Glad you're living the dream and posting for the dreamers here!

[Taigh Ramey]

Envy.

Make sure you visit the B-26 at Utah..post pictures!

Marauderman26

Your wish is my command...

Here is a quick walk around







































Hey girls! Check it out: a ultra rare Martin B-26 Marauder. Aren't you excited??!! Sure Dad...

Actually this was a gag photo. The girls have a great respect for all of this history and I am a real proud Dad.

I have to say the color sure looks spot on to me. Too clean if anything but the shade of the OD and grey is outstanding







This whole project is pretty special to me. The French took their Marauder and painted in AAF colors and put it here as a tribute to the AAF and D day veterans. It's just like the Statue of Liberty in my eyes. What a great gift. My hat is off to the French for doing this.

I hope the translation is close:

Merci totalement tres

[Jesse C.]

Mercy Buckets, Taigh!

Those are some nice shots and that is very cool of the French to do that!

Have fun with the fam!

Jesse C.

[Baldeagle]

How about pictures of the C-47 flight??

Is that a Marauder engine on the floor next to the airplane, looks like it was dug up from somewhere?



-

[Taigh Ramey]

How about pictures of the C-47 flight??

Careful what you ask for. How about too many boring vacation photos?

As I may have mentioned one of my best customers invited us to come along with him on his vacation. He was going to drop off his wife in Cannes and then fly to South France and Spain. Then he wanted to see Normandy.

We flew in the Beech to where the DC-3 lives. St Stephan airport which was an old military base dating back to WWII



The DC-3 technically is not a C-47 as it is presently a DC-3C but since it started out life as a C-47 and I like to call it a C-47 especially for this trip.





My daughter likes the troop seats! As you can see her interior is also a long ways from being a C-47



After Spain we departed to Normandy or more specifically Caen and drove to Colleville sur Mer where Hugo had a surprise for us. He has reservations in a hotel on the Beach. Omaha Beach!



We were less than 100 yards from the beach in one of the valleys that was sought after during the invasion.

The next day we went to Point du Hoc where the Rangers had a heck of a time fighting their way to the top of the cliffs



Sydney is at the bottom of one of so many bomb craters still visible all over the point



Many of the German bunkers are very intact while others are shattered





My daughters were picking up trash left by tourists and packed it out to throw away. I love my girls!







When you descend into any bunker you are met with these



Gun ports that have sliding steel armored doors through which the Germans would protect their fortifications








This one was dated 1939



Carriage mechanism for one of the guns complete with rollers



More shots of Point du Hoc from a different perspective later.

Next we went to St mer Eglise and stopped at the C-47 Cafe for lunch. It seemed appropriate





Then the Airborne Museum. It’s a lousy shot from my point and shoot but here is the CG-4A in the glider side of the museum



For those WIX rivet counters like myself; they had an original section of glider wing exactly what I do not know but check out the awesome decals and stenciling. Does the T1 in the dope code mean Taylorcraft?

I am sure some of you can identify the ship number 196 and put it to a serial number...anyone?...Anyone?...Bueller?...Bueller?...













This is the C-47 side of the Airborne Museum









Not too many C-47's still have the original air filter assemblies for carb air



Original or reproduction? I believe it’s a reproduction antenna housing but very cool to see



Still dripping oil





Love the flame arrestors on the exhaust







The church where Pvt John Steele hung out for a while









Maggie and I crawled through some German bunkers near the hotel. From what I read this bunker was particularly bothersome to the invasion forces and it was finally silenced by a Sherman tank at 7:10am. You can clearly see the penetration holes and blast damage from what looks to me like 75mm.









Maggie: Queen of the bunker!











We drove back to Caen to take a flight over the Normandy area to check it out from the air. The one thing that I didn't realize was just how big the invasion area was. It goes on for more than 15 miles. In my mind’s eye it was a lot smaller





I was told that these hangars were in Caen during WWII and that they were used by the Luftwaffe. Anyone know if that is accurate?





The Mulberries that made up the temporary harbor are still there





What an honor to be able to fly over the Normandy area in a C-47. Thanks Hugo for that opportunity. It was very special and the family loved it too





The American Cemetery in Normandy





Point du Hoc from the air. Look at the craters. Anyone know what bombs were dropped? I am curious as what size of bombs caused the bomb craters we looked at



This is St mer Eglise from a little higher than the altitude that the C-47's were flying on June 6th







German flak towers could still be seen all over France!





Some of the flak towers were pretty darn sophisticated



There were even invasion stripes painted on the ground all over the place. Must be a tribute to June 6th...





On a more serious note, the American Cemetery in Normandy













Cool to find a WWII MB parked above Omaha beach. The guy who owned it drove it there from Switzerland



There is a museum outside of Bessin that has a collection of artifacts brought up from the bottom of the waters of Normandy. If i understand it correctly he was authorized to remove and clear hazards to navigation and he brought a lot of it to this place and made a museum out of it. There are two DD Sherman’s, a Stuart and a lot of other marine artifacts including a few aircraft bits. Interesting stuff

[Warbird Kid]

Simply AMAZING!

Now thats what I call a vacation!

[StangStung]

Tres cool.

[K5DH]

Thank you, Taigh. Nothing more needs to be said.

[hbtcoveralls]

Taigh,
I have a friend who lives in Normandy (he's English) and about an hour after you posted that you were flying from Caen in a C-47, he posted on another forum that A C-47 just flew over his little village near St Mere Eglise. What a small world!
Tom Bowers

[gliderman1]

Taigh,

The "wing" is the or part of the left elevator of a CG-4A. The stencil, Assem. 27128-L is the part number for the left elevator frame assembly. I have no idea what the Ship 196 ties to, nor the TI_2CD4_2PD2. Taylorcraft was not a prime contractor for the CG-4A the T1 is TI which was the Army abbreviation for Timm.

[F4U-1]

Just wanted to say we are departing Caen right now to over fly the beaches if Normandy France then over St Mer Eglise in 15 mins.

More later

Gezz... Some guys have all the fun!

[N3Njeff]

Thanks for posting Taigh.

[Taigh Ramey]

Taigh,
I have a friend who lives in Normandy (he's English) and about an hour after you posted that you were flying from Caen in a C-47, he posted on another forum that A C-47 just flew over his little village near St Mere Eglise. What a small world!
Tom Bowers

It is a small world and the WIX community seems to cover most of it.

Taigh,

The "wing" is the or part of the left elevator of a CG-4A. The stencil, Assem. 27128-L is the part number for the left elevator frame assembly. I have no idea what the Ship 196 ties to, nor the TI_2CD4_2PD2. Taylorcraft was not a prime contractor for the CG-4A the T1 is TI which was the Army abbreviation for Timm.

Thanks for clearing that up. You sure seem to be the go to guy for glider stuff. Do you think we will see a CG-4A fly sometime soon?