Daks Over Normandy...this will be awsome!!!!!

[Mike]

Okay, everything should have sorted itself out by now, and the Americans, or at least most of them, should have been home by now. So, does anybody have any news from the people who are actually involved?

No, most of them have gone on to Germany for the Berlin Airlift 70 commemorations, and some are going on to Venice after that. N18121 headed back a few days ago, and Flabob Express is leaving today.

The D-Day Squadron have today put out a statement distancing themselves from the chaos caused by Daks over Normandy

[ZRX61]

The tip of the iceberg. Allegations include:

Jumpers who were promised that their bags would be taken in the non-jump plane DC-3s didn't receive then for another 3 days, so were stuck without any spare clothing etc, so incurred costs to buy clothes
Aircraft crews and jumpers arriving at Caen to find the promised accommodation and rental cars were non-existent and they were left to make (and pay for) their own arrangements
Photographers paying in advance for photo flights that never happened
Non-existent airshow at Caen (blamed on the weather, but allegedly the proper authorisations had not been obtained from the French)
People turning up at the event car parks and queuing for two hours for non-existent shuttle buses before giving up and going home
Promised trade stands and catering outlets not there, reports of only one burger van and nothing else
Aircraft parked tail-on a considerable distance from a metal fence was the nearest the public could get. The organisers then poured gasoline on the flames by posting close-up photos from liveside to show what a great event they were putting on

In short, a total shambles with a lot of people demanding refunds and threatening legal action

I'm glad we made a late decision on the day not to go to Caen and went elsewhere in Normandy instead.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/628505980994699/ makes for interesting reading

The photo flights in the T6's would have been illegal as none of them were certified/licensed for hire flight.
The T6 photo flights "wing to wing with the Daks" in the UK were done too far away, quite a bit above them & at 90deg to the Daks flight route.
There's been some comments about the safety of the drops from the Daks in France from the actual jumpers, including one having to abort a drop when another Dak flew under it & another of a near collision between two aircraft. One dropped some jumpers over a town resulting in them landing in the roads & yards of houses etc & another dropping jumpers over power lines.

[ZRX61]

N18121 headed back a few days ago...

It's not coming back for months. It's headed to Venice(?) & then maybe Asia somewhere. It headed SE from Caen on the 9th. The owners are a bit shy & it's activities on FlightAware have been blocked at times.

[Mike]

Yes, it's at Dole in France at the moment. Flabob is there too now I believe. The rest are spread over various airfields in Germany at the moment, six are headed to Venice early next week and some will head home.

[Baldeagle]

https://www.politico.eu/article/berlin- ... criticism/



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[JohnTerrell]

I wonder if the article's author should have really focused attention instead on the organizer himself for the failures? (It sounds like some media have already been directed in that direction, especially concerning the Daks Over Normandy event).

The D-Day Squadron (participants, but otherwise unaffiliated with the "Daks Over Normandy" and the "Berlin 70th" events) and a few of the European planes were able to come through, however, and did perform a flyover of Berlin (albeit, not as originally envisioned), and did do a candy drop while at Wiesbaden. Each stop that they have made in Germany there seems to have been a great experience - the first stop they made, at Wiesbaden, for instance, there were nearly 50,000 people that came and were able to get up close to the aircraft.

Here is an awesome photo from the Berlin flyover yesterday, posted on the D-Day Squadron Facebook page, captioned: "What makes this photo even more fantastic? Col Halvorsen, the original 'Candy Bomber', was at the end of a runway below us as we performed our flyover in Berlin today. Thank you to one of the ground crew at Schönefeld. What an amazing capture!"



https://www.facebook.com/DDaySquadron/

[ZRX61]

There's now a "Scammed over Normandy" FB group with over 600 members. (set to private). It appears the D Day Squadron took over & pulled everyones ass out of the fire.

As for current whereabouts of the aircraft:
Legends Airways out of Colorado should be home on Wednesday. They flew Germany/Scotland/Iceland on Monday. Then did Iceland/Greenland/Goose/Val d'Or on Tuesday

Miss Montana is in Iceland along with Flabob Express (Tuesday night)

Swiss DC3 is home

Sherm took Betsy up for a jolly around Cambridge Tuesday lunch time. Pan Am bird was also there & then went radio silent.

https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N47SJ

The rest are mostly in France & Germany

[Mike]

Swiss DC3 is home

I believe the other Swiss one (N150D, 101st Airborne Tribute) will be heading back to the US at some point, so the owner will have that one to operate when he is in the US and the shiny Swissair one to fly in Europe.

Clipper Tabitha May is aiming for France-Prestwick-Iceland today.

[ZRX61]

Two people have refunds so far. One of them was for attending Caen Airport fiasco. I guess that sets the precedent for everyone else who went there to get their $$$ back.

[patelie]

The D-Day Squadron have today put out a statement distancing themselves from the chaos caused by Daks over Normandy

Easy to make this kind of statement while they spend two days (7 & 8 june) visiting Normandy instead being at the airport..
Few aircrew were there! very few.
And for that, they are responsible also.

[p51]

I've heard this third-hand, but a mutual pal of mine supposedly lost all his personal stuff, two extra WW2 jumpsuits and his set of Class As, from this event. He packed it all with the promise it would catch up with him after the jump.
Afterward, nothing. He asked everyone but Santa Claus and only got, "Beats me,, not my department" everywhere he checked. He had to go buy some personal items as he only had the clothes (an M42 jumpsuit on his back, to go back to the states.
He hasn't responded to my email about it yet. If this is so, I'm glad I didn't go!

[ZRX61]

The D-Day Squadron have today put out a statement distancing themselves from the chaos caused by Daks over Normandy

Easy to make this kind of statement while they spend two days (7 & 8 june) visiting Normandy instead being at the airport..
Few aircrew were there! very few.
And for that, they are responsible also.

Wouldn't have mattered, the airport wasn't set up for the paying public to get anywhere near the aircraft anyway.

[patelie]

Wouldn't have mattered, the airport wasn't set up for the paying public to get anywhere near the aircraft anyway.

It was never planned for the public to go near the aircraft except behind a barrier at 10 meters, like each meeting in France.

[jonesy]

Photos from my personal highlights from the gathering of DC-3/C-47's at Duxford plus my epic early morning flight across the English Channel courtesy of the fantastic crew of D-Day Doll and the D-Day Squadron. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to look after Aces High C-47 N147DC whilst at Duxford and managed to have one flight in her whilst there. The cockpit shots are from my mobile phone but the rest was taken with my Nikon D300.

















Regards,
Neil.

[phil65]

Great photo's...

Thanks,
Phil