“That’s All, Brother” - the airplane that led the D Day drop

[shorty]

FYI A great project!!

Last year an iconic piece of history was discovered lying in an aircraft boneyard in Wisconsin. It was the Douglas C-47 “That’s All, Brother” - the airplane that led the massed paratroop drop on D-Day. The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) is a non-profit organization based in Dallas, TX. We need your help to rescue this proud old airplane!

[Dave Homewood]

Fantastic project. It will be great to see this aircraft back in the air again.

And it's great to see Pee Wee Martin is involved, I follow his very active Facebook page about his keeping alive the history of his paratrooper mates. Plus nice to hear Captain Dale Dye narrating, one of the great Americans right there.

[baronbeeza]

The Commemorative Air Force has launched a Kickstarter campaign to prevent a historical artifact from being converted into a highly respected modern aircraft. The odd turn of events is playing out in the boneyard at Basler Aircraft in Oshkosh where a worn-out DC-3 was being prepared for a new life as a BT-67, the successful turboprop conversion the company has sold all over the world. Someone checked the serial number of the old warplane and discovered that it was That's All, Brother, the C-47 that led the D-Day Invasion. Although it would undoubtedly make a fine BT-67, the CAF has plans to faithfully restore it to the condition and configuration it sported as it led 800 aircraft carrying 13,000 paratroopers of the 101st Airborne for the historic drop behind enemy lines.

The airplane towed gliders and soldiered on through the rest of the war before being sold as surplus after the war. It went through 16 civilian owners before landing in the Basler boneyard. “This is a modern miracle,” said CAF CEO Stephan C. Brown. “The aircraft was within weeks of being torn apart." Basler has agreed to sell the aircraft to the CAF and has given the group until Aug. 31 to raise the money. The plane will be outfitted as a "living classroom" to allow kids to experience what it was like for the paratroopers in the back. The CAF also wants to take it to the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy in 2019.

www.avweb.com/eletter/archives/101/3065-full.html?ET=avweb:e3065:233033a:&st=email#224243

[Dave Homewood]

www.warbirdradio.com/2015/06/d-days-lead-airplane-discovered-cafs-adam-smith-warbird-radio-live/