• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
General Aviation News

General Aviation News

Because flying is cool

  • Pictures of the Day
    • Submit Picture of the Day
  • Stories
    • News
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Products
    • NTSB Accidents
    • ASRS Reports
  • Comments
  • Classifieds
    • Place Classified Ad
  • Events
  • Digital Archives
  • Subscribe
  • Show Search
Hide Search

Veterans and students from across U.S. to join in D-Day commemorations

By General Aviation News Staff · March 8, 2019 ·

When the D-Day Squadron arrives in Normandy to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, there will be some special guests included.

Organizers are looking for one veteran and one student from each state in America to be on the ground to experience the Daks Over Normandy fly-over in France.

“In the pivotal spot that marked the beginning of the end of the war, past and future generations will stand side by side to observe the significance of this historic event,” organizers said. “These ‘100 in Normandy’ will be the special guests of the D-Day Squadron, made possible by the generous support of donors of the D-Day Squadron.”

The C-47 “Placid Lassie”

The volunteers of the D-Day Squadron will journey across the ocean with a fleet of American C-47s, each vintage aircraft meticulously restored to flying condition. The squadron will join up with C-47s from Europe and Australia for Daks Over Normandy, a fly-over of more than 30 aircraft, to drop 250 paratroopers over the shores of Normandy on June 6, 2019, commemorating the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

The entire fleet of warbird aircraft will be on static display at public events in both the United Kingdom and France during the commemorations.

Fundraising for the effort continues, according to D-Day Squadron officials.

The D-Day Squadron is part of the Tunison Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization. The crew of the “Placid Lassie,” the Tunison Foundation’s C-47 that flew in the original Normandy invasion, is spearheading the efforts of the D-Day Squadron.

Reader Interactions

Share this story

  • Share on Twitter Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook Share on Facebook
  • Share on LinkedIn Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit Share on Reddit
  • Share via Email Share via Email

Become better informed pilot.

Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Curious to know what fellow pilots think on random stories on the General Aviation News website? Click on our Recent Comments page to find out. Read our Comment Policy here.

Comments

  1. Ann Holtgren Pellegreno says

    March 13, 2019 at 9:03 am

    I believe that the one student from each state should be a representation of those descendants of the pilots who flew .

    I believe that this student group should be comprised of an equal number of male and female students. Or even a male and female from each state.

    It is probable that an equal number of males and females waited for word of the safe return from a mission flown by a pilot on D-Day.

    Quite probably now that student group would include grandsons and great grandsons as well as granddaughters and great granddaughters and even some great greats!

    Yes, with the conscripts of that day, only male pilots were flying on the D-Day missions, i would hope that with this historic re-enactment of those incredible pilots and their airplanes would bring itself to modern times and have the students chosen to represent this nation a well-balanced group of female and male students.

    Of course the WASP could and did fly comparable aircraft and flew them well.
    Currently women fly this type aircraft.

    Hopefully, this wonderful event will be truly representative of a nation holding values of these current times.

© 2025 Flyer Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Writer’s Guidelines
  • Photographer’s Guidelines