D-Day

A group of Douglas C-47s and DC-3s is preparing to fly to Europe for commemorations in 2024.

Squadron’s fundraising has already exceeded its primary goal as part of effort to mark the invasion’s 80th anniversary.

MPS offers free time in its Douglas DC-3 flight sim for pilots training for the event.

The wide stretches of sand that comprise the beaches of Normandy normally fill now with sunbathers and people en vacances on a June day. But for the 78th anniversary of what we know as D-Day, those same boundaries between ocean and land fill with those who honor the memory of soldiers and civilians who perished […]

For most people, a 100th birthday celebration might include a gathering of friends and family, some music, and maybe a slice or two of cake. Tom Rice took things a little further. Rice, who served as a paratrooper in World War II, celebrated passing the century mark by jumping from the Commemorative Air Force’s C-53D […]

When you reach back 75 years for the memories, they come to you in bits and scraps. Recounting them feels disjointed, out of sequence, stripped through with a full range of emotions—much like the war you lived through, perhaps, or the otherworldliness of returning to those countries now at peace. Lieutenant Colonel David Hamilton is […]

Each July, the WWII Airborne Demonstration Team (ADT) conducts its annual Summer Jump School in Frederick, Oklahoma, at the site of the former WWII Frederick Army Air Field (FAAF). ADT has restored the sole remaining massive 79-year-old hangar where they house their Douglas C-47 and C-49, and train students who come to attend the 8-day […]

This spring, in Xenia, Ohio, a very special mission is planned to honor and celebrate the centennial birthday of Jim “Pee Wee” Martin. The Inland Empire Wing of the Commemorative Air Force in Riverside, California, has committed to flying its C-53D, D-Day Doll, to Xenia for the event on April 23 to 25, 2021, joined […]

The expedition to take 15 Douglas DC-3 and C-47 variants across the Atlantic Ocean to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion was a monumental undertaking. As the D-Day Squadron looks back a year ago on those efforts, there’s a strong understanding of how fortunate they were to be able to fly there at […]