Whiskey Seven

A feel-good story from the Usual USAF Source:

Gooney Bird's Normandy Nostalgia

Douglas C-47 Skytrain troop carrier aircraft, designated Whiskey 7, lands on Ramstein Air Base, May 26, 2014. Whiskey 7 was the lead carrier of 37th Troop Carrier Squadron that took part in dropping the 82nd Airborne Division near St. Mere Eglise, France during D-Day, June 6th, 1944. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Jordan Castelan)

A 37th Troop Carrier Squadron group photo taken in 1944 at RAF Cottesmore, England. The aircraft in the photo is the same Douglas C-47 Skytrain, designated Whiskey 7, that landed at Ramstein Air Base, May 26, 2014.

A World War II veteran C-47 Skytrain flew 3,600 miles from New York to recreate the airdrop it led over Normandy, France, on D-Day 70 years ago. Volunteers flew "Whiskey Seven" from a grass strip in Geneseo, N.Y., hopping from Canada, via Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland, arriving at Ramstein AB, Germany, two weeks later on May 26, according to a base release. In the wee hours of June 6, 1944, Whiskey Seven led the 37th Troop Carrier Squadron—forbearer of Ramstein's 37th Airlift Squadron—dropping elements of the 82nd Airborne Division behind German lines over Sainte-Mère-Église, France. After the stopover at Ramstein, the volunteer crews will drop re-enactors over the same drop-zone for the 70th anniversary D-Day commemoration next week, according to the release. In 1944, unit aircraft flew from RAF Cottesmore, England. Today, the 37th AS flies C-130Js. (See also a New York Times report on flight preparations.)

Let's hope all those re-enactors make it safely to the ground.  We wouldn't want to see one of them hung up on the Sainte-Mère-Église church steeple like the first time.