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Amy Laboda

The Tunison Foundation, a non-profit that owns and operates World War II-era aircraft, is debuting its newly minted D-Day Squadron this week at the Sun ’n‘ Fun International Fly-in and Expo in Lakeland, Florida. The group brought four D-Day Squadron C-47s and DC-3s to the show that it intends to return to Normandy next summer for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The C-47 is the military version of the DC-3 airliner that was used for the paratrooper drop on D-Day.

 


“We are honored to fly these four historic aircraft,” said D-Day Squadron executive director Moreno Aguiari. “Sun ’n‘ Fun is an excellent opportunity to show the D-Day Squadron.”

 


Flying this week with the Sun ’n‘ Fun Warbird shows are Placid Lassie, Liberty Foundation, and Virginia Ann, C-47s that are all veterans of the World War II D-Day invasion. The DC-3 Candler Field Express, one of the few remaining original Douglas DC-3s, built in 1940, is also on the Sun ’n‘ Fun Warbird flight line with the group.

 


Plans are in the works for June 2019, when the D-Day Squadron will lead an American fleet of historic, restored C-47 World War II military aircraft in a flyover of the original 1944 drop zones in Normandy, where they will drop 250 paratroopers to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

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