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Photos: D-Day plane stops for fuel at Genesee County Airport

By Howard B. Owens

An honest bit of history was parked at the Genesee County Airport for a time this afternoon. Whiskey 7, a Douglas C-47 that actually dropped paratroopers on the beaches at Normandy, June 6, 1944, stopped for refueling on its way back to Geneseo. 

The aircraft "has been all over" said Naomi Wadsworth, the pilot. It's currently owned by the National Warplane Museum in Geneseo. After the war, it was sold to Capital Airlines, then Frontier Airlines, and then it was flown commercially in Alaska then South America before returning to the U.S. to be displayed in museums. The folks in Geneseo acquired it in 2006. 

Wadsworth said they've actually located one of the paratroopers who jumped from the plane on D-Day.

The plane is returning to Normandy on Thursday for the 70th Anniversary of the famous battle. The crew has raised enough money for fuel to make the trip there but still needs to raise money for the return flight. Six bucks buys a gallon of gas. To find out about making a donation, visit www.rtn2014.org.

 

tom hunt

This is the plane that helped win WWII. Those twin Patt and Whitney R-2800 engines made this airplane rock. I spent many an hour traveling in one of these during my 4 year stint in the USAF back in the late 60s. BTW one of these 28 cyclinder engines is in a static display at the annual steam show in Alexander. It was an engineering marvel of it's day.

May 12, 2014, 7:51pm Permalink

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