While only a handful of bomber and fighter aircraft from the war are still airworthy today, it is estimated that hundreds of C-47s are still airborne around the world — a testament to the design’s durability.
The Placid Lassie is more extraordinary still. While fitted with a new engine, the plane still retains most of its wartime features, replete with the original interior black aluminum paint that factory workers from Long Beach, California, hastily slapped on in 1943.
The Placid Lassie was tasked with ferrying men of the 101st Airborne Division over the English Channel on D-Day; flew four missions during Operation Market Garden; participated in the resupply of the 101st Airborne during the critical days of Dec. 23-26, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge; and dropped paratroopers over the Rhine in Operation Varsity
Then, in 2014, during the 70th anniversary of D-Day, Ed Tunison, Lassie’s wartime radio operator and sole surviving member of its crew, was reconnected with the plane via Dutch historian Hans de Brok.
The Placid Lassie is more extraordinary still. While fitted with a new engine, the plane still retains most of its wartime features, replete with the original interior black aluminum paint that factory workers from Long Beach, California, hastily slapped on in 1943.
The Placid Lassie was tasked with ferrying men of the 101st Airborne Division over the English Channel on D-Day; flew four missions during Operation Market Garden; participated in the resupply of the 101st Airborne during the critical days of Dec. 23-26, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge; and dropped paratroopers over the Rhine in Operation Varsity
Then, in 2014, during the 70th anniversary of D-Day, Ed Tunison, Lassie’s wartime radio operator and sole surviving member of its crew, was reconnected with the plane via Dutch historian Hans de Brok.
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