Thunder Over Michigan   Decatur, IL Airport 75th Anniversary Airshow
2021 Airshows

 Static Display Warbird Photo Review
C-47 "That's All, Brother" at the National Museum of the United States Air Force - April 20-22, 2021 (Photos taken 4-22-2021.) 

This was my first airshow of the 2021 season.  Actually, it was not really an airshow.  It was a static display with the warbird then taking off and departing for its next destination.  But thirteen months after the onset of the pandemic and most of the 2020 airshows cancelled, watching the C-47 that led the air armada at Normandy on June 6, 1944 can be defined as an airshow.  Not a big one, but one, nevertheless.

To most persons, this C-47 is just another aircraft.  Other persons might recognize this as a well-restored C-47 with D-Day invasion stripes.  But to the warbird historian and enthusiast, this is the C-47 that led over 800 C-47s across the English Channel and into Normandy in the early hours of June 6, 1944 carrying paratroopers for the air assault behind the beaches.  The C-47 is named "That's All, Brother."

After the war, the aircraft returned to the United States and became a commercial airliner.  In 2015 historians discovered it in a scrap yard in Oshkosh, WI and were able to verify its important history.  The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) then raised the funds to purchase and restore the C-47 back to its D-Day configuration.  In late April 2021, it came to Ohio to give rides at several different towns and spent three days at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.  It was on static display and did tours.  I was able to visit it on its last tour day, and also watched it take off.  This was the first time I had the opportunity to see this historic aircraft.

It was chilly.  No doubt the aircrew expected some warm spring weather in late April in Ohio.  Instead, they got cold and windy.  The second morning the C-47 was at the Museum started with three inches of snow on it.  In spite of the inclement weather, there was still excellent interest in this aircraft.  According to the volunteers doing the tours, there was always a line of visitors waiting to see the inside of the C-47.  Persons even came out on the snow day and lined up to see it.

The CAF crewman is hanging on to the static line the paratroopers attached their parachutes . 

 
This is the navigator's position and the black box with the three-inch cathode ray tube in it is one of the reasons "That's All, Brother" lead the air armada into Normandy.  The black box was able to locate radio signal from transmitters that pathfinder paratroops had previously set up and turned on in the proposed drop zones.

The black box is an Indicator, Radar Interrogator, BC-929-A, AN/APN-2 "Rebecca." This unit was used to locate and home in on the pulsed beams being transmitted by the AN/PPN-2 "Eureka" transmitter that was previously set up on the ground by the pathfinder paratroopers.  Tracking the pulsed beams on "Rebecca," the navigator could guide the pilot to the drop zone in the dark of the night.

To complete the story, one needs to go inside the National Museum of the United States Air Force and look at this display next to the C-47. 

Pathfinders dropped in first  and set up the small "Eureka" transmitters to guide the main landing force to the proper drop zones.  While I have read about the pathfinders in the past and looked at this display in the museum many times, the inside of the C-47 "That's All Brother" allowed me to see both units and understand how the system worked. 

The cockpit, like the entire aircraft, has been restored back to 1944 vintage.

"That's All, Brother" had the capability to pull a CG-4A glider.

 At start-up, the starboard engine did not produce any noticeable smoke.  When the port engine started, the stiff wind out of the west blew the smoke away in a hurry.

With the stiff wind out of the west, it didn't take "That's All, Brother" much runway to get the tail up and then take off.

The next stop for the aircraft was Xenia, OH.  From there, "That's All, Brother" returned to its home station in Texas.

This was not a bad way to spend a couple of hours and start the 2021 Airshow season.