2024 marks the 80thAnniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France on the 6th June 1944 – the largest and most complex amphibious landings, on 5 beaches, ever carried out.
Back in 2019 15 DC-3s/C-47s participated at the 75th Anniversary events, at Duxford airfield and in Normandy. Last July the “D-Day Squadron” announced they were returning to Europe for the 80th Anniversary. Again, they are planning to fly over a similar number of Daks,and details have now been released.
Most hotels inNormandy, and even some several hours drive away, are already fully booked. And very few places remain on cross-Channel ferries or through Eurotunnel. Therefore,we are now taking bookings on this tour.
A deposit of £750.00 per person will be collected immediately after your on-line booking,with the balance due in March 2024.
Among the places we visit during our travels around Normandy are some very famous battlefields and sites:
· Museum of the Atlantic Wall, Ouistreham (Sword Beach)
· Merville Battery and Museum (Sword Beach)
· Pegasus Bridge Memorial and Cafe (Sword Beach) – main picture
· The 360 Museum and Cinema (Gold Beach)
· The beach at Arromanches including the Mulberry’s (GoldBeach)
· The Musee De Debarquement/Landings Museum (Gold Beach)
· Musee des Troupes Aeroportees, Sainte-Mere-Eglis (UtahBeach)
· Utah Beach and the Utah Beach Landing Museum (Utah Beach)
· Pointe de Hoc and Museum (Omaha Beach)
· Caen Memorial Museum
Plus Camp Dakota.
There will be several hours of free time to wander on Gold beach to see the remnants of the Mulberry harbour (Port Winston).
Military vehicle enthusiasts are in for a treat as the D-Day celebrations every June is THE event each year. Literally hundreds of beautifully restored tanks, armoured fighting vehicles, lorries, ambulances, jeeps etc, make their way to Normandy from theUK and several European countries – including Germany - staying in large encampments in and around the towns of Arromanches and Sainte-Mere-Eglis.
Free time also to wander around the town of Arromanches, including time for lunch (at ownexpense).
In Sainte-Mere-Eglis, inland from the American Utah and Omaha beaches, there is the memorable scene in the famous film “The Longest Day”, in the market square and church where savage fighting took place between the Germans and the US paratroopers as they landed – remember Private Steel hanging in his parachute from the church tower?! The Musee des Troupes Aeroportees contains a Waco glider and a C-47.
