Museum Audio Tour 10a: Air Power Gallery: D-Day

DAYTON, OH, UNITED STATES

12.31.1969

Audio by NMUSAF PA 

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

D-Day: June 6, 1944. It could have been a field day for a strong Luftwaffe. Thousands of ships, boats and landing craft crowded the English Channel. A dominant German air fleet could have created much havoc. However, American air power had destroyed the Luftwaffe on the air and on the ground. Before the first troops stormed the beaches, more than 1,000 B-17s and B-24s plastered German defenses with 3,000 tons of bombs, accompanied by heavy naval bombardment. The heavy bombers were followed immediately by medium bombers and fighter bombers which not only attacked defenses on the beaches, but rear areas targets, as well. The invasion of France on June 6, 1944, began from the air. Huge fleets of transports and gliders carried more than 17,000 men across the Channel between midnight and dawn. Low clouds and fog over the Cherbourg Peninsula made aerial navigation difficult, and even trained pathfinders had trouble in locating and marking the desired drop zones. Despite the adverse weather and heavy, continuous antiaircraft fire, most of the transports and gliders reached their designated landing areas. Although some paratroopers and gliders came down outside their intended drop zones, this scattering of Allied soldiers confused the enemy, adding to the success of the invasion from the sea. The museum has two examples of aircraft types used during this daring battle. Notice the C-47 Skytrain and the CG-4A glider suspended overhead.

• Date Taken: 12.31.1969
• Date Posted: 09.02.2015 12:14
• Category: Newscasts
• Audio ID: 41901
• Filename: 1509/DOD_102704055.mp3
• Length: 00:01:42
• Album: Museum Audio Tour
• Track #: 10
• Location: DAYTON, OH, US