From June 3 through June 7, our royal DC-3 Dakota, designated Dakota C-47, flew sightseeing flights over the invasion beaches of Normandy.
The princess took off from Carpiquet Airport, flew over Sainte Mère-Eglise, Pointe du Hoc, the invasion beaches and turned around over the Merville Battery.
Very special because our Dakota, with the current registration PH-PBA, was built in 1944 and dropped paratroopers from the 505th Infantry Regiment over Sainte Mère-Eglise on June 6, 1944 with the number 19434 during the “Boston Mission. Thus, 79 years after the fact, this historic plane is back over the invasion beaches. In September 1944, the PBA participated in Operation Market Garden by firing gliders and dropping paratroopers near Nijmegen. This is the operation that would later become known as “A Bridge Too Far. Our royal DC-3 Dakota thus has a very special history for WWII and the Netherlands.