C-47 warplane to land in Star City

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Presque Isle will be the first stop for a World War II-era warplane making an historic Trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Europe to take part in a reenactment of D-Day 70 years later. The Douglas C-47 aircraft and its crew will arrive Thursday, May 15, and will overnight in the Star City before continuing a three-week, eight-city flight plan leading to the June 6 anniversary event in and around Normandy, France.
Known as Whiskey 7, the C-47 landing in Presque Isle served on D-Day to deploy paratroopers over northwestern France. The make of the warplane also has historic significance to Presque Isle as the C-47 was frequently used to transport injured troops from the European theater to the busy Presque Isle Army Airfield where a large hospital complex sat on what is now the north end of the NMCC campus.
“We are so pleased that Presque Isle and the Northern Maine Regional Airport will be a part of the D-Day 70th anniversary ceremonies that will take place in Normandy, France in early June with the stopover of this C-47 aircraft. It truly underscores the important role that Presque Isle played in WW II and the strategic importance the airfield, and now airport, holds not only in our region’s past and present, but in our nation’s military history, as well,” said Nathan Grass, president of the Presque Isle Air Museum, which is housed at the airport. “This event will provide an opportunity for older residents to re-live an important part of the Star City and Aroostook County’s past, while serving as a vibrant history lesson for all area residents, especially school-aged children.”
Grass and a group of about a dozen volunteers are working with staff at the airport to roll out the welcome mat for the warplane and its crew to Presque Isle, and to provide the public with the opportunity to see the aircraft up-close. A similar stopover of the P-38 “Glacier Girl” in Presque Isle drew large crowds to the Commercial Aviation Hangar at the airport in 2007.
“All the staff is excited to once again host a World War II-era aircraft. The last vintage WW II aircraft that came through PQI was Glacier Girl. The size of the crowd that gathered to welcome her arrival was phenomenal. It is just a great opportunity to showcase the airport,” said Scott Wardwell, airport manager.
The C-47 is set to land Thursday, May 15 at around 5:30 p.m. It will depart Geneseo, N.Y., site of the National Warplane Museum, at 2 p.m., following a 1940s-era themed send-off celebration.
The fanfare and festivities will continue when Whiskey 7 lands in Presque Isle. Area emergency service vehicles will escort the aircraft as it taxis from the runway to the area in front of the Corporate Aircraft Hangar at the General Aviation Terminal. Participating in the escort will be a Crown Critical Care Transport ambulance. Crown CCT, a division of TAMC, today uses the Northern Maine Regional Airport, along with other area runways, to air transport critically ill patients from the county to trauma centers downstate and out-of-state.
When the procession of public safety vehicles and the C-47 arrive in front of the hangar, and the warplane is secured, the public will be let inside the gate for an official arrival ceremony welcoming the aircraft and its crew. Area veterans, community leaders and Presque Isle Air Museum officials will all take part.
Following the brief ceremony, interested community members will be invited to see the aircraft up close, take photographs, and meet the crew. There will also be displays of WW II-era memorabilia and vehicles in and around the Corporate Aircraft Hangar for members of the public to better understand what life was like at the time the C-47 aircrafts would regularly land at the Presque Isle Army Airfield carrying wounded soldiers from the war in Europe.
Additionally, members of the Crown Critical Care Transport Team will be on hand, along with one of their ambulances used to transport patients, and one of the two planes regularly used by the specially trained crew and operated/flown by Fresh Air, LLC to airlift patients from the county.
“For emergency physicians, nurses and critical care transport providers, so much of what we do on a daily basis we learned from past war efforts. The sacrifices made by our injured troops have taught us a lot about how to manage patients in the battlefield, and that translates directly into the care we provide in our emergency rooms today,” said Daryl Boucher, TAMC director of emergency and critical care services. “It is humbling to know that the plane that served as one of the first models of medical evacuation will be here in Presque Isle. We are pleased that we can be a part of it to demonstrate, in small part, what our Crown Critical Care Transport team does today to care for patients in flight.”
The warplane will depart from Presque Isle around 1 p.m. Friday, May 16. Special tours and visits of Whiskey 7 are being planned for area veterans, first responders and school children Friday morning.
The Presque Isle visit by the C-47 is part of the “Return to Normandy” project, a world tribute to the fallen and surviving soldiers of WW II. The National Warplane Museum is working alongside the French government to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day, a significant turning point for the to-be victors of the war.
Whiskey 7 is the National Warplane Museum’s flagship aircraft. The C-47 will play a key role in the D-Day commemoration by reenacting the same mission she carried out seven decades ago. Members of the volunteer paratrooper group, Liberty Jump Team, will be deployed from the warplane over original drop zones, including a town that has not seen a parachute drop since D-Day.
“This has been a unique opportunity for us to thank our veterans for their service and we’re honored to have been invited by the French government to be an integral part of their world celebration this June. We’re grateful for the contributions we’ve received to make this two-year project a reality,” said Austin Wadsworth, National Warplane Museum president. “We are looking forward to flying this aircraft into Presque Isle, which played such a critical role in our nation’s war effort, and where many of the troops, flown in on C-47s, received medical care.”
Whiskey 7 is not only one of the few airworthy C-47s that served on D-Day to remain active, but was the lead aircraft of the second wave of Allied troops, directing hundreds of C-47s over the English Channel to France. She also carried 21 paratroops from the 3rd Battalion, including their commander, Lt. Col. Edward C. Krause, who led the assault on Saint-Mere-Eglise, France.
For more information on the plane’s visit, log onto TAMC’s website at www.tamc.org or the Northern Maine Regional Airport website at www.flypresqueisle.com.