‘D-Day’ is widely used to describe the momentous day on 6 June 1944 when the Allies invaded Occupied Europe with landings off the coast of Normandy. However, the thirteen troop carrying and resupply operations for the invasion were actually flown over three days: 5/6 June, 6 June and 6/7 June.
Three of them were mounted by the RAF (‘Tonga’, ‘Mallard’ and ‘Rob Roy’) and ‘Albany’, ‘Boston’. ‘Chicago’, ‘Detroit’, ‘Freeport, ‘Memphis’, ‘Elmira’, ‘Keokuk’, ‘Galveston’ and ‘Hackensack’ were flown by the C-47s of US Troop
Carrier Command.
It is not widely known either that not all were American C-47 crews and their US paratroopers and RAF crews and their British paratroopers. Many of the operations involved American crews carrying their British allies from bases in Lincolnshire because the RAF simply did not have enough Dakotas on hand.
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