Big drop down on Drop Zone K, the British 1st Airborne drop zone east of Caen today. 33 C-47's flew out of UK, then dropped reenactors and old guys. DZ K is totally different from the DZ's for 82nd and 101st..no brocage..not hedgerows....open flat country, 33 planes, the most ever assembled since WWII, no AA, broad daylight, no huge tailwind...and they still scattered the reenactor jumpers over a km off target. They couldn't take off within two hours of their target date, could't fly in formation, couldn't control their speed so the faster wouldn't surge ahead...
There were 800 C-47's on D-Day...flying at night, taking off at precise time including transporting, feeding, loading the troops, in three triangle serials, 3 serials per section. I'll post more on today's drop because it's instructive. The D-Day maps like to put a "spot" where a stick dropped. The sticks though were stretched out over 800 to 3000 meters and dropped at an altitude from anywhere from 400 ft to 2000 ft..
