DUXFORD, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND – Miss Montana arrived at its destination in style on Tuesday morning with the tower in Duxford, England inviting them to make a “low pass” of the airfield before touching down after its epic journey.
The Miss Montana crew landed in Duxford just before 8 a.m. Montana time, after completing the journey from Montana, across the U.S. and then the North Atlantic in a little over a week.
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The crew had completed the Transatlantic crossing Monday, landing in Scotland after following the “Blue Spruce Route”, the historic path which allowed the old planes to make gas stops by fueling up in Greenland and Iceland.
“Miss Montana to Normandy” co-project leader Brian Douglass says it’s a “little surreal” to finally arrive in Europe after more than a year of renovation and fundraising to make the trip.
And he wants to pass along thanks to everyone in Montana who has made the epic trip possible.
Douglass says “Miss Montana” is one of 11 C-47/DC-3s that is now in Duxford where the crews will spend time getting acquainted.
There will also be a special tour of the “war room” where General Eisenhower and the other leaders were planning the D-Day Invasion 75-years ago this week.
Next week, the restored plane and her sister aircraft will drop dozens of jumpers over the beach at Normandy to commemorate the paratroopers who were key to the 1944 battle.
There’s a crew of six on board Miss Montana right now. Paratroopers and other crew will be flying over commercially to join in the commemoration.
The below video was posted on the Miss Montana to Normandy Facebook page.
Posted by Miss Montana to Normandy on Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Reporting by Dennis Bragg for MTN News
