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June 8th 2010, we returned from a very sunny D-Day Memorial Run to Normandy. We had good riding weather, and with 10 Classic WW II Harley's and 2 Jeeps, we made some impressive rides to the Landing Beaches, the Fairs, the Parades and Ceremonies.
We visited the Merville War Museum, where they have the famous SNAFU SPECIAL Dakota (SNAFU= Systems Normal, All Fouled Up). This Legendary Dakota has a well documented history from WW II, and was involved in the Normandy Landing Operations, June 1944 and beyond. They found this legendary War Hero Plane in Bosnia, where it was hit by gunfire during the Yugo wars in 1993-1994. Over 250 bullet holes had to be patched, and the transport from Bosnia to France in 2007 was a sort of a nightmare operation on deep loader trucks.But look at the photos, the SNAFU SPECIAL is on its way to an immaculate static display restoration, only the cockpit was still incomplete, as the Yoke (double push/pull bar with steering wheels) was missing. Last year, the mayor of the town, also chief of the museum, asked all over the world to look for a Yoke for his Museum Baby. Dakota Hunter rode in last year by sheer coincidence and had a rendezvous with the mayor, and that visit was just prior to my trip to Colombia and so, right in time for some sniffing around in the remote Dakota scrap yards.
In the Southern Amazon Jungle of Colombia, on the very last day of my trip last year, I found a derelict Dakota, that was seized some years earlier as a Narco Plane. The cockpit was still quite intact, so we could remove on the very last moment, the yoke of that former Drugs Runner (for more details, see my Colombia revisited newsletter).
The transport from Colombia to Holland was another sort of nightmare, it took almost a year to get it done, due to endless delays and customs requirements. Colombia had a certain reputation with drugs and Dakota's, it used to be the preferred plane with its jungle landing capacities and 3 tons of payload, that could fly the stuff from that remote air strip to the Market or the Seaport. That is no more, but was maybe true in the past.
So, if you come to that country and tell the customs that you want to transport Dakota Wings and Spare parts from the Amazon to Holland, well, you can imagine that some custom agents get sort of suspicious about such mission, to say the least. But finally, as that cargo arrived in Holland one year late, we were informed that the container was selected for another special inspection by Dutch customs. No wonder, with Colombian documents and Scrap Aviation Parts as contents, the bell rang loud and clear at Custome HQ's in Rotterdam, I guess. They probably called in their Top Dog (nicknamed Pablo E.) for inspection of that container. This super sniffer went over and under the container, looking for the great familiar Colombian Smell. No Niente, desgraciadamente...All that finally done, the container (with Wings and Yoke inside), arrived late, but just in time with us, for the delivery of the Yoke at the Batteries de Merville Museum, as planned on June 3th 2010.
With the Classic Harley Club from Holland and Jeeps, we rode in a column of 18 people to Merville, for a Ceremony Protocollaire, evidently with Champagne and a superb lunch, offered by "Monsieur Le Maire" Olivier Paz and his team of volunteer mechanics. The Yoke was mounted on the front bumper of a 1942 Willy's Jeep, and Olivier, after having checked that the Yoke had no more traces of Narco inside, accepted it for the final completion of his SNAFU SPECIAL Dakota.
It was a memorable day, we will return there again next year on our yearly pilgrimage to the Normandy Beaches in the first week of June. Other Museums, like the Airborne Museum in Sainte Mere Eglise (more to the West, near Utah Beach), also feature Dakota's, as this plane was so crucial in the first hours of the Invasion. Their Museum has a Dakota inside and outdoor there is a C-47 in a crash landing display, with wings and engines separated from the fuselage.One Wingtip could be retrieved, for making just another Wing Desk and a horizontal stabilizer was taken back to Holland for making another authentic vintage aviation wing design table. For more product pictures and information please visit www.avionart.com.
Just prior to the boat landings, that started at 5.30 am in the morning of that Longest Day, June 6th, 1944, Dakota's flew in huge numbers, most of them also towing Paratrooper Gliders to the East and West side of this war theatre with the five landing beaches (Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword). Thousands of Paratroopers were making airborne landings, in order to secure bridge heads, neutralize bunkers and guns, before the tens of thousands of infantry men were to arrive with their vulnerable Landing craft over the water.
In this plan of prior airborne assaults, the Merville Batteries were attacked by British Commando troops, in order to neutralize the long range guns, that could seriously damage the incoming fleet. They dropped the special forces at Merville, and the ensuing battle took more time than planned, but rendered the guns inoperational during the whole invasion.In this role, the Dakota / DC-3 / C-47, was to gain its top position in the Hall of Fame of Aviation of most legendary planes of all time, and the greatest invasion ever done in human history, now 66 years ago, still shows its marks and souvenirs of that courageous battle, the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. The Dakota was later honored by Gen. Eisenhower as being one of the crucial war transports, that made the Allies win the war over the Axis powers.
Our voyage to the 5 landing Beaches, stretched over a total distance of some 100 kms., is like a time warp, with most bunkers still there, with rusted guns inside, and even the pontoons of the artificial harbor (the Mulberry) in Arromanches are partly still out there. Half Sunk in a huge arc around the small port, that created the all important supply harbor for the first weeks after the invasion, before a regular seaport could be conquered.
This total area is probably the largest open air war museum in the world. Most interesting to visit, the many War Museums, Landmarks, Cemeteries, Monuments, Beach heads and huge Bunkers all around, make this an immersing experience. The visitors come from all over Europe, USA & Canada, quite a few come in WWII Vehicles from Jeeps to Tanks, Amphibians and Half Tracks, and ourselves on vintage ex military Harley's.
Many are in Battle dress, there are reenactment assaults, and then, out of the blue, just before sundown, there is that low and slow fly-past of the Dakota over the Beaches and the Military Cemeteries, that silhouette in battle colors, with that typical radial piston engine rattle, it sounds like singing the blues. It makes the world stop and all quiet for a few moments, a most impressive and emotional act, that reflects best the sentiments of those days of glory.
With special thanks to my friends Olivier Paz and Hans Combee from the Merville Museum, Patrick Bunel from the Musee Airborne in Sainte Mere Eglise, Felix and family, Roger, and all members of the Harley Club for their support and pics, who made this trip happen and the memory anchored for long.
For more details of the Normandy War museums and Dakota's during the Operation Overlord (the Invasion of Normandy), please visit:
Batterie de Merville
Musee Airborne
Snafu Special
Wikipedia (Operation Overlord)
or Google "Pointe du Hoc", "Atlantic Wall", "Paratrooper landings Normandy" etc., for stunning photos and stories.
Best is to go there one day, preferably first week of June, an unforgettable trip to the world's greatest war memorial.
Hans Wiesman
Dakota Hunter
