Hi guys.

Hope everyone is well?!

As some of you may remember me saying sometime back about an Upottery airfield event.......?? Well it is all coming together and will put some details up over the weekend but just wanted to get the ball rolling now.

One of the most exciting bits for me is that a C-47 that was based there and dropped men into Normandy will be landing on the Saturday and will be spending the weekend there - this really is living history. The runways are being swept as we speak......very special and will be a one off. This C-47 is laden with history.

So what we need is as many 101st guys as we can to help turn the clock back to 1944. This has never happened before and more than likely won't happen again so if you have done Aldbourne and if you have done Normandy then you need to do Upottery to complete the full circle of this period. Your skills would be very much appreciated.

We also need as many WW2 vehicles as possible, again a great photo opportunity.

I am really looking forward to sleeping a couple on Upottery airfield.

I will post up a brief out line later but please do contact me for further information.

Best wishes to all.

jack.

This is very good news and I hope it goes well.

If at all possible, I would request that you provide us with an AAR and if possible, photos of the event-----or failing that, perhaps an address where we might view it on-line. I think I can safely speak for some in that we'd like to see photos of this plane, and the events which surrounds it.

Hi

Take a look at our site countyfetes.co.uk for any extras services you may need and possible reenactment groups.

I shall pop up the road to this event, a C47 will be a sight not to be missed and a great picture opportunity!

I have a signed print of one with easy co I shall bring along.

Chris

This looks like it could be helpful. Scroll down to "your unit", you'll probably find what you need there. If you scroll down a bit further, you'll also see a section on military vehicles.

http://www.wwiireenacting.co.uk/forum/inde...b153fbcec4e4524

TAKE A LOOK AT THIS WEBSITE, THE GEAR THESE GUYS HAVE IS AMAZING...www.514th.co.uk
moose.

Afternoon All,

Jack, nice to see you on the forum again!!!

If no-one minds and seeing as it's that time of the year again, I'd thought I'd just pay my own tribute seeing as I'm an aircraft/airfeild enthusiast also. (Alan, I know you'll appreciate this one!!!)

[attachment=3039:Upottery.jpg]

[attachment=3040:01_.jpg]

[attachment=3041:07.jpg]

And here's a little 'behind the picture' story with regard the last pic above - it's taken from 'The Story of a Screaming Eagle in Normandy - The D-Day Memories of Donald Burgett - Army Paratrooper, 101st Airborne Div., 506 Parachute Regiment, Company A'.

'In further training for Normandy, we moved for maneuvers to Torquay in southern England where the countryside resembled the hedgerow country of Normandy. The day after our arrival in Torquay, while marching to the mess hall for breakfast, we witnessed two German torpedo boats roaring into the bay and releasing torpedoes at vessels anchored there, sinking two Allied ships. Many infantry troops aboard those ships were lost, most to drowning. The German torpedo boats immediately made a sweeping turn, escaping back out to sea. After these maneuvers were turned to Aldbourne. Later our 506th Rgt. moved to south-ern England again where we entered the marshalling area on Upottery Airfield. This is where we would take off for Normandy.

During the several days that we were in the marshalling area at Upottery Airfield we were briefed extensively on our missions. Sand tables and maps were on hand and aerial photographs brought in several times a day were hung in display over the sand table. Here we were briefed not only on our missions but on those of the 82nd as well, in case by some accident we found ourselves in each other’s areas. We were even informed of the German Commandant of St. Com-du-Mont, a man who rode a white horse and went with a French schoolteacher. She lived on a side street in the town just two buildings away from a German gun emplacement.

My group’s assignment was to capture and hold the four exits that ran from the beach head to the inland, allowing our men landing on the beaches a road off those beaches to attack inland. Exit 1 ran through Pouppeville, exit 2 through Herbert, exit 3 through Audoville-la-Hubert, and exit 4 though St. Martin-de-Varroville. We were also assigned to capture the high ground behind the beaches and to aid in the capture of the four bridges leading to Carentan.

On the night of June 4, 1944, we were loading the planes in a down pour of rain and high winds. A jeep pulled alongside our aircraft carrying a message that the jump was postponed until the next day, June 5. We returned to our tents and slept in our wet jumpsuits without bothering to change.

The following day, June 5, 1944, we marched to the parked C-47s, found the one assigned to us by the chalked number beside the door, and ID numbers 8Y on the nose with 292717 (pic above) on the vertical stabilizer. We made ready to chute up and load. While some troopers were making up pararacks to fasten to the underbelly of our C-47, the rest of us were getting extra ammo and whatever else we needed.

We were among the first of the many planes to take off, and it was still light enough to see.The last thing I saw on the ground was a large haystack and a line of trees to our direct front. We were among those in the lead as we gained altitude and began circling wide over the English countryside like a giant comet. Each time we circled, other planes were taking off to join the ever-growing tail of our comet-like flight.'

And of course my own tribute on my website - http://www.pobrien.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/upottery.html

Regards,

Pat.

Indeed Pat, very nice photos and an interesting report.

Isn't it amazing that those torpedo boats could make it all the way.......torpedo TWO ships with great loss of life and make it out? I have to wonder what coastal defense was doing. Any idea who these troops were?

Oh no you've started me on something now!!! The incident of course was the Slapton Sands Operation Tiger incident.

'In preparing for the Normandy Invasion, the United States Army conducted various training exercises at Slapton Sands in Start Bay and in the nearby Tor Bay, beginning on December 15, 1943. Slapton was an unspoiled beach of coarse gravel that was backed by bluffs that resembled Omaha Beach. After the people in the nearby village were evacuated, it was an almost perfect place to simulate the Normandy landings. The culmination of the joint training program was a pair of full scale rehearsals in late April and early May.

TIGER was the code name of the training exercise for the Utah Beach assault forces under Admiral Don P. Moon. It was held from April 22-30, 1944. The troops and equipment embarked on the same ships and for the most part from the same ports from which they would later leave for France. Six of the days in the exercise were taken up by the marshaling of the troops and the embarkation of the landing craft. During the night of April 26-27, 1944, the main force proceeded through Lyme Bay with mine craft sweeping ahead of them as if crossing the channel. Since German E-boats, which were high-speed torpedo boats capable of operating at speeds of 34-36 knots, sometimes patrolled the channel at night, the British Commander in Chief, Plymouth, who was responsible for protecting the rehearsal, threw patrols across the mouth of Lyme Bay. These patrols consisted of two destroyers, three motor torpedo boats and two motor gunboats. Another motor torpedo patrol was sent to watch Cherbourg, the main ports where the German E-boats were based. Following the "bombardment" on Slapton Sands, the exercise "landings" were begun during the morning of April 27, and the unloading continued during the day and the next when a follow up convoy was expected.

This Convoy T-4 consisted of two sections from two different ports. The Plymouth section, LST Group 32, was composed of USS LST-515, USS LST-496, USS LST-511, USS LST-531, and USS LST-58, which was towing two pontoon causeways. The Brixham section consisted of USS LST-499, USS LST-289, and USS LST-507. The convoy joined with HMS Azalea as escort and proceeded at six knots in one column with the LSTs in the same order as listed above. When the convoy was maneuvering in Lyme Bay in the early hours of April 28, they were attacked by nine German E-boats out of Cherbourg that had evaded the Allied patrols. No warning of the presence of enemy boats had been received until LST-507 was torpedoed at 0204hrs. The ship burst into flames, and survivors abandoned ship. Several minutes later LST-531 was torpedoed and sank in six minutes. LST-289, which opened fire at the E-boats, was also torpedoed but was able to reach port. The other LSTs plus two British destroyers fired at the E-boats, which used smoke and high speed to escape. This brief action resulted in 198 Navy dead and missing and 441 Army dead and missing according to the naval action reports. Later Army reports gave 551 as the total number of dead and missing soldiers. The final training exercise FABIUS took place between May 3-8, without any enemy attacks.

To keep the Germans from possibly learning about the impending Normandy Invasion, casualty information on Exercise TIGER was not released until after the invasion. On August 5, 1944, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force released statistics on the casualties associated with the Normandy Invasion, which included information about the German E-Boat attack on April 28. This information was also published in the August 7 issue of The Stars and Stripes, the daily newspaper of the U. S. Armed Forces in the European Theater.'

[attachment=3042:slapton_sands.jpg]

[attachment=3043:LST_289.jpg]

Landing Ship Tank 289 arrives back in Dartmouth showing clearly the extensive damage caused by the E-boat's torpedo.

Hi all.

Thanks for your replys and I was down at Upottery at the weekend as the new owner invited us down to have a look around - the C-47 is still planned and the owner is down their this week to check the runway and go over the details.

Will keep you posted.

Cheers

Jack.

Hi Pat.

Good to hear from you to and following on from your post have a look here - think you will like it

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u290/po...n/1944-2007.gif

A member from my site was kind enough to go down to this historic site and took the 'now' picture and then worked his magic.......very clever - I adore now and then shots!

Take care

Jack.

Great stuff Jack. So many sites, so little time.

Hi guys.

Sorry for the delay and here is the latest on the Upottery airfield event from one of the main organisers.

If you would like to know more then please don't hesitate to contact me jack @ hmvf.co.uk

I am pleased to tell all concerned that around 11am this morning a small Piper Cub drifted into Upottery at the controls was the pilot of our Dakota C/47. The news is good IT WILL BE LANDING AT UPOTTERY weather permitting, This will be the first return of a C/47 since the end of the second World War and the first one belonging to the 439th Troop Carrier Group to touch down on the Upottery runway since Oct 1944. The only sad thing to report is that Cecil Petty the C.O of the 92nd Squadron who flew it on the D-day run and most of the other combat missions passed away in February, but not before he had seen some recent pictures of his old plane, his wife said it made him very happy to know that it was still operational. We are not sure if the plane will be in on the Saturday they have yet to find a qualified copilot for that day, but it will be in on the Sunday, subject to old uncle weather. If you come down on the Friday evening can I promote the Sidmouth Arms Upottery, the Land Lord is an ex Marine and son of one of the farmers who has given us the use of his land for the event, they will be running the bar on the Saturday evening on the airfield. A collection of ex USA vehicles would make a nice photo call down in the village.


Speak to you in a bit or see you there - we will be driving done in a convoy of GMC's and Jeeps.

Best wishes.

Jack.