NEW ORLEANS — A C-47 aircraft that played a pivotal role in World War II, including dropping paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne into Normandy on D-Day, landed Thursday at Lakefront Airport and will be moved this month to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
The purchase and restoration of what museum president Nick Mueller called “a true hero of World War II aviation” was made possible by Badger Oil Corp. chief executive officer Paul Hilliard of Lafayette and his late wife Lulu.
“Like the Higgins boat, the Sherman tank and the jeep, the C-47 was so important to the success of the war effort that the National World War II Museum would not be complete without it,” Mueller said during a press preview for the C-47 — also known in civilian aviation as a DC-3 — at Lakefront Airport in eastern New Orleans.
This particular C-47, 096, carried Pathfinder paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, dropped a Pathfinder paratrooper team of the 101st Airborne into German-occupied Holland in Operation Market Garden; flew in a massive resupply mission to the 101st Airborne during the Battle of the Bulge; and took part in Operation Varsity — the “Rhine Jump” — in 1945.
But one of the more remarkable aspects of the National World War II Museum’s latest artifact, which has seats for 26 paratroopers, is how it was discovered.
“We found it on E-Bay. It was a great find,” Mueller said, noting that the purchase price was $155,000 and another $50,000 was put into the aircraft to restore it. “We think that’s a steal.” It was purchased from a private owner in Hondo, Texas, with funds donated by the Hilliards...
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WWII C-47 finds home in N.O.
September 2nd, 2006, 12:05 AM
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