SAN MARCOS, Texas – A historic C-47 that was restored in San Marcos is now back in France for the 75th anniversary commemoration of D-Day.
On the aircraft's nose was a message for Adolph Hitler that read: “That’s all, brother.”
Andy Maag, one of the pilots, said it conveyed that “your time is up. We’re coming, and peace will prevail.”
Joe Enzminger, who also flew the plane to France, said just standing inside the plane, “It hits you from the first second exactly what happened in the airplane 75 years ago."
They said the plane was chosen to lead more than 800 other C-47s across the English Channel because of the specialized radar equipment on it that was rare at the time.
Maag said they were told by a pilot the $100,000 plane had $500,000 worth of equipment on board. He described the experience of flying the plane as a “soulful experience, being able to pay respect in tribute to all the people who sought to give us the freedoms we enjoy today.”
Enzminger said leaving his family to fly the plane to France was hard enough.
“I can’t imagine what the guys were doing leaving for something very uncertain,” he said. “That is a tremendous, tremendous thing, for somebody to leave their family in the service of a higher calling or higher cause.”
They said the plane will be part of a noon flyover on D-Day at the National Cemetery on Omaha Beach.