After the euphoria of the day before and the air to air shoot with TD314 the second opportunity of the weekend presented itself. A chance to fly alongside Aerolegends two C-47’s ‘Drag em Oot’ and ‘Pegasus’.
‘Drag em Oot’ is a genuine D-Day Gooniebird, flying one of the earliest missions to drop members of the 82nd Airborne near St Mere Eglise in Normandy. She’s preserved in such a way as the original patches from bullet holes are still visible on the plane. She was delivered to the USAAF in 1943 and based in the UK at Greenham Common.
“Pegasus’ – KP220 – was delivered to the Royal Air force in 1945 becoming G-ANAF in 1953. She was acquired by Aerolegends in 2019.
Borth aircraft are living memorials to the airman and groundcrew of the the allied air forces.
Again, we flew in the Headcorn Skydive Cessna Caravan, departing the field before the main display at 12 noon. Our route took us south to Cuckmere Haven, along the Seven Sister’s, over Birling gap and turning before we hit Eastbourne.
In all we made two passes along the cliffs before turning ofr home and heading north back to Headcorn. Awaiting us upon our arrival was the slow moving Good Year Zeppelin which I could just see briefly as we descending into the field.
Below is some very wonky/unexpertly shot video but it gives you a sense of what we were seeing whilst in the Caravan.
The flight lasted just under the hour, again time passed slowly allowing me to appreciate the sight of these magnificent machines against some wonderful landscapes below. Two days of intense action that has left me with wonderful memories and an awful big itch to do it all again! Again my thanks to Steve and Rich from COAP for their patience, encouragment and advice, to Simon and Polly from Skydive Headcorn and the team at Aerolegends.
The full gallery is below, hope you enjoy them as much as I have.
