D-Day Invasion Lead Aircraft: Douglas C-47 'That's All Brother' Relic Display

Own, display, and preserve an authentic aluminum skin section from one of the most famous and important participants in the D-Day invasion of France. Ron Cole has combined his original artwork of this aircraft, C-47 s/n 42-92847 'That's All Brother' (originally commissioned by the Commemorative Air Force in support of the restoration of this aircraft), with a section of skin left over from the rebuild. Complete with the history of this aircraft, signed & numbered, in an 11x17-inch ready-to-hang brushed black frame.

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Douglas C-47 'That's All Brother' led the formation of 800 other C-47s from which approximately 13,000 U.S. paratroopers jumped on D-Day, June 6, 1944 - the beginning of the liberation of France in the last two years of World War II.

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The C-47's name, painted on its nose, was chosen by Air Force Lt. Col. John M. Donalson, commander of the 87th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, who flew the plane during the operation, as a "message to Adolf Hitler" that Nazi Germany's days were numbered. It was successfully flown again in 2018, and has been exhibited at air shows. After further refitting it has been flown across the Atlantic with other historic aircraft that took part in the invasion, to commemorate its 75th anniversary.

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When the war began, John Donalson, who normally flew with the Alabama-based 106th Observation Squadron, which was assigned to the Pacific theater during the war, was transferred to Europe. Normally, he flew a Douglas C-47 Skytrain that he had named Belle of Birmingham, in honor of his home state's largest city. But for Operation Overlord, the 1944 invasion of Normandy which opened the western front, it was necessary to cut holes in the plane's fuselage for extra equipment. Donalson, by then commanding the 438th Troop Carrier Group of the 87th Troop Carrier Squadron, part of IX Troop Carrier Command, refused, and so he was issued another C-47 to lead the formation of those aircraft which dropped paratroopers onto the shores of France.

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The C-47 issued to Donalson had been built three months earlier at the Douglas Aircraft plant in Oklahoma City. It was delivered the day after completion to what was then the United States Army Air Forces at Love Field in Dallas; from there it was flown to Baer Army Air Field in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Five weeks later it was flown to England by the Air Transport Command.

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On the morning of June 6, 'That's All Brother' led 800 planes that dropped over 13,000 American paratroopers onto the French coast. It was chosen for the job because it had been equipped with radar that could find the beacons dropped as "pathfinders" to mark drop zones by an earlier group of paratroopers. Allied troops held their beachhead despite heavy initial losses, and slowly began liberating France. The C-47 was used in other operations in Western Europe later that year, including Market Garden, and Repulse (part of the resupplying of Bastogne), and in 1945's Operation Varsity, part of the invasion of Germany.

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After the war, this aircraft returned to the United States where it began a new life in civilian aviation, and its important history was mostly lost. In 2006, she was 'rediscovered', purchased by the CAF, and completely rebuilt as she was equipped for the D-Day invasion. 

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These parts were left over from that rebuild, as some panels were replaced due to superficial damage and light corrosion. The parts included with these displays are original to the aircraft in 1944, and flew over the invasion beaches of France on that historic day!

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Very limited! Each display signed & numbered by the artist.

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