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As part of the official ceremony to mark the 74th anniversary, two A-10s from the 107th escorted several C-130 Hercules from the U.S. Air Force's 86th Airlift Wing / 37th Airlift Squadron (who also participated in the WWII airborne assaults on Normandy), along with similar aircraft from multiple nations, as they dropped about 500 American, French, German, Dutch and Romanian paratroops near Sainte-Mere-Eglise, France, the same town where paratroopers landed on D-Day, retracing the exact same flight path as the airborne invasion.
"We talk about our heritage - but to actually see it and to talk with the veterans who are here and the people who lived through it, that is a game changer," said Brig. Gen. John D. Slocum, the 127th Wing commander, of which the 107th Fighter Squadron is the oldest component. "To see where we came from, I think it inspires us all to dig a little deeper as we respond to today's challenges.”
After conducting the drops, our C-130 began flying low-altitude Tactical Evasion Maneuvers, as the ramp opened and the A-10s came into formation to provide an opportunity to produce some images. One of the A-10s was specially painted after the F-6A (P-51A) Mustang, which the 107th flew over Normandy in WWII. The paint scheme honors that history, sporting D-Day stripes, as well as honoring the squadron’s 100th birthday, which occurred in August 2017. A giant red devil adorns the length of the aircraft as well.
They are one of the oldest flying units in the U.S. Air Force, first organized as the 107th Aero Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas, in August 1917 in response to the U.S. entry into World War I.
Piloted by call signs “Sherlock” and “Monk”, both A-10s flew several passes along the beaches, just as their counterparts did 74 years ago, before departing back to RAF Mildenhall in England (they had no tanker support so fuel was limited). Meanwhile, our C-130, followed by 8 other similar aircraft, conducted flyovers all across