Allied Plane From D-Day Invasion Being Restored For 75th Anniversary At Normandy

A plane that dropped off paratroopers on D-Day as the Allies were invading Normandy was discovered in a Wisconsin junkyard and has been rescued.

The plane, a C-47 named “That’s All, Brother,” is being restored after an Air Force historian found the old plane, which was a leader in the historic World War II invasion, according to the AP. It was part of the fleet of military transport aircraft that dropped paratroopers behind German lines in June 1944.

D-Day was the first day of the Battle of Normandy and marks when thousands of Allied troops from the United States, Great Britain and Canada landed on beaches across the Normandy area of France. It was part of the effort to liberate areas of Western Europe from the control of the German Nazi forces.

The paratroopers were dropped behind enemy lines shortly before other forces stormed the beaches. Thousands of Allied troops died during the invasion, but the battle turned the tide of the war.

According to the nonprofit group Commemorative Air Force, which is working to restore the C-47, the plane was found in the junkyard in 2015 and has been undergoing repairs to fix its wiring, corrosion to its metal and other issues.

The workers tested That’s All, Brother’s engines recently, revving it up and sending one of its propellers spinning.

In the coming year, the group said on its website, the plane is expected to have more superficial work done to restore its historical accuracy. It hopes to bring a completed plane to Normandy in 2019 for the 75th anniversary of D-Day and then embark on European and American tours.

It is raising money for those additional upcoming restoration efforts.

“The airplane is much more than an aircraft,” Commemorative Air Force curator Keegan Chetwynd said, according to WLUK. “It’s a time machine. … [It] provides that tangible connection for the next generation of people so that they know, when they read it in a history book, that it was real.”