Rescued from aircraft boneyard, restored D-Day plane unveiled at EAA AirVenture

OSHKOSH – Looking at the plane with colorful nose art and black and white stripes painted on its wings, it’s easy to imagine it waiting to take off with other aircraft on a moonless night in 1944, it’s cargo hold filled with anxious paratroopers.

A C-47 transport plane dubbed “That’s All, Brother” was one of the lead aircraft in the D-Day invasion and was found three years ago in the boneyard of Basler Aviation in Oshkosh.  

If not for a mix of luck and serendipity, it was just weeks away from being turned into a twin turboprop hauling cargo in Canada. Instead, its heroic pedigree was discovered and efforts were undertaken to restore the aircraft to what it looked like in June 1944. On Monday night the newly restored “That’s All, Brother” was unveiled at an event at the Oshkosh airport on the first day of EAA AirVenture.

“It’s pretty amazing where the plane has come from since 2015,” said Joe Enzminger, wing leader of the Commemorative Air Force’s Central Texas Wing. “Now we’re standing in a plane that for all intents and purposes flew just like this on June 6, 1944.” 

ARCHIVES:In an Oshkosh aircraft boneyard, the first plane of D-Day was found

“That’s All, Brother” led a squadron of other C-47s in the D-Day invasion because it was outfitted with a rare airborne radar that helped it home in on beacons in France. The plane’s name was meant to send a message to Adolf Hitler.

In the cockpit, everything has been restored just as it was on D-Day except with hidden modern avionics to allow the plane to be easily flown in the 21st Century. Restoration crews scoured eBay for period first aid kits hanging from the interior. Black-out curtains are curled at the bottom of the curtains in the passenger compartment just as they were 74 years ago.

The only thing that hasn’t been found is the radar used in “That’s All, Brother” that night. Restorers are still looking for one or might replicate it to fit into the brackets where it was attached to the plane.

The biggest challenge was finding money for the multi-million dollar restoration project by its non-profit owner, Texas-based Commemorative Air Force. A Kickstarter campaign begun in 2015 helped raise money and ultimately thousands of people pitched in along with large donors and corporations.

RELATED:Centennial of Royal Air Force and end of World War I highlighted at EAA AirVenture

Basler Aviation restored the plane to flying capability while volunteers in Oklahoma handled the interior restoration. Historical aviation experts in Minnesota helped with research, and a team of volunteers in Texas painted the plane.

Though “That’s All, Brother” had corrosion issues, overall, it was in surprisingly good shape, said Andy Maag, restoration project coordinator.

“It really tells the story of the DC-3 and C-47. They’re built really tough,” Maag said. “We have no doubt we can fly it for another 75 years.”

The C-47 and its Navy counterpart R4D, the military counterparts of the DC-3, were among the workhorses of the war, hauling troops and cargo in the Pacific and European theaters. During the D-Day invasion more than 800 C-47s carried 13,000 paratroopers and towed hundreds of gliders. 

Among the C-47 pilots on D-Day was Dave Hamilton, who flew a different plane than "That's All, Brother." The 96-year-old Arizona veteran was dressed in a World War II uniform Monday night — not the same one he wore in the war — and clambered aboard “That’s All, Brother” where memories flooded back.

“We were too busy to be nervous. I knew all the paratroopers in the back of my plane because I had jumped with (them) during training,” said Hamilton, who flew with the 9th Troop Carrier Command.

Hamilton piloted the 14th plane to take off from North Witham Airfield in England at 11 p.m. June 5, dropping off paratroopers about 1:15 a.m. and returning to the base at 4 a.m. where he counted 300 holes in the fuselage from bursting flak.

Hamilton flew 100 missions in Europe and hopes to return to Normandy for next year’s 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He hasn’t been back since 1960, and he’s hoping to return by flying as a passenger in “That’s All, Brother.” The Commemorative Air Force is working on bringing “That’s All, Brother” to France along with other World War II planes for the D-Day anniversary.

None of the D-Day crew of “That’s All, Brother” is still alive but researchers tracked down family members, including the son and daughter of navigator John Shallcross, a Chicago native who died in 2009 at the age of 90.

Neither Lisa Schaefer nor her brother Scott Shallcross heard many D-Day stories from their father, who like many World War II vets seldom talked about his experiences.

“I remember him saying ‘Yeah, I went on leave in England and flew to France.’ He said he was the navigator on the lead plane (during D-Day) but that was about it,” Schaefer said Monday after getting a tour of  “That’s All, Brother.”

Schaefer wore her father’s dog tag at the event unveiling “That’s All, Brother.” She and her brother also brought some of their father’s mementos including medals, ID card and a letter he wrote to a nephew in May 1945 explaining his part in the D-Day invasion. Photos they found of their father next to “That’s All, Brother” were sent to plane restorers and used to help with the exterior markings.

The siblings live in California and decided a few weeks ago to travel to Oshkosh to see their dad’s plane after following the restoration process online.

“I got a little teary walking inside. It’s so exciting,” Schaefer said.