Trumpeter Douglas C47 Dakota ‘Night Fright’ Airborne Legend 1:48

The Longest Day 6th June 1944

‘Night Fright’ flew as Chalk No 20 in the first of the two serials that took-off from Membury at 2300 hours, carrying elements of 1st Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and arrived over the DZ ‘A’ near Saint-Germain-de-Varreville at 0108hrs on 6th June 1944. The crew consisted of Pilot; William Watson, Co-pilot; James Hardt, Radio Operator; Robert McKnight, Navigator; Arthur E. Thornton and Crew Chief; Owen Voss. Upon reaching the western coast of the Cherbourg peninsula, low cloud made staying in tight formation difficult especially with German anti-aircraft fire becoming heavier the closer they got to the DZ. The navigators on board the lead aircraft directed the pilots and they successfully dropped the paratroopers mostly over DZ ‘A’. After a less eventful return flight, the Group’s aircraft all returned to Membury by 0353hrs.

Operation ‘Market-Garden’

Market-Garden came about mainly due to the lengthening supply lines from the Normandy beachhead which was slowing the advance of the ground forces to a fraction of what they had been accustomed to over the past couple of months, instead of measuring daily progress in tens, or hundreds of miles it was sometimes counted in yards by mid-September.

The build-up for Operation Market-Garden involved the usual freight and gasoline hauling missions to the front-line, a number of hastily planned practice missions and also a few Operations that were scrubbed at the last minute due to the Allied armies overrunning the objectives of these missions. Briefing for the first Market mission took place by Membury control tower early on the 17th September, Lt. Col. Adriel Williams going over the plan and routes to the crews from up on the balcony. The Mission objective was to paradrop 390 members of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division from two serials of C-47s designated ‘A-12’ and ‘A-14’ to DZ ‘B’ north of Son in Holland, close to the bridge over the Wilhelmina Canal which was the first major objective for the operation.

October and November brought further supply runs and medevac missions along with copious amounts of rain and bad weather, the only highlight being that the weather cancelled flying on Thanksgiving, meaning that the crews could enjoy a meal together in the relative comforts of the mess rather than eating “K” rations on a soggy French field.
December started badly for Night Fright. On the 9th she had to return to Membury after an engine failure on a flight to A-79 Prosnes with a load of diesel fuel, resulting in both engines being changed which was completed by December the 13th.

Operation ‘Repulse’ – Bastogne

After the failure of Market-Garden, the Allies found themselves in the classic battlefield situation of over-extended supply lines as they had failed to open up a port closer to the front line, requiring the supplies to be brought in from the area of the Invasion beaches and ports by road, rail or barge along with the efforts of the ‘air bridge’ from the UK which had kept many of the Troop Carrier and Transport groups busy during the period from late-September to mid-December although the weather tried it’s best to intervene in their efforts.

With the capture of Antwerp and clearing the Scheldt estuary, completed in late-November, Hitler and his high-command planned an offensive to recapture the port and to encircle the armies in the salient that had formed in the line after Market-Garden. By using the tried-and-tested method of attacking the Allies via the Ardennes region, the Wehrmacht had targeted the small Belgian town of Bastogne as the key to unlock the Allies’ grip on the Western Front.

The 436th played their part in during three resupply missions to Bastogne which took place on the December the 23rd, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and again the following day, dropping parapack and cargo door bundles from the aircraft.

January, February and early March brought further supply runs and casualty evacuation to and from the front lines along with an increasing number of training missions. February also brought a change of base when the Group said goodbye Membury and moved to A-55 at Melun/Villaroche, some 25 miles or so south-west of Paris on Valentine’s Day 1945.

Operation ‘Varsity’ – The Rhine Crossing

On the 24th of March 1945 the 436th towed CG-4A gliders carrying members of the US 17th Airborne Division in serials A-10 & A-11 to Landing Zone ‘S’ for Operation Varsity. ‘Night Fright’, as ‘Chalk – 51’ and flown by her regular crew Captained by Bill Watson, towed the gliders of Warner D. Ferguson, pilot / Donald J. Tracy co-pilot glider serial: 45-6155,
During April the group were flat-out trying to keep up with fuel demands for Patton’s tanks, bringing a Squadron record 2,175,555 lbs of freight to the front along with 5090 casualties and ex-POWs being returned, while also moving the 40th Field Hospital from Y-83 at Limburg to a landing ground close to the front line. On May the 8th hostilities ended with the acceptance of the unconditional surrender of German forces and thus begun the 79th’s busiest month for evacuations with 7826 POW’s and wounded soldiers being carried by the Squadron.

The Return Home

On the 10th of July 1945 the 79th TCS set off on their journey back to the US returning via the same route they used to enter the ETO in early 1944, ending their journey at Hunter Field, Georgia on the 19th of July. After 30 days leave they returned to the 436’s new base at Malden, Missouri where more senior members were asked to help newer members get up to speed prior to their discharge. In the meantime ‘Night Fright’ had a maintenance check carried out at Romulus Field to the west of Detroit at the end of July. She returned to the 79th shortly thereafter but within days the unit disbanded after the Japanese surrender on August the 15th was announced. By early October the remnants of the group, including ‘Night Fright’ was absorbed into the 434th TCG and shortly after the aircraft was declared surplus, being flown to Walnut Ridge airfield, Arkansas for sale or disposal thus ending her wartime career.

Post War Work

In 1946 the aircraft, now registered as NC65384 was sold to Executive Transport Corp of Texas who initially failed in their attempt to sell the aircraft to Penn Central Airlines, instead selling her to Northeast Airlines in June 1947. Her time with Northeast lasted less than a year before being bought by Piedmont Aviation who christened her ‘Tidewater Pacemaker’.

In March 1963 the French Navy purchased the aircraft as part of a drive to replace their Beechcraft JRB-4 trainers, ferrying her back over the Atlantic to Le Bourget. She joined Escadrille 56S as ‘18984’, Ship #84 with call signs ranging from F-YGGG, F-YGIA, F-YGGF.

She flew navigation exercises, flying as far afield as Malta, visiting Luqa airfield on 17 June 1969 and again on 20th April 1970.By 1984 most C-47s in military service had been retired and this was the case for Ship #84 which passed into the ownership of Nimes Garons (France) in May 1985 and then on to Basler Flight Services of Oshkosh, Wisconsin who registered her as N98BF in September of that year. The aircraft was then sold to the Sky Freighters Corp of Grand Prairie, Texas in December 1985 and registered N308SF.

After four years cargo hauling with Sky Freighters N308SF passed into the hands of Belle Meade Air, Inc of Nashville, Tennessee who operated her for three more years.In late July 1992 Dodson International Air of Oxford, Georgia became the new owners of ‘308SF. They used C-47s to fly freight around North, South, Central America, and the Caribbean for various charters.

After ten years’ service with Dodson, ‘308SF was purchased by BS&J Leasing of Hopkinsville, Kentucky in October 2002. This company were affiliated with Tuckasee Air Cargo of the same address. By September 2007 the aircraft was to be found with C.J. Aviation Services of Greensboro, North Carolina where she had suffered her mishap whilst with Piedmont all those years ago. Three unsuccessful attempts were made by C.J. Aviation to sell the aircraft on E-Bay.

The Night Fright Restoration Project

In December 2012 after having its wartime history confirmed with help from local historian Roger Day (Author of Membury at War), it was clear that this C-47 was 42-100521 ‘Night Fright’ had flown from Membury Airfield. The aircraft was purchased by Philip & Charlie Walker and was flown from Walnut Ridge, to Punta Gorda Florida where the wings were removed to allow for road transport to Shell Creek, Florida for refurbishment to commence. Even though she was converted to cargo configuration and the interior bulkheads were removed, most likely while in service with the French Aeronavale, the aircraft still retains a number of rare features including all of the exterior formation-flying lights and many patch-repairs due to battle damage received during her service in the Army Air Force.

In 2016 she was shipped to the UK. Night Fright is now back in England with the restoration team led by Ben Cox at Coventry to return the aircraft to the sky and become a flying memorial to the men of the 436th Troop Carrier Group who fought and died for the liberation of Europe.

Eventually part of the original runway at Membury will be restored to allow her to operate from her original WWII airfield, the only C-47 in the World to do so. There are also exciting plans to build a museum on the Membury airfield site which will not only tell the story about Night Fright but also the history surrounding Membury and the wartime role of the area.

Building ‘Night Fright’…