Long Island’s American Airpower Museum hosts D-Day re-enactment flights, June 12

The Island Now
“Parachutists” board the WWII Douglas C-47 Skytrain Troop Transporter at the American Airpower Museum, Farmingdale. D-Day reenactment flights will be held on June 12. (Photo courtesy of American Airpower Museum)

The American Airpower Museum is gearing up for a return of its C-47 D-Day living history flight experience on June 12. You can sign up, grab your gear and done your WWII helmet and uniform and fly in the troop transport plane, reenacting the experience of paratroopers on that historic and fateful day.

The flights on Saturday, June 12, will also celebrate the start of summer and a return to normalcy, after the COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines.

To accommodate public demand, AAM has scheduled three flights between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. To book a flight, call (516) 531-3950, visit the Museum’s gift shop or call (631) 454-2039, Thursday – Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (a great gift for Father’s Day!).

AAM’s Living History Flight Experience is a one-of-a-kind immersive educational program, where re-enactors take you up in an original WWII C-47 to get a sense of what our 101st and 82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers felt on their incredible 1,200-plane D-Day assault.

Support local journalism by subscribing to your Blank Slate Media community newspaper for just $35 a year.

This unique immersive flight experience includes: a mission briefing; a chance to wear authentic military field jackets, helmets and gear; the actual sights and sounds as the C-47’s engines fire up and you’re off into the blue; see and hear the crew operate their C-47 and paratroopers getting ready for battle; and you actually form up and hook your parachute to a static line!

This is a family-friendly experience for all ages. The program is about 1.5 hours long and each flight takes 25 minutes. A flight experience entitles you to bring along an additional person who can visit the Museum all day free of charge.

The cost of the C-47 flight is $350 – which goes toward supporting AAM’s mission to honor veterans and U.S. aviation history by preserving the aircraft and their legacy for future generations.

The American Airpower Museum, Hangar 3, 1230 New Highway, Farmingdale, 631-293-6398, info@americanairpowermuseum.org, www.americanairpowermuseum.com.

Share this Article