RAF Upottery (Smeatharpe): a tour of a WW2 airfield - Sentry Box Memorial (15)
Introduction
The photograph on this page of RAF Upottery (Smeatharpe): a tour of a WW2 airfield - Sentry Box Memorial (15) by Mike Searle as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
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RAF Upottery (Smeatharpe): a tour of a WW2 airfield - Sentry Box Memorial (15)
Image: © Mike Searle Taken: 7 May 2019
The inscription inside the box refers to the 5th June 1944 when 81 C-47 unarmed transport aircraft left the airfield at RAF Upottery bound for France. They were carrying 1,357 paratroops who were dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day. Then at dawn on the morning of 7th June 1944, 50 C-47 aircraft towing 30 Horsa and 20 Waco gliders departed for France carrying 968 Glider Infantry troops in the second airborne wave of the D-Day Invasion. It honours these men of the 439th Troop Carrier Group USAAF, the men of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division US Army, and the men of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division US Army. Lest We Forget. For the full histories of RAF Upottery, Dunkeswell and Culmhead see https://www.southwestairfields.co.uk/ START of Tour: Image
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Image Location
Latitude
50.882616
Longitude
-3.135026