D-Day commemorations are to include walks telling how American Pathfinder troops flew from an airfield near Grantham to spearhead the Allied invasion of Europe.
The hosted walks at RAF North Witham, now Forestry England-owned Twyford Wood near Colsterworth, are part of South Kesteven District Council’s Soldiers from the Sky project - made possible by funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
The project illustrates the untold stories of Allied paratroopers from Britain, America and Poland who gathered in the district to train for D Day and Arnhem and flew from local airfields,
It was from RAF North Witham, on the eve of D-Day, that C-47 aircraft of America’s 9th Troop Carrier Command carried elite paratroopers from the US Army’s 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions behind enemy lines in advance of the main taskforce.
The walks follow the airfield’s still intact runways tracing how, at precisely 21:54 Double British Summer Time on 5 June 1944, the first of 20 Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft took off, skimming the channel at 50ft to fly under enemy radar on their way to Normandy.
Paratroopers had spent months training to position Eureka radio signalling beacons and visual markers behind enemy lines. Within the hour the Allied Airborne assault on Normandy was in full swing.
The walks last around two and a half hours, and start at 5.30pm from the main Twyford Wood car park, off the A151 Colsterworth to Bourne Road.
The walks are free to attend but tickets must be booked via Ticket Tailor:
- June 5th event: https://tinyurl.com/DDayJune5
- June 12th event: https://tinyurl.com/DDayJune12
- June 19th event: https://tinyurl.com/DDayJune19
