June 5

Airplanes have fascinated me since a very early age. Sadly, there is a tendency for the most interesting planes to be those designed for military use. The B-17 and the DC-3[i] are undeniably beautiful planes. Don’t even think about getting me started on the SR-71, commonly referred to as the Blackbird. I am also drawn to formations of planes making their way across the sky. It was, however, more than a little disturbing to see F-111s flying over Manhattan after the destruction of the World Trade Center Towers in 2001. One series of flights that I would have loved to seen, in spite of the rather precarious position it would have put me in occurred on the 5th in 1944 when more than 1000 British bombers dropped more than 5000 tons of bombs on German gun emplacements in Normandy.

[i] Originally designed for civilian use, it was adapted for military use because of its reliability