More than one thousand planes begin taking off from bases all over
southern England carrying paratroopers from the US 101st and 82nd
Airborne Divisions and the British 6th Airborne Division. Seventeen
thousand men all told. The flight to France will take a little over an
hour. The planes carrying the 101st and the 82nd Airborne Divisions
will take a southwesterly route over the English Channel. From there,
the planes will take a sharp turn to the southeast, bringing them into
their drop zones on the Cotenin Peninsula behind Omaha and Utah
beaches, where the amphibious landings will take place in six hours.
The British 6th Airborne division will follow a different flight plan.
Taking a southeasterly route over the Channel from their base, they
will be dropped near Caen, far away from the American paratroopers.