The Silent Wings Museum holds an event each year commemorating D-Day, and this year the museum is focusing on World War II air crafts and their role in preserving D-Day History.

Monday will mark the 72nd anniversary of D-Day, the day in which around 156 thousand American, British, and Canadian soldiers helped storm the coast in France’s Normandy region. It’s estimated that some 4,000 Allied soldiers died that day.  

The Silent Wings Museum hosted a C-47 aircraft from Greatest Generation Aircraft in Fort Worth, offering a ride around Lubbock in the vintage plane.  Randolph Woodward with Greatest Generation Aircraft explained that C-47 aircrafts were used to drop off paratroopers on D-Day, as well as to tow glider planes which are also  featured at the Silent Wings Museum.

The Museum also hosted a D-day documentary, World War II reenactment stations, and displays of military vehicles, but the C-47 seemed to have a special hold on the visitors.

“One of man’s oldest dreams is to fly and it wasn’t until the late 19th century that he even began to realize those dreams– if you don’t count hot air balloons,” said  Dennis E. Satterwhite, a volunteer docent at the museum and an Air Force veteran.

Satterwhite said that his favorite part of the D-Day commemmoration is watching how veterans respond to the vintage aircrafts. As a docent, he feels that it’s important to preserve the story of what happened on D-Day and during World Ward II.

“One side was determined to take over the world and one side was determined to preserve their world, and what it did  was cost thousands of young men their lives,” Satterwhite said.

The C-47 aircraft got plenty of attention for it’s distinctive noise, noticeably louder than most anything nearby.  Those who rode on the aircraft said that while it wasn’t as comfortable as a modern passenger plane, it was still very worth the ride.

Kay Stevens who drove with her husband from near Pampa, TX to participate in the World War II reenactment said of her ride on the C-47: “Oh it was neat, it was kind of bumpy at first though.”

Randolph Woodward explained that the C-47 which visited Lubbock was built in 1942 and was ordered by American Airlines before it was “pressed into service” during World War II. It’s not clear what the aircraft’s history was during the war, however.

Woodward believes that the old planes have a way of connecting both with the younger generation and with veterans in the ways that words can’t. While waiting for the C-47 to land, he teared up a little, thinking about how that aircraft inspired profound family moments for other veterans.

“It’s to honor these men and women that fought, during World War II,” he said.

The D-Day commemoration at Silent Wings will continue through Monday June 6.