DC3 AIRWAYS RECREATES WORLD WAR II AIR ASSAULT
OPERATION VARSITY
Varsity I Sat 25th March 19:00Z
Varsity II Sun 26th March 13:00Z
Varsity III Tues 28th March 18:00Z
DC3 AIRWAYS, the only virtual flight simulation airline dedicated to the DC3 and C47 aircraft is repeating its popular recreation of World War II’s last major airborne assault on Nazi Germany.
This was Operation Varsity, which was staged on March 24, 1945, just weeks before the final surrender of Germany and the end of the war in Europe.
To commemorate this historic event, DCA is inviting all interested simulator pilots to participate.
As he has for previous World War II commemorative flights, DCA VP for Flight Operations Glen Broome has designed every aspect of DCA Varsity, bringing his extensive knowledge of the war into this work, using a variety of tools available to flight sim enthusiasts to bring the project to life again.
As Broome first wrote to fellow pilots while planning the project,
“There are many airfields, in UK and France, from which either paratroop transports or gliders were flown. At some American bases in France the double tow was used for the first time which involved a C47 towing 2 Waco CG-4a gliders. The British used worn out 4 engine bombers to tow many of their gliders, the Horsa, using Halifax and Sterling bombers. Due to the shortage of British Dakota aircraft, the British paratroopers, as in Market Garden, were transported in American C-47's. This operation was the first use of the C-46 in front line operations [i.e. under fire] in Europe, and although it could carry far more paratroopers and could have them exit on both sides [facilitating concentrated dropping ability], it's lack of self sealing tanks caused heavy losses of these aircraft, flying as they did at low level in daylight.
B24's came in 15 minutes after the gliders to drop supplies, flying low as 200 feet. 15 of these were shot down and scores of others badly shot up.”
The recreation of Operation Varsity is open to all simulation pilots, regardless of platform, from FS9 up to the more contemporary ones such as P3D, XPlane and MSFS.
For specific information about how to sign up and manage the various details of this project, Broome will offer personal assistance. He can be reached at glenishome@btopenworld.com.
More information and an overview of the project can be found at the DCA website
https://dc3airways.net/special_events/varsity/index.php
Pilots who participate will be linked by voice using Teamspeak3 software, and visually by way of Swift, a server specifically designed for Virtual Flight. Details about how to download and install this and related files (including IP addresses and passwords) will be freely available to all participants.
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