That’s All, Brother: One Last Flight To Normandy

Remembering June 6, 1944 

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, over 13,000 paratroopers took to the skies aboard Douglas C-47 aircraft headed towards France. There were over 800 C-47s crossing the English channel that morning, and leading the charge was the plane That’s All, Brother. She was the first to cross over Normandy beach and was the first to drop soldiers from the 101st Airborne into occupied France during the D-Day invasion. The same day, That’s All, Brother flew a second mission with the 82nd Airborne and went on to fly in every major allied air operation conducted in Europe until the end of the war.

D-Day was the first step in liberating France, and all of western Europe, from the control of Nazi Germany, and is remembered as the most important turning point in the war. The world today would not be the same without the incredible acts of courage and heroism displayed by the Canadian, British and American soldiers that morning. It’s a day that will always be remembered. A lot has changed in the 75 years since That’s All, Brother lead the fleet of C-47s to Normandy, but thanks to the efforts of The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) and countless supporters, the plane itself is ready to make the flight one last time.

Experiencing a Real Piece of History

After the war, That’s All, Brother passed through several different owners in the private market and finally ended up in the boneyard at Basler Turbo Conversions. It waited to be torn apart and converted into a more modern aircraft with the other rundown C-47s in Basler’s boneyard until Randy Myers, the president of the company, got a call from the United States Air Force. They were looking for a certain serial number that matched the airplane that led the charge on D-Day in 1944, and after a quick search, Myers found it in his boneyard. “We (had) bought that airplane sight unseen,” said Myers. “We didn’t know it was That’s All, Brother. I don’t think anybody knew.” Soon after the discovery, the CAF ran a kickstarter campaign to save the aircraft and was able to raise enough for its complete restoration.

The whole process has taken years of work and over 20,000 hours of labor to finish, but That’s All, Brother is finally ready to lead the charge to Normandy one last time as the world celebrates the 75th anniversary of Operation Overlord. The executive director of The Commemorative Air Force, Adam Smith, spoke about the importance of this flight, saying, “Everybody knows that this is the last major anniversary where (WWII) veterans can even attend at all.”

Today, the plane looks exactly as it did on the evening of June 5, 1944 when it prepared to take off towards France. Not only will That’s All, Brother be a major part of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, but it will also help the story live on in the most real way possible. Smith spoke about how the CAF doesn't restore old planes just to put them into a dusty museum; they do it “to take them out and tour them around the country. So That’s All, Brother will be a touring educational program."

People are invited to step inside the airplane, see it fly and even take a ride to really experience a piece of world history. Even after the 75th anniversary is over, That's All, Brother will still have plenty of missions left to fly.

Creating the Perfect Challenge Coin For the Job

When the CAF contacted us about creating a set of beautiful challenge coins to help them reach their goals, we were honored to help. Just as the plane itself needed to be flawless, so did the design for the custom coins. We used the exact font and Pantone colors in the artwork of this design to make it as authentic a representation of the real thing as possible. Our artist even studied photographs of the plane to make sure the depiction of everything from the nose to the tip of the tail was perfect.

Supporters of the restoration efforts over the years have received custom coins like this, as well as members of the team working on the different parts of the project. The plane’s tail number is included on each coin because of its significance in identifying it, and the CAF even ordered some with “Normandy, 2019” engraved on the true edge of the coin in honor of the ship's flight to the 75th-anniversary celebration.

We are honored to work with all kinds of non-profits to create one-of-a-kind challenge coins to help raise money, spread the word on important causes and even experience a real piece of world history in the case of the CAF. The That’s All, Brother challenge coins will be close at hand during her last flight to Normandy.

Helping Stories Live on With Custom Coins

The curator of the CAF, Keegan Chetwynd, said that the nose art was intended for a specific audience. “Based on a May West song, That’s All, Brother was intended to live on in the newsreels and eventually, hopefully, make its way to Hitler.” That’s All, Brother survived all of the major Allied air operations in Europe during WWII, was traded to all kinds of different owners over the decades, and was only weeks away from being torn to pieces in the Basler fabrication plant before it was rescued.

Thanks to the CAF, the plane will indeed live on as a real piece of history to see and experience in its natural element among the clouds. The team responsible for flying her to Normandy commissioned a second set of coins for a tour across America planned for 2020, so keep your eyes on the sky and maybe you will catch a glimpse of the incredible plane when she returns home. We are honored to have been a small part in the ongoing story of That’s All, Brother and hope the custom coins we help create for the CAF give people all over the world a chance to take some of that history home with them.