Dakotas are filling up at Duxford.

TORP-DUXFORD: Daks over Normandy is underway with the warm-up "Daks over Duxford". A little after 17:00 Norwegian time, Sunday June 2nd, LN-WND landed at Duxford with the Veterans Parachute Club on board. On the approach to the Mecca of veteran aircraft in Europe, the Norwegian Dakota was number nine after eight other DC-3s. Ahead were Americans who had had their first training session in the area. On Sunday evening, 21 machines of the same type were parked on the large grassy area that largely makes up the airport south of Cambridge. Yesterday, 31 aircraft were expected at the event. When this year's season for Dakota Norway started just before departure for Normandy, there was a hectic effort behind it, with engine and propeller changes. Our Swedish sister organization "Flygande Veteraner" has also struggled, and had to postpone the departure to England for two days. 18 American DC-3s were scheduled to arrive in the British Isles in the days before June 2, following the classic route across the North Atlantic used during the war. The American fleet, many of the planes painted in the classic olive green colors with black and white invasion stripes - applied to distinguish Allied from German aircraft in 1944 - departed from Maine via Goose Bay in Canada, Narsarsuaq in Greenland, via Reykjavik in Iceland to Prestwick in Scotland. The planes have flown in pools because some of the places they have landed for refueling have not had enough tank capacity to refuel more than a few planes at a time. Refueling has had to be completed before a new batch could be received. This major flight operation has been planned for two years under the term "D-Day Squadron" and is organized and led by the Americans Eric Zipkin, who also flew during the 70th anniversary of the invasion in 2014. Back then, eight DC-3s took off from England and operated with two others, a total of ten over Normandy. This time, there will be well over 30 machines, the largest gathering of DC-3s seen in Europe since the Second World War. The event has been described as a "once in a lifetime" event, and it is highly uncertain whether this will ever happen again. The mighty Imperial War Museums, which has its aviation department at Duxford, has long collaborated with Daks over Normandy to launch the massive commemoration at Duxford. At the opening of the event on Sunday, however, there seemed to be some organizational turbulence as the British Civil Aviation Authority has denied any form of parachuting at Duxford. The deployment of parachutists from 1200 feet with automatic release - and not least the contribution of the Norwegian freefall jumpers - have been essential elements of the entire "Daks" setup. On Sunday evening, it was highly uncertain whether this could be resolved while the event is in the UK.