PRESS RELEASE RECEIVED FROM IWM DUXFORD
IWM Duxford commemorates the 70th anniversary of D-Day with a range of events, family activities, exhibitions and digital resources which explore the preparations for the invasion of Normandy and the final decisive D-Day mission. Personal stories come to the fore as we look at the many individual contributions that combined to make the D-Day invasion a success. Complementing these personal experiences are hands-on family activities which bring the science and history of D-Day to life, alongside events which show the aircraft and vehicles in dynamic action.
EVENTS AT DUXFORD FOR D-DAY CELEBRATION
D-Day Landings Tour - Saturday 5 April, Wednesday 30 April, Saturday 3 May, Wednesday 21 May, Friday 6 June.
Our Land Warfare exhibition features one of the best collections ofmilitary vehicles in the country, including types that were used in the D-Day Landings. In the D-Day Landings Tour, our guide will discuss the strategic planning for D-Day, the work of the resistance, how deceit andmisinformation played a vital role in preparing for the D-Day Landings, the challenge of themission itself and the specialist armoured vehicles that were used. The tour will look at some of the vehicles in the collection and will explain how they would have been used in the D-Day Landings. We’ll also look at some of the unique archive filmthat is on show in the Land Warfare exhibition. The D-Day Landings Tour commences at 11amin the entrance of AirSpace. It runs for approximately 90 minutes. Groups will not exceed 25 people and there will be plenty of opportunity for questions, debate and personal interaction. The tour is suitable for all ages but is primarily aimed at adults. Placesmust be booked in advance and can be booked online at iwm.org.uk
Easter Holiday activities - Saturday 5 to Monday 21 April - The Science of D-Day - Sponsored by Lockheed Martin - 10.30amto 2.30pm - Conservation Hall, AirSpace
Our Easter holiday activities look at the ingenious inventions created by scientific boffins to ensure victory on D-Day. We’ll explain how tanks weremade to float, how they carried their own bridges and how they destroyedmines. There will be plenty of opportunities to try your hand at using these inventive pieces of equipment. Have a go at firing a petard and then take a look at the real petard that can be seen on the Churchill tank in our Land Warfare exhibition. Build your own Bailey bridge and see two real Bailey bridges that are still in use on a daily basis at IWM Duxford. Learn how to drive a tank, try on somemini-uniforms, make an Airfix model of an aircraft that would have been used in the preparation for the D-Day Landings and enter our creative competition to design your own specially-modified D-Day tank. Easter holiday activities are included in general admission to IWMDuxford. Visitors aged 15 or under enjoy free admission to the museumand to our Easter holiday activities.
The D-Day Anniversary Air Show - Saturday 24 and Sunday 25May
The D-Day Anniversary Air Show commemorates the 70th anniversary of this decisivemilitary campaign, demonstrating the vital role that aerial warfare played in the invasion of Normandy.The air show will feature fighter, bomber and transport aircraft types that would have been seen over the beaches of France, together with thrilling ground content. This special D-Day Anniversary Air Show is not to bemissed. Air Show tickets and hospitality passes are now on sale and can be purchased online at iwm.org.uk
The recommended last booking date for overseas postal delivery is Friday 9 May. The off-sale date (and last date for UK postal delivery) is Tuesday 13 May.
Spring Half Term - Monday 26May to Sunday 1 June 10.30amto 3.30pm
Activities take place across the museum. During Spring half term, follow our trail around themuseumand encounter some of the aircraft and vehicles that would have been used on D-Day. Follow the story of this huge and complex operation, and find out how Allied air, sea and land forces combined to liberate Europe. We’ll take you through the build-up to D-Day: fromthe Allies’massive aerial bombardments and clever tricks to fool the enemy, through the role of naval forces, to the arrival of thousands of troops in France by air and by sea. Find out the impact of tanks, trucks, vehicles and weapons on the fierce fighting that followed. You’ll find outmore about each historic object you encounter on the trail, including how it was used on D-Day and the experiences of themen relying on it for a successfulmission. At the end of our trail, in Land Warfare, you’llmeet our costumed character representing a D-Day soldier, who will tell you about his experiences and will show you the equipment that would have been used by
soldiers and airmen during the D-Day Landings. There will be hands-on craft activities and dynamic games to enjoy which will bring D-Day history to life for all the family.
Spring half termactivities are included in general admission to IWM Duxford. Visitors aged 15 or under enjoy free admission to themuseumand to Spring half termactivities.
Military Vehicle Show - Sunday 15 June
Enjoy a special day out for Father’s Day at the Military Vehicle Show. Exploremilitary vehicles large and small, frommotorcycles to jeeps, ambulances to huge trucks and tanks. Some of the vehicles on display will be of the type used during the D-Day Landings. See the vehicles up close and then watch them come to life as they parade around the airfield during the cavalcade. A wide range of living history groups will bring Second World War history to life, chatting to visitors and encouraging families to try on military equipment and clamber aboard military vehicles.
D-Day-The Last of the Liberators photographic exhibition
By Robin Savage - Produced by the Airborne Forces Museum(Airborne Assault) and Helion Books, April to December, Mezzanine Gallery, AirSpace
D-Day -The Last of the Liberators is a collection of photographic portraits of some of the last surviving British Normandy veterans. It records, in a unique way, the stories of these remarkable individuals and their emotional but dignified return to the locations, inmany cases the exact spot, which are tied to their most profound personalmemories of the campaign; places where they saw action or were wounded, where they experienced instances ofmiraculous chance or where they witnessed their friends being taken away from them through the horror of battle. The photographs in the exhibition are 15 of those froma new book of the same name. Taken during the 68th and 69th anniversaries by photographer Robin Savage, they are a record of some of the final visits these brave and dignifiedmen and women willmake to the places that imprinted themselves indelibly on their lives. D-Day -The Last of the Liberators is included in general admission to IWM Duxford. Visitors aged 15 and under enjoy free admission to themuseum.
William Bray. 7th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment - DROP ZONE N, RANVILLE
This photograph was taken on 6 June 2013 – exactly sixty-nine years to the day after William had parachuted into the fields behind him to play his part in the liberation of Nazi occupied Europe. Unlike many others that night, William had a good drop; he landed in the correct place, unhurt and with company. Other parachutists were far less fortunate. Many were scattered far and wide from their drop zones, several were injured upon landing and some even lost their lives as they drowned after landing in fields flooded by the Germans as part of their anti-invasion defences. William also had no trouble finding his rendezvous point. On his way there, he remembers looking up and seeing tracer bullets from German anti-aircraft fire criss-crossing the night sky as more aircraft made their way in to the drop zone. Upon arrival, he found about twenty other Paras from his battalion were already there. They could hear gunfire coming from the bridges over the Caen Canal and the River Orne as the Oxf and Bucks were making their daring assault, so they knew in which direction to head. William got to the bridges without incident and was immediately ordered over to the village of Bénouville on the west side to take part in their defence against the expected German counter-attack. As daylight came the onslaught began and William spent the entire day embroiled in very bitter fighting, often hand-to-hand. He was eventually pulled back to the eastern side of the bridges later that night for some rest. Four days later, the 7th Parachute Battalion had moved on to a new location near Ranville and William was ordered to dig-in. He had just finished digging his foxhole when mortar bombs began dropping on the position. Caught out in the open, he ran to his hole but someone had beaten him to it, denying him the cover he needed. A bomb burst nearby and William was wounded by pieces of shrapnel. However the wounds were minor enough to keep him in France and he continued to fight throughout the remainder of the Normandy campaign.
