Palm Springs Air Museum docent honored in Holland
A former radio operator on a C-47 during WWII and throughout the Normandy invasion is visiting Holland for ten days to take part in the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the Allied Air Force liberation of the Arnhem and Eindhorn areas.
Ed Tunison is currently the docent at the Palm Springs Air Museum. According to a release from the air museum, he left for Holland on Friday and will participate in Netherlands’ 70th Commemoration of September 1944 Air Drops Over Arnhem and Eindhorn.
Dutch Historian Hans Denbrok contacted Tunison after seeing his name in the archives for the C-47 Dakota airplane owned by James Lyle of Tradewinds Aviation. The airplane had been restored in Connecticut, and is registered in Sussex, England and Bermuda.
The airplane participated in the most recent festivities for the 70th anniversary of the landing at Normandy, and again flew over Normandy.
As part of this month’s festivities, Tunison will fly in his old airplane again. Lyle is paying to bring Tunison and his son to the Netherlands for ten days.
Tunison returns to California September 21 and said he’s very grateful to Tradewinds Aviation owner James Lyle and Vice President/Pilot Eric Zipkin for making this historic trip possible.
Tunison is the only surviving crew member of the 74th Squadron and he will meet relatives of his fellow crew members while in Holland.
The 74th Squadron flew in a C-47 named Placid Lassie. Tunison’s squadron was part of the first wave of air drops over the Rhine. The C-47 pulled Horssa gliders (with no engine) carrying men, food, supplies and vehicles. The gliders were dropped off as support for the parachute groups already on the ground. These squadrons and the C-47 helped the liberation of Holland from Nazi Germany.
