Logistics Company Bringing Iconic Warbird Back to Life

UK – Walker Logistics is undertaking a unique project to commemorate the role of the Berkshire village of where the freight forwarder is now based, during World War 2. Membury Airfield, where Walker Logistics' 200,000 sq ft multi-user warehouse is sited, had been the base for the United States Army Airforce (USAAF) 436th Troop Carrier Group and the departure point for hundreds of American paratroopers heading for Normandy to take part in the D-Day landings and on the ill-fated 'bridge-to-far' attack on Arnhem in the Netherlands in 1945.

Now after over seventy years a C-47 is being readied for a return to Membury. The plane was about to be destroyed at an Arkansas scrap yard in 2012 but was been saved and is currently being restored in the Midlands with Walker Logistics paying for the reconstruction efforts. Charlie Walker, Walker Logistics’ Customer Relations Director, said:

“I want to bring it back to ‘base’ once again. This is an exciting project and we hope that the return of a fully operational C-47 will be seen as a fitting tribute to the men who took part in the allied invasion of occupied Europe in 1944.”

The plan is to have the aircraft fully restored and back at Membury for the 75th anniversary of D-Day in 2019, and Charlie, who holds a commercial airline pilot’s license, intends to fly the historic aircraft ‘home’ himself.

PICTURE – 436th Troop Carrier Group C-47’s at Membury.