Media
In addition to the videos below, the Tunison Foundation is pleased to offer the media:
High-res photographs of our crew and Placid Lassie
Interviews with our crews, Executive Director and board members
Please contact our Executive Director for all your media needs.
2019
Tunison Leads D-day Squadron in Normandy
A promotional video published in advance of the Tunison Foundation leading the D-day Squadron (14 WWII C-47/DC-3 aircraft) across the north Atlantic in May, 2019, for the 75th Anniversary of D-day celebrated on June 6, 2019
D-Day Squadron 75th Anniversary
The Tunison Foundation's C-47 "Placid Lassie" will lead the flight of the D-Day Squadron aircraft from the United States to France. When in Europe, the squadron will combine forces with its European counterpart, the aircraft will than drop paratroopers over the original Normandy drop zones.
Crossing the Alps: Germany to Italy
The Tunison Foundation's C-47 Placid Lassie crossing the Alps in a flight from Memmingen, Germany, to Venice-Lido, Italy in June, 2019. Video by Jon Helminiak
Germany to Venice-Lido, Italy
A short, documentary video showing the flight of the Tunison Foundation's C-47, Placid Lassie, on a flight from Memmingen, Germany, to Venice-Lido, Italy, in June, 2019. The Tunison Foundation and Placid Lassie were the honored guests of Venice-Lido airport. Video by Roland Zeller
Overflying Greenland at 8,000' feet
After leaving Reykjavik, Iceland, the C-47 Placid Lassie bypasses and flies over Greenland en route to Goose Bay, Canada, in June, 2019. The total flight time was nearly 11 hours, made possible by fuel ferry tanks that carried an additional 500 gallons. Video by Jon Helminiak
T-6 Escort for Placid Lassie and Col. Gail Halvorsen
Escorted by WWII T-6 aircraft, Col. Gail Halvorsen, honorary crew member aboard the Tunison Foundation's C-47 Placid Lassie, is flown from Egelsbach Germany to the U.S. Army Air Base in Wiesbaden Germany. Halvorsen was greeted by 60,000 people at the air base as part of the commemorative events of the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. Video by Jon Helminiak
D-Day Squadron "Mission Accomplished"
The DDay Squadron Mission to Normandy France commemorates the 75th anniversary of the DDay invasion June 6 1944. This video is dedicated to the sponsors and individual donors who made this event possible. Video by Influential Drones
Placid Lassie Crew Interview - EAA Airventure Oshkosh
Interview with Garrett Fleishman, crew member and pilot on C-47 Placid Lassie, flown into EAA Airventure 2019. Lassie is a restored D-Day veteran. Video by Mitchell Gallery of Flight
The C-47 Placid Lassie in Germany with Col. Gail Halvorsen
Col. Gail Halvorsen, the Berlin "Candy Bomber" is honored at a special dinner in Postdam, Germany, sponsored by TOTAL Fuels. Halvorsen was an honorary crew member about the Tunision Foundation's C-47 Placid Lassie during the commememorative events of the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in June, 2019. Featured speakers are Tunison Foundation Executive Director Jon Helminiak, and C-47 pilots Col. John Grones and Capt. Richard Osborne.
2018
74th D-Day Anniversary
Fly along in D-Day survivor Placid Lassie. This Douglas C–47 Skytrain will be part of a group of the "Gooney Birds" that will fly to Normandy in 2019 to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day. Video by AOPA Live
2017
Thunder Over Michigan Airborne Drop
Three C-47s (N99FS, Placid Lassie and Betsy's Biscuit Bomber) drop the Airborne Demonstration Team over the DZ at Thunder Over Michigan 2017
Berlin Airlift Documentary
To be released in Spring 2020
The Tunison Foundation, in cooperation with Pax Media Corporation of Germany, is producing a documentary film about Col. Gail Halvorsen’s participation as an honorary crew member aboard Placid Lassie during the events surrounding the 70th Anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in June 2019.
Col. Halvorsen, age 99, was the hero of the Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) and is globally recognized for his humanitarian contributions by initiation candy drops to Berlin’s beleaguered children from arriving supply aircraft.
Col. Halvorsen is pictured aboard Placid Lassie during the commemorative candy drop above Wiesbaden, Germany. He holds a mini parachute attached to Jelly Belly candies, of which Jelly Belly donated thousands for the event.
For more information about the film, please click HERE.
D-Day Documentary
June 6, 2019 marked the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, which was celebrated and honored by roughly half a million people convening in Normandy from around the globe. In the US, a squadron of 15 WWII-era DC3/C47 planes, led by the Tunison Foundation’s Placid Lassie, crossed the north Atlantic to Normandy to honor the great WWII generation and those who sacrificed their lives to protect the freedom of people worldwide.
Produced by Sound Off Films, the documentary Into Flight Once More highlights the thrill of this commemorate journey. It feature some of the few remaining WWII veterans and the unique stories of the people and airplanes that traveled from the United States, across the Atlantic to Normandy to honor D-Day and the historic events surrounding it.
