American Airborne Landings in Normandy - Combat Jumps - Scattered Drops

Scattered Drops

Despite precise execution over the channel, numerous factors encountered over the Cotentin Peninsula disrupted the accuracy of the drops, many encountered in rapid succession or simultaneously. These included:

• C-47 configuration, including severe overloading, use of drag-inducing parapacks, and shifting centers of gravity,
• a lack of navigators on 60 percent of aircraft, forcing navigation by pilots when formations broke up,
• radio silence that prevented warnings when adverse weather was encountered,
• a solid cloud bank at penetration altitude (1,500 feet (460 m)), obscuring the entire western half of the 22 miles (35 km) wide peninsula, thinning to broken clouds over the eastern half,
• an opaque ground fog over many drop zones,
• German antiaircraft fire ("flak"),
• limitations of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar system used to guide serials to their drop zones,
• emergency usage of Rebecca by numerous lost aircraft,
• unmarked or poorly marked drop zones,
• drop runs by some C-47s that were above or below the designated 700 feet (210 m) drop altitude, or in excess of the 110 miles per hour (180 km/h) drop speed, and
• second or third passes over an area searching for drop zones.

Of the 20 serials making up the two missions, nine plunged into the cloud bank and were badly dispersed. Of the six serials which achieved concentrated drops, none flew through the clouds. However the primary factor limiting success of the paratroop units, because it magnified all the errors resulting from the above factors, was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night, a concept that was not again used in three subsequent large-scale airborne operations. This was further illustrated when the same troop carrier groups flew a second lift later that day with precision and success under heavy fire.