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On 5 June 1944 a 22-year old 2nd Lt named Richard Phillip
Sarrett sat at the controls of a C-47 at Folkingham Airfield in England.
The aircraft had a tail number of 42-32827 and near its rear door was
the number "27" scrawled in
chalk. On it's nose was the name "Ada
Red".
 That day the "Ada
Red" [seen at left in undated photo courtesy of Gerry Brown,
son of Willis Brown] was poised for a role in history as its designation of Chalk
27 meant it would carry 16 paratroopers of Company E, 508th PIR into
Normandy as part of Mission Boston, a component of Operation Neptune,
the assault portion of the Allied invasion of France, Operation
Overlord.
Researcher William Garvin,
an archivist at Drury University, Springfield, MO, recently wrote,
"Your site
 mentions
C-47 42-32827 (313th TCG, 47th TCS) several times.
In Neptune, she carried 16 troopers from the 508th
PIR. You may be interested to know that she is still with us, although
in a rather forlorn state. Today the plane is at the Rolla National
Airport in Vichy, Missouri. Also see the
attached article that I
wrote about the plane and the story behind it."
William's article is a
wonderful piece documenting the reunion of Ada Red with the Sarrett
family. The
 aircraft's
yoke and data plate were installed in a presentation case created by Joe
Hulgus. a friend of William Garvin, and given to Lt Sarrett's sister,
Margaret Ray who refers to her brother by his middle name of Phillip.
Ada Red, by the way,
apparently came from the
country and western song "Ida Red", and was a tongue-in-cheek mix
with Sarrett's hometown of Ada, Oklahoma.
As an historic side note,
a pilot named Chester Baucke flew Ada Red during Operation Husky. Baucke
was apparently the pilot for General Ridgway for Normandy. |
 2/Lt.
Richard P. Sarrett
pilot
[1921-1945]
(courtesy of Sarrett family and photographer,
N.B. Stall) |
