#c-47s

"After hearing this, Eisenhower still believed that plans for the invasion needed to proceed. Later, as the invasion began and Eisenhower watched the planes taking off for the French coast, he prayed, “May the Lord have mercy on their souls.” He believed the troop carriers, flying 600 feet above the ground and at only 110 miles an hour, would lose 70 to 85 percent of their C-47s and crews."

Photo taken by a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer on 26 December 1944 in Bastogne, Belgium as troops of the 101st Airborne Division watch C-47s drop supplies to them.