On 5 June 2024, on the eve of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, three Royal Air Force (RAF) Airbus Atlas C1 (A400M) transport aircraft dropped paratroopers over Sannerville in Normandy, just east of Caen.
The parachute drop, which marked the first public display of the A400M’s paratrooper deployment capabilities from an RAF example of the type, saw paratroopers from the British Army’s 16 Air Assault Brigade Combat Team jump from aircraft’s the two side doors simultaneously.
The three RAF A400Ms, which flew from RAF Brize Norton, were followed by a US Air Force C-130 Hercules and a Belgian Air Force A400M, which both also dropped paratroopers from their respective armed forces.
The aircraft thus reproduced the feat carried out in the early hours of 6 June 1944 by hundreds of Douglas C-47 transport aircraft flying from England, who delivered three divisions of British and US paratroops and glider-borne troops behind the D-Day beaches.
The troops of the British 6th Airborne Division actually landed north of Sannerville to secure crossings over the Caen Canal and the rivers Dives and Orne. The operation of the British Army’s Glider Pilot Regiment, which delivered the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry to seize the Orne River and Caen Canal bridges, is widely regarded as one of the finest aerial feats of the Second World War.
Speaking on 5 June and quoted in an RAF press release, Air Vice-Marshal Mark Flewin, Air Officer Commanding the RAF’s No 1 Group, stated, “Today is a very special day. It’s poignant to remember the sacrifices our forebears made on what was an audacious multi-domain mission that unlocked a four-year grip on Western Europe.
“It also gives us a chance to show the A400, which is a phenomenal capability,” he added. “Today we saw simultaneous stick parachuting out of the aircraft, which allows us to deliver a lot of airborne troops in a very small drop zone.”
The A400M, which has been in RAF service since 2014, can carry a payload of up to 37 tonnes. For airdropping personnel the aircraft has been certified to airdrop up to 116 paratroopers (58 per door).
The RAF operates a fleet of 22 A400Ms.
