Avoid Daks Over Normandy - Sat 8th June

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Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 242

The weather in the latter part of Friday June 7th curtailed all flying. Even the final scenic flights were shelved. Granted, the weather is out of human control, however if you are planning on going to Caen-Carpiquet tomorrow, please, please read the comments on Facebook and Twitter before you make a decision. A vast number of people are requesting refunds.

The organisation is beyond awful and unfortunately Daks Over Normandy seems to have been a non-event. We went elsewhere today, having spent an hour or so at the 'show' and had a much better experience as a result.

Tomorrow may well be different, but I would strongly advise giving the event a miss, in case it is simply a repeat of today.

Rich.

Original post

Member for

14 years

Posts: 1,788

Really sad to hear this after the similar comments on the Duxford version. I'd hoped the opportunity would have been grasped after that lacklustre effort.

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

I can understand it, I went both days to see the drops, day one was with round chutes, though a lot were quoting some rot off TV that they are banned in the UK, fair enough wind was out of limits and talk was they would try up to 6pm but they scrubbed even that at about 3pm, sad thing was after the scrubbed drop the wind also dropped too just after the landed, but whether it got into limits is anyone's guess.

But Sunday was the worst, it was pitiful, what happened to the free fall jumps?, indeed it wasn't even mentioned on Saturday either even though it couldn't take part, then we had the attempt to put something up to fill the gap when a VVIP was running late, well in my words feck them, they don't hold the show when I am stuck in traffic so they should have been told be there or don't bother, it screwed up everything, the programme turned into a waiting game with nothing to see, they put the two P51 up as a fill in, but they were supposed to fly as escorts with the flypast so then didn't, robbing us of that spectacle, but even that was a dismal failure. mass take off was good but no mass flyby, just a stream of 7 Singleton, hardly inspiring though the noise was fantastic, Eastbourne got a better display than we did and it was FREE. and that bloody VVIP put the whole show back so we ended up departing into rush hour traffic... all through the show they made a point of this spit flew or should I say its data plate flew on D Day etc and invasion stripes added as a salute etc, then flew with an escort of that well known D Day air cover of Harvard's... the only redeeming airborne feature on Sunday was the American Hercs and Ospreys. They seem to have spent more time doing other shows etc putting up more planes than those at the main shows got to see.

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

being reported on Facebook that

Nik Coleman I know this organisation. I declined the opportunity to work with them. I dont wish to be drawn into any big discussion, if as reported Peter Braun has had a suspected heart attack then we all wish him well and hope he makes a speedy recovery. I am disappointed and upset though to see so many genuine C-47 loving decent folks trapped in this unfortunate situation, whoevers fault it may be. I'd suggest you investigate the event insurance which I assume such a big event must have had, that may offer some recourse, and of course payment by PayPal and credit Card are automatically protected I assume. The public details for the company can be found on the UK Companies House, I can tell you that as of March last year the company running this multi million Euro event (their words) had £279 in net assets.

I hope he is ok :apologetic:

Member for

10 years 8 months

Posts: 68

Are you sure you were actually there TonyT? According to you Sunday was the worst was it? Because I'm pretty sure that the US flypast etc. was actually on Wednesday which was when me and about 12 thousand others were there!

Member for

19 years

Posts: 2,656


when a VVIP was running late, well in my words feck them,

. and that bloody VVIP put the whole show back

I was down the M11 end and I was listening to the tower on the radio. Not once was a VVIP running late ever mentioned for the delay's but it was mentioned that the paratroopers making the drop were not ready so much so that Peter Braun was driven down to the crash gate by one of the fire crew and last seen running through the crowd in the direction of AirSpace where the paratroopers were. They came out not long after that.

Brian

Member for

15 years 3 months

Posts: 923

I went on Monday and was thankful to see 22 Dakota/C.47's, oh and the Li-2 on the field, plus a stream t/off, a grand sight... sorry to hear of the problems later in the week, but to get 15 across the pond was massive, pity all the European ones could not make it, but a big thank you to all involved in this event.

regards,
jack...

Member for

15 years 8 months

Posts: 19

being reported on Facebook that

I hope he is ok :apologetic:

Hmm now I hear that following his 'heart attack' he left hospital with a clean bill of health and indeed he was posting on his private Facebook account shortly after. This does look rather shambolic. After speaking with him and undertaking Due Diligence last year we declined the opportunity to work with DoN.

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

There's more than a few pointed comments & character assessments on the DoN FB page. Apparently 200 jumpers were left without their bags etc for 3 days & are going to be billing DoN for the clothes etc they had to buy.

Someone posting as DoN (Jo?) now telling people to open disputes with PatPal to get refunds..

Member for

17 years 5 months

Posts: 8,980

Brian the VIP was what they were tannoying and the delay was a significant departure from the website.

Don't mix up my gripe with those that made the magnificent efforts to fly in, it was the organisation that let it down, some folks that got there early were left waiting in the car park for an hour as they wouldn't let them in,

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Edited:

The DoN volunteer (Jo) who was helping people with complaints & info about refunds etc "has gone back to her regular job" & is no longer posting on their FB page or twitter "under the DoN user name".

Member for

15 years 2 months

Posts: 674

Was following this on FB and heard from somebody who went to Caen. They did a great job getting the Daks over but it seems event management was a shambles. Thankfully they had the IWM's infrastructure to rely on at Duxford, but it did seem pretty amateurish at times. Yes the weather caused problems but the Caen event in terms of no buses, hardly any food, access for veterans and flights was a disaster.

Member for

18 years 9 months

Posts: 242

The DoN volunteer (Jo) who was helping people with complaints & info about refunds etc appears to have been gagged by DoN & is no longer posting on their FB page or twitter.

Interestingly, I posted on the DON Fb page about half an hour ago asking if anyone had heard anything since Saturday. No reply as yet and the last email I received from Jo was also sent by her on Saturday.

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Was following this on FB and heard from somebody who went to Caen. They did a great job getting the Daks over but it seems event management was a shambles. Thankfully they had the IWM's infrastructure to rely on at Duxford, but it did seem pretty amateurish at times. Yes the weather caused problems but the Caen event in terms of no buses, hardly any food, access for veterans and flights was a disaster.

Also the photo flights in T6's paid for months in advance never happened & the photo opportunity for the punters at the airport never happened either... Dididn't help matters that they had the Daks facing away from the crowd line.

Member for

18 years 10 months

Posts: 4,796

Interestingly, I posted on the DON Fb page about half an hour ago asking if anyone had heard anything since Saturday. No reply as yet and the last email I received from Jo was also sent by her on Saturday.

Last post from Jo was 16 hours ago:

Daks over Normandy Please note that I am no longer the Social Media Manager for Daks over Normandy. I will continue to answer emails and forward them to the relevant people but it is not me on this page or Twitter. Thanks everyone for your kind words to me. Jo

Can't see that unless you have a Facebook account ZRX - anyone care to share the gist?

Nah, still being asked for a log in... never mind.

Feeling I got lucky with this. Our relatively minor experience of Daks Over Normandy was turning up at the Caen "official" parking on Friday, finding it to be a shambles and deciding not to bother. We drove down to La Ferte Alais early instead. I'm so relieved in retrospect that we didn't have pleasure flights booked.

Having said that, the efforts of D-Day Squadron have been fantastic and created lasting memories. For us, that was Sunday 2nd at Shuttleworth, 3rd at Duxford, 5th at Sannerville for the para drops and we were on Omaha beach on the 6th when the Daks joined the French/US flypast. The magnanimity (in public at least) towards the whole DoN fiasco from D-Day Squadron on facebook etc. has also been impressive.

I don't know if anyone from D-Day Squadron reads this forum, but if they do - Thank You.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,566

It is a shame that what has been possibly the last time for many veterans to mark a significant anniversary of D-Day has been marred by this controversy.

The efforts by owner/operators of the aircraft to get them over the 'pond' for the gathering shouldn't be overlooked and it all seems to have gone very sour over the last few days.

Thankfully there was a bit more dot joining going on 75 years ago....