HISTORY OF THE PATHFINDERS

The IX Troop Carrier Command (TCC) Pathfinder School (incorporating the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Pathfinder Squadrons) was formed whilst the TCC was at RAF  in Rutland. Initially having only seven C-47 aircraft, it arrived at North Witham on March 22nd 1944. These aircraft were fitted with, at the time, modern Geeradar and navigation equipment, along with SCR-717 navigational radar housed in a dome beneath the fuselage of the aircraft. This combination of equipment would allow the aircraft to be used as ‘Pathfinders’, and would be used to train both crews and paratroops of the 101st and 82nd Airborne to mark targets prior to the main invasion force arriving. These crack troops would train at North Witham, the idea being that these troops would set up ‘homing’ stations using ‘Eureka’ beacons that would connect to ‘Rebecca’ receivers in the aircraft (distinguished from the outside by antenna protruding from the nose). This would allow flying to near pinpoint accuracy even in poor weather or at night; something that would be employed with relative success in the forthcoming Normandy landings.
 Around 200 Pathfinders of North Witham were the first to leave the UK and enter the Normandy arena. Departing late in the evening of June 5th, men of the 82nd and 101st Airborne climbed aboard their twenty C-47s and rose into the night sky. North Witham based C-47A ‘#42-93098’ piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joel Crouch, led the way with its pathfinders of the 502nd PIR and group leader Captain Lillyman of the 101st.

Captain Frank Lillyman, 101st Airborne Division, was the pathfinder leader for Normandy. He gathered and trained volunteers from both the 101st and 82d. These included troopers from the 504th PIR, 82d, which had fought at Anzio from January to March 1944. The 504th did not go to Normandy, but 50 of its Paratroopers volunteered for the perilous duty of pathfinding.  Imagine the deadly conditions these men faced. Without doubt, these are some of the bravest Soldiers of WW II.

Special groups of Paratroopers who marked drop and landing zones, were developed because of the problems of the airborne assault in Sicily in July 1943. Major General Matthew B. Ridgway, wanted drop zones marked with lights and radio-transmitter beacons. In late August 1943, pathfinders conducted tests, jumping in advance of the main assault force areas. Four devices were used: Krypton lights, a special radio-transmitter known as 5G, a portable radar beacon known as Eureka which transmitted range and bearing to the drop zone, and Rebecca, a receiver in the aircraft that picked up the Eureka signal. Of these devices, Eureka-Rebecca was used to guide the 82d Airborne Division to the Salerno drop zone in mid-September 1943. It was successfully used in subsequent operations in Normandy, Southern France, Holland and Germany.    

 The pathfinders parachuted into Normandy a full hour ahead of the main airborne assault and six hours before the amphibious troops were to hit the beaches. Once on the ground, their mission was to seize the drop zones and use the devices mentioned above and signal lanterns to bring Allied aircraft onto the target areas. Pathfinders typically jumped in small sections or “sticks” of about 18 paratroopers: some would assemble the beacons and lights and others would provide security. Each pathfinder group was assigned its own landing zone to capture and mark. The American drop sites were located a few miles inland from Utah Beach in the west, while the British made their jumps east of Sword Beach. Directing airborne forces to the correct landing areas, of course, was not an exact science. The “fog of war” and the hazards of night operations made pathfinding difficult in the best of circumstances. In Normandy, hedgerows, darkness and alert German units prevented many pathfinders from accomplishing their missions. In Southern France, however, the drop zones were clearly marked and most Paratroopers landed right on target. Subsequent operations were carried out in daylight, enabling pathfinders to quickly mark landing areas for Paratroopers and gliders.