Icehopp LLC and Kesa’co Parachutisme brought together an international group of skydivers for a commemorative tour across Normandy, blending historic jump locations, remembrance ceremonies and unforgettable flights aboard the legendary DC-3 Gruesome
For the third consecutive year, the French-American collaboration between Icehopp LLC and Kesa’co Parachutisme has offered a skydiving demo tour of Normandy for the commemoration of the 82nd anniversary of the Normandy landings. This year, Primetime Skydiving notably brought over a small battalion of skydiving stars from the Perris and Lake Elsinore areas in California, passionate about D-Day and eager to devour our program!
A Journey Through History
It all began on Monday aboard the Guerveur, a small 1960s liner moored on the Caen peninsula, the perfect setting to review a bit of World War II and French aviation history. This “Magisches Theater” then turned into our battle headquarters to handle administrative and safety formalities.
The very next day, we made our first jump over Omaha Beach and (surely) set a VR7 star record at this location. We landed in front of the Charles N. Shay memorial stone, where this famous Army medic, a Penobscot Native American chief, had landed with the Big Red One in the first hours of D-Day on June 6, 1944. We then paid our respects at the American Cemetery, which we had flown over under canopy.
The following day, we landed on the communal stadium of Bretteville-sur-Odon during a ceremony organized by the veterans’ association marking the liberation of the town, and of the airfield that serves as our DZ, by Canadian forces.
Following the Canadian Story
This year, Canada served as the guiding thread of our adventure, with the prospect of a jump from Gruesome, the DC-3 restored by the Brittany Aeronautical Museum, onto Juno Beach alongside 60 other French skydivers who answered our call.
It is this Canadian axis of liberation that brought us to the private Château de Fontaine-Henry, where Pierre-Apollinaire d’Oilliamson—the 27th heir since the year 1000, welcomed us as his most distinguished guests and swept us, dreamlike, through the corridors of history. A Loire-style château in Normandy.
The weather conditions turned the planned jump into a picnic prepared by L’Assiette au Beurre at the old church of Thaon, which dates from the 11th century.
From Mont-Saint-Michel to Graignes
Thursday, we landed on the salt marshes (herbus) of Mont-Saint-Michel. Lunch at La Mère Poulard preceded a religious blessing ceremony to place us under the protection of Saint Michael, the patron saint of skydivers since the Indochina War.
With bad weather forecast for the weekend, we decided to move up the Juno Beach jump and relocate it to the site of Graignes, where the American 82nd Airborne Division had been dropped by mistake 18 miles off their intended DZ, the worst mis-drop of any U.S. airborne unit on D-Day which led to gruesome combat and massacres. This strategic change is a nod to the art of adaptation that characterized the Allies.
Flying with Gruesome
Friday, our then-new Starhopp 2026 D-Day began with a breakfast jump over the Caen horse track, which is pretty much downtown in a medium-sized city, followed by brunch at the hip hotspot Keys&Co. We avoided walking under a mover’s ladder between the landing and the restaurant, per the (not-at-all superstitious) recommendation of Dillon Smith, BASE33.
It was Friday afternoon that the magic of the week reached its peak. We set aside the PAC 750 used until then to switch to the 1944-built DC-3 Dakota Skytrooper Gruesome, which flew missions during World War II. It is so beautifully restored that it looks as though it stepped out of a time warp. Its pilot, Hughes Duval, and his crew perfectly completed the historic character of the undertaking, a scene worthy of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
A Tribute in the Sky
Two loads of round-canopy jumpers in period dress opened the dance, followed by two more loads with the Starhopp groups and all the French jumpers who managed to answer the last-minute change of mission objective and date, a.k.a. those who still had sick days.
What unfolded in that sky transcended athletic performance: a civilian armada drawing skydivers from every walk of life, producing a jump of rare quality, followed by camaraderie on the ground fueled by love of the sport and a duty to remember.
I’d like to think it paid proper tribute to everyone who fought in Normandy 82 years ago.
Learn more about upcoming events at starhopp.com.
