TRIVIA---trivia for the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, the scene where the glider pilot, Lieutenant DeWindt (Leland Orser) tells Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) that the general in his glider was killed because armor plates were installed on the general's jeep was based on a true story.
101st Airborne Division Brigadier General Don Pratt was sitting in a jeep on the Waco glider during the D-Day invasion. Pratt's staff installed armor plates under the jeep to protect him from German antiaircraft fire, but did not tell the glider pilot. The armor plates exceeded the glider's load limit and changed its center of gravity. This led to the glider being difficult to control during landing and caused it to crash into a hedgerow. Pratt died instantly due to a broken neck. He was the highest-ranking Allied officer to be killed in action on D-Day.
In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, glider pilot Lieutenant DeWindt (Leland Orser) tells Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) about how the Army general in his glider was killed when the glider crashed.
Brigadier General Don Pratt (second from left) stands in front of the Waco glider, "The Fighting Falcon", that he was killed in on D-Day.
A photo shows the wreckage of "The Fighting Falcon" that crashed because Pratt's staff installed armor plating on his jeep to protect him, but resulted in him being the highest-rankling Allied officer killed in action on D-Day.
In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, the scene where the glider pilot, Lieutenant DeWindt (Leland Orser) tells Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) that the general in his glider was killed because armor plates were installed on the general's jeep was based on a true story.
101st Airborne Division Brigadier General Don Pratt was sitting in a jeep on the Waco glider during the D-Day invasion. Pratt's staff installed armor plates under the jeep to protect him from German antiaircraft fire, but did not tell the glider pilot. The armor plates exceeded the glider's load limit and changed its center of gravity. This led to the glider being difficult to control during landing and caused it to crash into a hedgerow. Pratt died instantly due to a broken neck. He was the highest-ranking Allied officer to be killed in action on D-Day.
In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, glider pilot Lieutenant DeWindt (Leland Orser) tells Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) about how the Army general in his glider was killed when the glider crashed.
Brigadier General Don Pratt (second from left) stands in front of the Waco glider, "The Fighting Falcon", that he was killed in on D-Day.
A photo shows the wreckage of "The Fighting Falcon" that crashed because Pratt's staff installed armor plating on his jeep to protect him, but resulted in him being the highest-rankling Allied officer killed in action on D-Day.