November 8th 1942

First combat mission of the US paratroopers: Operation Torch

On 8 November 1942, 556 paratroopers from the 2/509th PIR boarded 39 C-47 aircraft for the longest combat flight in the history of US airborne troops. They took off from England with the aim of seizing the airfields of Tafraoui and La Sénia, near Oran in Algeria.

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