I remember that on the build-up to D-Day that, every night, huge formations, allegedly 60+, of C-47s flew over our village practicing for the the D-Day airborne landings

I trust this doesn’t seem too picky, but it is important to understand that large numbers of aircraft flying overhead does not necessarily mean they are in formation. The RAF, god bless them, would send a thousand bombers nightly on missions. They were not in formation, but in trail. The 60+ C47s over your village may have been timed out, but they were definitely not flying formation.

I do appreciate your kind words, JoGlo (great name), though we may be drifting a bit off course here. I believe the thread is night formation flying which I would put in the same category as Japanese skywriting.
I thoroughly agree winning the Air War required a team effort, but no team goes on to victory without making mistakes along the way. And teams have their most valuable players as well as some dodos who are just hanging on.
Now I’m not that stupid that I would venture into a catfight to choose the most valuable aircraft of all the great ships that flew in WW2. However I did say that the Mosquito was the aircraft that finally won the Air War for us.
Consider that this plywood wonder was a twin engine bomber that flew as fast as any fighter plane (non jet) and could carry to Berlin a bombload equal to that of a B17. As a matter of fact, during the last few months of the war they flew daily unescorted night and day missions to Berlin with 2 or 3 man crews, causing more devastation than the lumbering, 4 engine heavies (B17, B 24, Halifaxes, and Lancs),
Enough for now

If you will permit a Yank who flew 35 missions over Germany on a B17 in tight daylight formation to dip his oar in on this discussion, I will TESTIFY that it is impossible to maintain formation flying at night.It might be possible for 2 or 3 ships to hold formation for a brief period (3 or 4 minutes), but never in combat operations.
I remember clearly the many times at Bassingbourn when I’d look skyward at dusk to see a flight of Lancasters in trail flying eastward on a mission.

A Real Good War, the spellbinding novel of men in aerial combat will be compared to “Twelve O’Clock High”. “The War Lover” and “Memphis Belle.” It will not suffer from the comparison. San Antonio Express
http://www.b17sam.com