Placid Lassie is a real war hero and a veteran of D-day and operations Market Garden (Netherlands), Repulse (the relief of Bastogne) and Varsity. In 2010 was the the 75th anniversary of the first flight of the DC-3. Clive Edwards, a DC-3 restoration expert, and James Lyle were determined to find a “dead” DC-3, and return it to flight status. Their goal was to complete the restoration and fly it to Oshkosh AirVenture for the 75th anniversary celebration. After considering many candidates across the nation and the Caribbean, they decided to acquire Placid Lassie. On May 13, 2010 Wells Fargo Bank became the owner of Placid Lassie acting as the agent for Mr. Lyle. A Union Jack flag was painted on the fuselage and she was named Union Jack Dak. Seven weeks before AirVenture 2010 in Oshkosh, the restoration crew arrived in Covington and began their herculean task. The DC-3 was pulled out the weeds, wings removed, engines overhauled. Since the log books were missing all Service Bulletins and Airworthiness Directives had to be applied. They worked 17 hour days, 7 days a week. Their motto was “No sleep ’til Oshkosh.” After flying Placid Lassie for a few years and the 2014 Normandy mission, James Lyle decided that Placid Lassie needed to seen by the public more often, share her history and teach the children about World War II. He and Eric Zipkin formed a 501c3 foundation to operate Placid Lassie. They decided to name it after Ed Tunison who had recently passed. Mr. Lyle donated Placid Lassie to the new Tunison Foundation.
