1944 – European Theater: U.S. Signal Corps employ the Eureka/Rebecca transponder system during the American airborne landings in Normandy, France.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower inspects paratroopers before their departure to France to start Operation Overlord. . The US airborne landings in Normandy were the first US combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on 6 June 1944 during World War II. Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day. As the opening maneuver of Operat