"Four 'stick' commanders of 22nd Independent Parachute Company, 6th Airborne Division, synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle at about 11 pm on 5 June 1944, just prior to take off from RAF Harwell in Oxfordshire. They were among the first troops to land in France." The Final Embarkation: Four 'stick' commanders of 22nd Independent Parachute Company, British 6th Airborne Division, synchronising their watches in front of an Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle of No 38 Group, Royal Air Force, at about 11 pm on 5 June, just prior to take off from RAF Harwell, Oxfordshire. This pathfinder unit parachuted into Normandy in advance of the rest of the division in order to mark out the landing zones, and these officers, (left to right, - Lieutenants, Bobby de la Tour, Don Wells, John Vischer and Bob Midwood), were among the first Allied troops to land in France.