LATEST NEWS
Historic WWII transport plane moved from Charlotte County Airport
(Last updated: December 22, 2007 6:32 PM)
By
DON MOORE
Senior Writer
It was an ignominious departure for a historic C-47 transport plane Wednesday afternoon at the Charlotte County Airport. The twin-engine airplane once played a key role in the June 6, 1944, D-Day Invasion when Allied forces hit the Normandy beaches of Nazi-occupied Europe in World War II.
The ancient transport, with its wings off, was towed backward by a red pickup as part of a small menagerie of vehicles accompanying it to its new home. Leading the group was an airport truck with flashing lights, followed by a Charlotte County Sheriff’s deputy in a cruiser, with its lights also flashing. Close behind came the pickup with the vintage plane in tow, and bringing up the rear were a couple of extra vehicles with staff and equipment.
For the next 2 1/2 hours, the procession slowly negotiated the plane around palm trees in the medians and signs along the edges of the road, over narrow bridges with only inches to spare, past gullies and finally through a stand of tall brush, reaching the Shell Creek Airport — located off Washington Loop Road, about 5 miles away — at sundown.
Along the way, children and their parents stood in front yards gaping at the beat-up old plane as it passed. In Cleveland, along U.S. 17 east of Punta Gorda, part of the C-47’s route to the grass strip, more folks watched as the old transport rolled along. Some snapped pictures and others waved.
Gary Quigg, owner of the plane, said he was forced to move it because the parking fee at the Charlotte County Airport doubled without prior notice. He didn’t want to relocate his transport, but he couldn’t afford to keep it where it was.
Quigg’s association with the C-47 began in 2003, shortly after Hurricane Charley devastated this part of Florida. That’s when he spotted the old airplane deteriorating in a field at the airport.
Being a professional aviation anthropologist and a member of the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, he learned this particular “Gooney Bird,” as they were called in the Second World War, was built in 1943 at Douglas Aircraft’s plant in Longbeach, Calif. In March 1944, the plane was flown across the Atlantic to England and used by the 316 Task Force Carrier Group that was part of the Eighth Air Force.
“At 2 a.m. on D-Day, my airplane dropped a plane-full of 82nd Airborne paratroopers behind enemy lines. It was the tail-end Charley in the formation during the D-Day mission that involved thousands of Allied airplanes,” Quigg explained. “I believe my transport also flew troops in ‘Operation Market Garden,’ the largest Allied paratrooper drop in World War II.”
After the war, in the 1950s, the C-47 was sold to Ozark Airlines. It was the fourth plane of this type acquired by Ozark. It was flown out of Chicago’s Midway Airport to destinations in the Midwest for years.
In the 1970s, Ozark sold the plane to Academy Airlines, based in Griffin, Ga. They used the twin-engine transport to train pilots.
The plane is decorated with wild animals painted on its aluminum skin because it was to play a part in a TV adventure series about a veterinarian who flew around Africa treating wild animals. The show never got off the ground.
After the TV show bombed, Academy Airlines leased the plane to another outfit that used it to fly freight around the state. It was during this period in the C-47’s life that it developed engine trouble and made an emergency landing at the local airport, where it was discovered by Quigg four years ago.
Since acquiring the plane, he has worked sporadically to rebuild it, when time permits and he can save up a few extra bucks. Accompanied by an aviation mechanic, the two of them make the trip to the local field several times a year to restore his historic transport.
“We just got the engines and props on during this trip,” Quigg said earlier this week. “Now we have to hook up the engine controls and check out the avionics. Eventually, we will get the wings back on and fly the plane to Georgia, where my mechanic lives, to finish up the project.”
When completed, the C-47 will looked like it did in 1945 when 82nd Airborne paratroopers bailed out of the transport to take part in the final stages of winning the war in Europe more than 60 years ago, Quigg said. Once this is accomplished, he hopes to fly it to air shows around the country.
“The 82nd Airborne jumped out of this plane to defend our country. The least we can do is get it back in operating condition as a tribute to all those men and women in the armed services,” Quigg said.
You can e-mail Don Moore at
moore@sun-herald.com.
Return to Top of story
© 2007 All rights reserved.
Your Local Internet Service Provider
A division of Sun Coast Media Group Inc.
Publishers of the Sun newspapers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We always need some good news for the holidays.
Can anyone shed some light on this project?
Robbie
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
