Warbird Information Exchange

I just showed them my pass:



Just kidding of course.

Some airports are very anal with regards to security and even more so with photography . So with that in mind we stopped at the front desk in the airport cafe building and asked if it was OK. There wasn't a problem with it and so we went. That Cafe, for as small as it is, does some bang up business. I will eat there the next time I go. I think security is pretty decent as the Cafe seemed to be the Sheriff Dept.'s hang out. I was pleasantly surprised how nice everyone we talked to was. I've been to a few fields where some individuals took themselves way too seriously and were border line rude.

I will add that we were totally respectful of other people's property and aircraft. i.e. not climb into or on. The most we did was open the already ajar DC-3 cargo door and look inside and latch it shut when we were done. The A-26's Bombay is open to the elements.

Yes you should visit. I'd recommend it to anyone. A great oppurtunity to see a great aircraft rebuilt and return to the skys. "May" be one of the last B-17s to do so. As I'm not sure how many sub-assemblys are left to be combined into one flying example.


Shay
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Semper Fortis

Any Gooney bird experts in the house that either know or can find out the identity of this aircraft?



Thanks

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Parts is parts. Would really like to have that one sitting in Hondo,

After searching 3 different N-numbers I finally found her identity:

Douglas C-47B-DK, Ser No. 43-48459



Would be nice to learn her operational USAF history as it seems she may have serve with the USAF up into the early to Mid-70's. Interestingly enough 43-48459 is only 3 serial numbers away from 43-48462 which was used as 1st prototype for the AC-47 Gunship program.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

A snap from the B-17 rebuild's webcam today, showing the dorsal turret sort-of in position.



TTFN,
PB

Now that is just cool.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Director

Okay, I saw that someone asked on the 401bg forum about the artist's name that painted the painting on the wall, however, no one seems to know. Anyone here know who painted the mural? It seems like a pretty professional job, and large! Looks like they are doing one heck of a job with it. I will maybe have to make a stop there sometime as I do not live too far away from there.
John

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"You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi."

The painting says (I have bigger copies of the pictures) "Kevin Brain & Frank Brain 2007"

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Thanks, I will have to google those two later on today to see if they have done other work. I've been a lurker around here for years but have only recently began posting . It is a shame that this group does not have someone posting regular updates like Gary or the TR group.
John

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"You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi."

Thhe A-26 has the windows of an On Mark but it doesn't look like it got the full treatment. Still carries the 8 gun hardnose and it didn't get the ring spar to open up the bombbay. It still has the original spar carry through arrangement.

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

Frank Drain and his son painted it. Frank's dad was a B-17 crew member.

Dave Shiffer

Thanks for that, the picture got a little fuzzy when zoomed in.

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Shay,

The Gooney Bird registered as N105CA was built by Douglas Aircraft at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as C-47B-1-DK, USAAF serial number 43-48459, Constructor's Number 25720. It was initially assigned to the 1st Troop Carrier Command, 806th Base Unit at Baer Field, Ft. Wayne, Indiana on 22 August 1944 which is probably shortly after it was delivered to the USAAF.

43-48459 was assigned to the Air Transport Command (ATC), 1379th Base Unit at Dow Field, Maine on 14 September 1944. Six days later on the 20th, this aircraft was assigned to an unidentified unit of the 9th Air Force in Europe. '459 could not have been used on D-Day, most likely was not involved in Operation Market Garden which took place from September 17th through 25th, but could have been involved in Operation Varsity, the crossing of the Rhine River in March, 1945.

The aircraft returned to the U.S. in August 1945 when it was assigned to the ATC, 121st Base Unit at Bradley Field, Connecticut. 43-48459 was converted to C-47D configuration in March, 1946.

Over the next 25 years, '459 was assigned to many different units at numerous locations including the following: Greenville, MS; Davis- Monthan, AZ; Brookley, AL; Olmsted, PA; Godman, KY; Reading, PA; Andrews, MD; Dow, ME; Mitchel, NY; Pepperell, Newfoundland, Canada; Thule, Greenland, Canada; Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada; Sondrestrom, Greenland, Canada; Harmon, Newfoundland, Canada; Tyndall, FL; MacDill, FL and Plattsburgh, NY. Whew! This aircraft really got around! Its last USAF posting was with the 379th Bomb Wing at Wurtsmith AFB, Oscoda, MI beginning on 03 April, 1968.

On 30 June, 1971, ownership of C-47D 43-48459 was transferred to the Saginaw, Michigan Military Museum located at the Tri-City Airport in nearby Freeland. This museum closed and the aircraft was sold by December, 1974.

It is reported that '459 had P&W R-2000 engines installed in place of the usual R-1830s. While this is possible, it seems unlikely.

On 27 March, 1975, this aircraft was registered as N47071 to Texas Turpo Jet Inc. of Dallas, TX. On 12 January, 1976, it was reregistered as N85FA to Falcon Airways. The aircraft was withdrawn from use and stored at Houston, TX between October, 1979 and February, 1980.

N85FA was registered to M.C. Baldwin of Dallas, TX in December, 1981. It was reregistered as N105CA during November, 1982. This aircraft was purchased by Gregory Air Freight Inc. of Denver, CO on 22 April 1986. It went to Frontier American Federal Credit of Denver on 12 May 1987 (possibly a repossession). N105CA moved on to B J Skyfreight of McAllen, TX on 14 June 1988.

It is next reported that the aircraft was converted to DC-3-65TP turbo prop configuration but this conversion definitely did not take place.

N105CA was purchased by IFL Group Inc. of Pontiac, MI on 14 November 1989. IFL operated as Corporate Express. The plane was registered to Alta Leasing Inc. of Salt Lake City, UT on 02 April 1998. In November, 2000, N105CA was leased to Desert Air of Anchorage, AK. During the summer of 2003 the aircraft was stored near Chicago, IL. In late September of 2007, N105CA was seen in long term, outdoor storage near the Air Tahoma facility at Rickenbacker International Airport, Columbus, OH.

As of 14 December, 2008, this aircraft is still registered with the FAA to Alta Leasing Inc. of Salt Lake City!

Although this aircraft was built as a military C-47, it was converted to, and licensed with the FAA as a Standard Category DC3C-S4C4G.

Most of the above information is from Jennifer Gradidge's book: "The Douglas DC-1/DC-2/DC-3 - The First Seventy Years" published by Air-Britain in 2006.

Todd

The information on 43-48459 that Todd posted begs a question--how did Tulsa get swapped for Oklahoma City in many references to C-47 production? There are at least a couple of research sources that mention the Douglas-Tulsa plant producing the C-47, but I don't think that was ever the case. OKC cranked out over 5000 of them, and I suspect it was just an oversight on someone's case way back when that confused the two Douglas-run plants. The old girl has led an interesting life!

Scott

Thanks Todd / Jennifer. That great info. It will be good to see her get back into some military livery.

Shay
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Semper Fortis