HAPPY 75TH BIRTHDAY TO THE DC-3

[spookyboss]

Have you hugged your DC-3 today?

[Pat Carry]

What a great airplane!

[Bill Greenwood]

A DC-3/C-47 is like a Golden Retriever dog, looks just right, and is always ready for whatever trip you've got. And it doesn't damage your hearing like some sreeching jet or turbine thing.

Seeing all those fly together at Oshkosh this year was one of the top highlights I have ever seen at an airshow.

May they fly as long as there is air.

I wish I had my rating in one.

[Bearcat SA]

As part of the 75th Anniversary of the Dak, five of them gathered at Rand Airport (FAGM), Germiston, South Africa today, 17 Dec 2010
The Dak / C-47 is still in front-line service with the SAAF albeit in Turbo Dak form.
The Daks in the pic, from closest to furthest are :

SAAF 6840 a Turbine Dak operated by 35 Sqd SAAF
SAAF 6852 a maritime Turbine Dak with 35 Sqd SAAF
SAAF 6859 a standard piston Dak operated by the SAAF Museum flight
ZS-DIW a standard piston Dak operated by Phoebus Apollo Airways on charters.

Also present, but not in this pic was ZS-NTE, an ex SAAF Dak now operated on charters by Sprinkbok Classic Air on charters.
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[Robbie Stuart]

To A Very Good Ole Airplane!

USAAF C-47A Skytrains (based on the Douglas DC-3) from the 12th Troop Carrier Wing, loaded with paratroopers on their way for the invasion of southern France (Operation Dragoon). The aircraft in the back is a Douglas C-47A-65-DL (s/n 42-100550), the other is a C-47A-90-DL (s/n 43-15661). Date 15 August 1944


C-47 of the 310st Troop Carrier Squadron Serial 42-9308 at RAF Merryfield, England, 1944.


C-47s with CG-4 Waco Gliders just before D-Day, 1944, 316th Troop Carrier Group, 37th TCS


Four C-47 Cargo planes escorted by P-40 fighters carry supplies to a forward airfield in New Guinea.


U.S. Air Force personnel assigned to the 119th Fighter Wing "The Happy Hooligans", North Dakota Air National Guard, pose for a photo with North Dakota Governor William L. Guy after a particularly harrowing flight in which an in-flight mechanical problem nearly resulted in catastrophe as pilots and crew prevented the Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft from having to make a crash landing in 1968.


A U.S. Marine Corps Douglas C-117D Skytrain (BuNo 50843) stands on the flight line at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina (USA) after being flown to the base piloted by Maj. Gerald Banner, executive officer of Marine Corps Air Facility Quantico, Virginia (USA), on 27 February 1992. The aircraft was being retired from service and was being flown to Cherry Point, where it was put on permanent display. The aircraft had been operated by Marine headquarters and maintenance squadron H&MS-11.


A U.S. Marine Corps Douglas C-117D Skytrain (BuNo 50835) makes its final departure from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Japan, on 3 October 1981 prior to being retired from active service.


A U.S. Air Force Douglas AC-47D Spooky gunship (s/n 44-76593) of the 4th Special Operations Squadron, 14th Special Operations Wing, flying out of Nha Trang Air Base, South Vietnam, in 1968-69. This aircraft, 44-76593 (c/n 16177/32925), was originally delivered as a TC-47B-30-DK.



GE 7.62mm MXU-470A Miniguns in Douglas AC-47D


A fully-loaded South Vietnamese Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft is poised on the flight line prior to takeoff on a night flare drop mission at Tan Son Nhut air base in January 1967. Members of the 314th Special Mission Squadron, 33rd Tactical Wing, Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) were accompanied on their flights by U.S. Air Force Advisory Team-1 (AFAT) personnel to provide flarelight for ground security forces and air-to-ground tactical air support operations.


A U.S. Air Force Douglas AC-47D (S/N 45-0927) in September 1968 after the 4th Air Commando Squadron became the 4th Special Operations Squadron of the 14th Special Operations Wing, probably at Nha Trang, South Vietnam.

This One Sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A derelict U.S. Air Force Douglas C-47A-70-DL Skytrain (s/n 42-100662), its tail gear and engines missing, sits on the desert floor at the Aerospace Maintenance andd Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona (USA) on 1 October 1988.

Long Live The Gooney Bird!!!

[Mark_Pilkington]

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Enthusiasts from the Australian National Aviation Museum, South Australian Aviation Museum, West Beach Aviation Group and the Aerophilitalic Society of Australia celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the first flight of the DC-3, and the 107 Anniversary of the Wrights flight with a one hour flight out of Melbourne's Essendon Airport and around Port Philip Bay including a circuit of Point Cook in C-47B VH-TMQ.

As per the ADF-Serials website this aircraft joined the RAAF in 1945, and didnt get converted for civilian use until the mid 1990's, it is a low time airframe with a young 13,000 hours.

http://adf-serials.com.au/

A65-91 VH-RFH, VM-HRP/JFB/JRH C-47B 32884 44-76552 Delivered to the RAAF 05/45.

*All photos from the ADF-Serials.com.au website.

Regards

Mark Pilkington

[Bearcat SA]

5 Daks ./.C-47's performing a fly past at Rand Airport near Johannesburg today

[b29flteng]

Makes you want to watch "Island in the Sky" again.

[gliderman1]

"C-47s with CG-4 Waco Gliders just before D-Day, 1944, 316th Troop Carrier Group, 37th TCS"

FWIW, as a matter of historical accuracy, the above labeled CG-4A/C-47 image is D-Day September 17, 1944.