How many C-47 veterans of WWII still fly?

[K5DH]

Greatest Generation Aircraft's DC-3 "Southern Cross" is a WW2-veteran C-49J and flies regularly.

The GGA guys are also restoring another C-47 that flew in Market Garden.

Yep. They're restoring it for a private owner. Believed to also be a D-Day participant. Painted in D-Day markings, carrying fuselage code "9X", believed to be its correct number. Invasion stripes not applied yet, but the plan is to brush them on by hand with sloppy edges! This is going to be a very authentic restoration.

The GGA guys are also restoring a second C-47, N86553, USAAF s/n 41-18590, which served with the 5th AF in Australia and the 13th AF in the Pacific. It was crewed in combat by owner Seth Washburne's father (a USAAF navigator, KIA). This ship was last operated as a freighter by Borinquen Air out of San Juan, PR, from 1993 until 2009. I photographed it at SJU in front of their offices in the summer of 1996. Here is a link to a YouTube video of N86553 arriving at FTW after the flight from SJU (720P HD with nice stereo sound!):

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=thi ... FORM=VIRE3

And if you go to the Thirsty 13th web site. . .

http://thirsty13th.com/

. . .you'll find a photo of this C-47 from WW2, along with some history!

Neat stuff!

Last edited by K5DH on Fri Oct 21, 2011 3:06 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[tacoope]

There is also the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Dak.

http://www.warplane.com/pages/aircraft_dakota.html

Unfortunately they don't seem to have specific info on it on their site.

[patelie]

Yep. They're restoring it for a private owner. Believed to also be a D-Day participant. Painted in D-Day markings, carrying fuselage code "9X", believed to be its correct number.

Dean
do you have, per chance, the A/C serial number?? With this number we can check if she took part in d-day mission

[Pathfinder]

deleted

thanks for the correction in next post

Last edited by Pathfinder on Thu Oct 20, 2011 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[K5DH]

Patrick--
I'm going to guess that the plane is N139JR which was 43-16084
Dave

Close, but wrong. It's N141JR, c/n 19366, USAAF s/n 42-100903 (confirmed via Baugher).

[DC3R4DC47]

Yankee Air Force's N8704,"Yankee Doodle Dandy",still in its original post war USAF colors, built in '45 never left CONUS, nicest flying Douglas I have had the honor to pilot.

[Pathfinder]

The majority of tail numbers 42-10090x were in the 440th TCG. The parking diagram for the Normandy mission in on Pat's excellent D-Day site. "903" is shown as a "spare" parked in the group of planes closest to the tower.

[rcaf_100]

There is also the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Dak.

Unfortunately CWH's Dak never saw military service.
It was built in 1939 for Eastern Airlines as NC21729 and flew with them until 1952.

[patelie]

c/n 19366, USAAF s/n 42-100903 (confirmed via Baugher).

Hello
Like Dave said, she was from 440th TCG - 95th TCS

Operation NEPTUNE :
she was a spare and was not used for the paradrop mission Albany during operation Neptune.
she took part in mission Memphis on 7 june in serial #42. For the moment I found only that Pvt. Rooks, William A. was Radio operator on board this day.

Operation DRAGOON :
On 15 August she took part also in paratroop mission during operation Dragoon - mission Albatross serial #6, carrying elements of the 2nd Bn. 517th Parachute Infantry with Pfc Rooks, William A. as Radio Operator.
The same day she took part also in mission Dove serial #19 which was a glider tow with elements of the 602 F.A. Bn. and 2nd Pltn 442 AT Co. Pfc Rooks, William A. as Radio Operator.

Operation MARKET :
On 17th September she took part in serial A-23, carrying 12 men of Btry A, 376th F.A. Bn. to DZ "N"

On the 17th of December a double engine change was completed on the plane

Operation VARSITY :
On 24 March 1945 she took part in a glider tow to LZ "N" with other planes from the 95th TCS - serial A-16 - CN #2 to #23, carrying elements of 17th Rcn. Pltn, 9th TCC control team and 139th Engineer Bn.
Pilot : LINDEN, Jerome N.
co-pilot : BROWN, Ralph W.
navigator : GERMEROTH, Robert W.
radio-operator : DOURAS, James
crew-chief : JWASZEWSKI, Frank T.

During the month of March the right aileron was changed.

These are some little info on the plane I found. Hope this can help

[K5DH]

Patrick,

Thanks for the great information! Excellent!!

[tacoope]

There is also the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum's Dak.

Unfortunately CWH's Dak never saw military service.
It was built in 1939 for Eastern Airlines as NC21729 and flew with them until 1952.

That's the info I was hoping to find on the site. I was under the impression that it was ex military.

[CAPFlyer]

Patrick--
I'm going to guess that the plane is N139JR which was 43-16084
Dave

Close, but wrong. It's N141JR, c/n 19366, USAAF s/n 42-100903 (confirmed via Baugher).

Wow, I didn't realize that the "new" bird was one of J R's birds. Did you get it straight from Columbus, or was it one of the ones he had "stashed" elsewhere? I used to have fun competing with his bidders when I worked at AT.

[K5DH]

Patrick--
I'm going to guess that the plane is N139JR which was 43-16084
Dave

Close, but wrong. It's N141JR, c/n 19366, USAAF s/n 42-100903 (confirmed via Baugher).

Wow, I didn't realize that the "new" bird was one of J R's birds. Did you get it straight from Columbus, or was it one of the ones he had "stashed" elsewhere? I used to have fun competing with his bidders when I worked at AT.

I believe they got it from Air Tejas in Gainesville. I recall seeing an "Operated By Air Tejas" placard on it. It was bought to be the "parts" airplane to restore N86553 and was flown to FTW, but when it became known that this ship had a significant combat history, it was put on the front burner for restoration, and a third C-47 was purchased to be the donor for '553 (a real beater, definitely not a flyer!).

[obart1]

N15SJ based at the American Airpower Museum located on Republic Airport (FRG) in Farmingdale, NY flies regularly from mid-spring to mid-fall. The aircraft is the cornerstone of a D-day flight experience program that features living historians who accompany participants in a re-enactment of the airborne drops that began the liberation of Europe.

She's also a regular at airshows in the Middle Atlantic states flying into venues such as Historic Airplane Group in Geneseo, NY and the annual World War II Weekend in Reading, PA.

I've attached two different sizes of the same photo. Could someone please let me know how they look as this is my first time posting images.

http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x46 ... gar_sm.jpg

http://s1183.photobucket.com/albums/x46 ... hangar.jpg

[CAPFlyer]

I believe they got it from Air Tejas in Gainesville.

Ahh, good to know. Never got to do anything with the Air Tejas guys since we usually stayed east of the Mississippi.