DC-3 / C-47

[Tiki Tom]

Another workhorse bites the dust. That is quite a photo.

https://www.flightglobal.com/safety...hed-dc-3-thwarts-investigators/136031.article

I fear that one day, in my lifetime, all the working DC-3s will be gone. But then again, probably not. Out of curiosity I looked, and this article says there are over 300 still in service.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a27640/dc-3-badass-plane/

 

[Tiki Tom]

Dive a DC3 wreck in Turkey. How cool would that be? Wreck is located near a place called Kas, on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.

 

[Tiki Tom]

On Wednesday, a DC-3 skidded off the runway in San Jose del Guaviare, Colombia.

https://simpleflying.com/aliansa-dc-3-skids-off-of-runway-in-colombia/

Flying around South America in a DC-3? Now, that smacks of adventure travel. Surely a mandatory part of any expedition to find the lost treasure of Atahualpa.

https://www.lifeofadventure.com/inca-gold/

 

[Trenchfriend]

The sound!

 

[Trenchfriend]

 

[Tiki Tom]

Good update on the Basler Turbo company and the BT-67. God bless them!

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/the-future-is-bright-for-the-dc-3/

 

[Fading Fast]

Good update on the Basler Turbo company and the BT-67. God bless them!

https://www.flightradar24.com/blog/the-future-is-bright-for-the-dc-3/

Good article, thanks for posting it.

 

[Tiki Tom]

DC-3 Society formed. I’m surprised that such a thing did not already exist.

https://www.flyingmag.com/story/news/d-day-squadron-dc-3-society/

 

[Tiki Tom]

How cool is this? Still combat ready.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...e-world-where-ac-47-spooky-***ships-still-fly

 

[arkadijs]

I saw this plane 400 km northwest of Reykjavik.
Until 2007, it was located on the territory of the NATO base in Keflavik.
Then he was transported to the museum, where I examined him.
Then he was transported to the museum, where I examined him.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Thanks for showing!

 

[Tiki Tom]

Great photos. Very cool. Thanks!

 

[The Mad Hatter]

People here might enjoy reading China's Wings, the story of William Langhorne Bond, who headed China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC), which basically was Pan Am in Chiang Kai-shek's China. https://www.amazon.com/Chinas-Wings-Intrigue-Romance-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00540P9DY


It obviouisly featured many DC-3's, (as well as one contraption that had a DC-2 wing attached to one side.)

Here is the Amazon blurb:

From the acclaimed author of Enduring Patagonia comes a dazzling tale of aerial adventure set against the roiling backdrop of war in Asia. The incredible real-life saga of the flying band of brothers who opened the skies over China in the years leading up to World War II—and boldly safeguarded them during that conflict—China’s Wings is one of the most exhilarating untold chapters in the annals of flight.

At the center of the maelstrom is the book’s courtly, laconic protagonist, American aviation executive William Langhorne Bond. In search of adventure, he arrives in Nationalist China in 1931, charged with turning around the turbulent nation’s flagging airline business, the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). The mission will take him to the wild and lawless frontiers of commercial aviation: into cockpits with daredevil pilots flying—sometimes literally—on a wing and a prayer; into the dangerous maze of Chinese politics, where scheming warlords and volatile military officers jockey for advantage; and into the boardrooms, backrooms, and corridors of power inhabited by such outsized figures as Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; foreign minister T. V. Soong; Generals Arnold, Stilwell, and Marshall; and legendary Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe.

With the outbreak of full-scale war in 1941, Bond and CNAC are transformed from uneasy spectators to active participants in the struggle against Axis imperialism. Drawing on meticulous research, primary sources, and extensive personal interviews with participants, Gregory Crouch offers harrowing accounts of brutal bombing runs and heroic evacuations, as the fight to keep one airline flying becomes part of the larger struggle for China’s survival. He plunges us into a world of perilous night flights, emergency water landings, and the constant threat of predatory Japanese warplanes. When Japanese forces capture Burma and blockade China’s only overland supply route, Bond and his pilots must battle shortages of airplanes, personnel, and spare parts to airlift supplies over an untried five-hundred-mile-long aerial gauntlet high above the Himalayas—the infamous “Hump”—pioneering one of the most celebrated endeavors in aviation history.

A hero’s-eye view of history in the grand tradition of Lynne Olson’s Citizens of London, China’s Wings takes readers on a mesmerizing journey to a time and place that reshaped the modern world.​

 

[The one from the North]

"Home page - DC-yhdistys ry." https://www.dc-ry.fi/english/
Belize it or not, you can "own" a piece of a DC-3, and take a flight with the old gal!

 

[Tiki Tom]

Quote from article: “La Vanguardia Airport could unofficially be named Columbia’s DC-3 capital. In this hub, you can regularly see DC-3s operating scheduled flights.” The airport is 120 kilometers from Bogota. It would be fun to make a road-trip to Columbia to check it out. Fedora mandatory.

Heavy Rain Floods One Of The World's Last DC-3 Airports

The airport closure will impact the commercial services of several airlines.

simpleflying.com

 

[Tiki Tom]

DC-3s still in service, pushing 100 years on.

This is a great article about a small fleet of DC-3 aircraft operated by a small airline in Alaska. Basically, these planes are still a lifeline for small villages in the interior. Nice pictures too.

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbird-articles/douglas-dc-3-cargo-workhorses-desertair-alaska.html

 

[Tiki Tom]

Fantastic!

 

[GHT]

BBMF Dakota ZA947 was constructed as a C-47A by Douglas at Long Beach, California, USA, in 1942. It was delivered to the USAAF on 7th September 1942, 75 years ago this month. A little over a week later, on 16th September, it was transferred under the Lend-Lease agreement to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), re-designated as a Dakota III and allocated the RCAF serial number ‘661’. During the Second World War Dakota ‘661’ served entirely in Canada.

After the Second World War had ended Dakota ‘661’ was deployed to Europe with the RCAF and operated in support of the Canadian forces from 1965 until 1969 when the aircraft was declared surplus to requirements. For the next 23 years the Dakota was operated by the British Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE). Initially, it was given the RAF designation KG661, but in the late 1970s it was realized that the serial number KG661 had, in fact, previously been allocated to another Dakota which had been destroyed in an accident. The error was reported and in July 1979 the Dakota was allocated the ‘modern’ serial ZA947, which explains why this serial does not match the age or era of the aircraft.

There was a C47 on The Battle of Britain Memorial flight, all in RAF livery. Remembering that I checked out the RAF website and found both the photos above and the aircraft's history.