For The Lovers of the DC-3

[Wyandot Jim]

A pretty good site if interested.
http://www.dc-3.co.za/dc-3-50th-anniversary-flypast.html

One that was hit by a SAM and made it home.

On 1 May 1986, a C 47 Dakota while on a flight to Ondangwa ( Northern South West Africa ) was flying at about 8000 ft, when it was hit with a soviet SA-7 missile (surface to air missile fired by SWAPO terrorists ).

The explosion ripped off most of the planes tail. To add additional pressure, the Dakota was full of military VIP passengers including the Chief of the SA Army.

The pilot, Captain Colin Green, slowed the Dak down to 100 knots in order to keep it under control and called for help. There was a chopper in the area which formatted along side of him and relayed the rear damage to him. The chopper also took these photos.

Captain Green, along with the loadmaster, apparently moved the passengers around within the aircraft in order to regulate the centre of gravity before going into land. Using flaps and power to control the pitch, he greased it onto the tarmac.

Captain Colin Green was later awarded The Chief of the SADF Commendation medal for his exceptional flying skills.

http://www.dc-3.co.za/dc-3-individual-aircraft-history/cn-32961.html

 

[contender]

A fine example of a workhorse of an aircraft!

 

[m657]

It was 1953. My aunt & uncle had somehow managed to come up with Official Tickets for the "50th anniversary of Flight" ride on the DC3, a still-young magic air-ship capable of taking us to distant places.....

OF course I wanted to go!!!! I was an enthusiastic 8 year old with a mad affection for all sorts of air planes...and NEVER had been near one, let alone ON one!!! I was ordered to scrub up thoroughly, and mom borrowed a suit that almost fit me. I had to get a hair cut & wear a TIE!!!!

It was a long climb up the stairs to get in the plane, and the aisle between the seats was far steeper than I guessed from the outside.

The nice ladies gave me chewing gum as assured my horrid ear ache would disappear if I did what they said. One of them leaned over and gave me a touching little peck on my cheek and adjusted my seat belt. Boy did she smell good!!!!

The flight was exciting and we flew around the valley for a long time it seemed to me. After the vibrating and thrashing of the take off, the loud roar of the propellers was rather pleasant. I wasn't too terrified when we made that sharp bank over the river downtown.

I was elated for days afterward, and even convinced Mom into letting me watch Authur Godfrey do his own version of "50th" on the little 9" TV she borrowed for the occasion.

Didn't get a date with the nice lady, but my aunt did ask where I got that lipstick on my cheek.

 

[Hugh]

Ah yes, the venerable C-47. Today I am 73 years old; in 1966, while assigned to VR-24 in NALCOEURREP Naples, Italy, I was a qualified flight loader for that aircraft among others. The C-47 is some years older than I am and still going strong. So am I; thanks for posting, Jim.

I don't have much flight time in the C-47 but do have a number of passenger hours in her younger sister the C-117 for which I was also a qualified flight loader, 1966-1968.

 

[Colonialgirl]

The "Fantasy of Flight" Between Orlando and Tampa on I-4 has a DC-3/C-47 on a mount alongside the Interstate. It's actually a flyable aircraft just used as part of their advertising, They USE to have it mounted NOSE down and a dummy in a parachute hanging from the tail, but the Highway patrol and other "OFFICIAL" agencies kept getting so many calls about the "CRASHED" aircraft from the Yankee tourists from up North that they set it upright. That's quite the Exhibition to visit, they HAVE limited their hours so I have no clue right now.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

In 1994 the Wifie and I took a flight of fantasy in a real DC-3 not a C-47/53. It flew from Kissimmee FL to Key West. The plane was set up as it was in the 40s and the crew was dressed in 40s uniforms. They also played 40s music and had copies of period magazines. The flight was great. I spent some time in the cockpit shooting the bull with the pilots. We cruised at 155-160MPH at an alt. of 6500. The plane was a great ride. It was set up for 21 passengers and had AC. Seats were wide and comfortable and it had a low noise level. Just a low rumble and you could feel the plane unlike todays jets. The return flight 4 days later was at night and it was also very nice.
It was the first time I had flown in a 3. When I was in the USAF in 1960 they were everywhere. The same when I was working at Houston Hobby Airport in 1962 63. The Airlines were still flying them along with DC-6s and 7s.
While on a trip to Singapore in 1985 in a 747 I stopped in Honolulu. We were waiting on another 747 to take off and behind it was a 3 in airline colors. My thought was WOW we have come a long way Baby. The good ole 3 was still making a living after 50 years. Not many 707s or 727s and such still flying passengers.
Sometime in the late 60s I read a story about the highest time flying 3. It had 83,000 hours on it which is 91/2 years in the air. :wink:

A C-53, here in Houston at Texas Flying Legends only 250 were built known as the Skytrooper

 

[cadillo]

That's a beautiful picture!

 

[Scout943]

Nice site thanks !

 

[contender]

Since y'all are sharing flights,,, I was able to fly in a "3" back in the early 80's. We'd booked a trip to the Bahamas & the owner of the business was also a well known pilot & all. He owned a "3" & used it for hops from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas. Loved that trip!

 

[sceva]

Wonderful plane the DC-3. It would take a licking and keep on ticking and was known by many names including the DC-3, C-47, Dakota to the British, R4D-1, 5, 6, or 7 to the Navy, Commercial DC-3's drafted into service were given C-48 or C-49, C-50 and one C-51 (Source "Mcdonnell Douglas A Tale of Two Giants" by Bill Yenne.

There is a classic story from the Berlin Airlift where a C-47 was supposed to fly a load of Aluminum planking into Berlin; it took off and flew poorly and sluggishly but landed hard but safely and then it was found that the load was steel instead of aluminum and was double the supposed max weight allowed. The plane checked out ok and went right back into service.

 

[Tweety Bird]

Every summer when we were kids, we would go visit Mom's family in northwestern Minnesota and dad's family who lived across the Red River if the North on the NoDak side. Sometimes we would go in the car. But sometimes it was more fun.

I remember a few times in the 1960s when we flew from Denver to Omaha and then get on a North Central Airlines DC-3. It was a 4-hour journey and Grand Forks was the 6th and final stop of that milk run. The 6 of us were often the last passengers aboard on that last leg from Fargo. What an adventure those rides were for a 10-year old!

 

[RugerHound]

Great aircraft and wonderful stories! Thanks! Sadly in spite of my USAF service, I never got to ride in a DC-3 or 'Gooney Bird'.

 

[mohavesam]

Just fly into San Juan. You'll see all the DC-3 aircraft you wish!

 

[toysoldier]

Douglas tried to keep things going with an improved version. While it was better, it wasn't enough of an improvement to justifiy the cost of a new aircraft vs. a surplus C-47.

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_douglas_R4D-8.html

 

[Rancher Will]

Another True C-47 story.

In early, I remember late February, 1954 I was stationed at Fairchild AFB, Spokane Washington. One of our B-29's, of the 92nd Heavy Bomb Wing, Landed at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska on 3 engines. We were ordered to fly a replacement engine to Alaska for the B-29.

On the flightline we worked to load the B-29 engine into a C-47 for the flight. Work as we could, we could not get it all the way into the C-47. Finally the Crew Chief decided that we would just remove the door from the side of the C-47, store the door inside the plane, and load the engine as far as we could. When we got the engine in the best we could and secured down, it protruded about 8 or 9 inches outside the C-47.

We flew the engine to Alaska with the engine protruding outside the plane all the way, landed at Elmendorf AFB, off loaded it and stayed overnight. I remember that it was so cold that the ground crew at Elmendorf drained th oil from the engines of the C-47 into large metal pans on the ground and hauled the pans of oil into a hanger to keep the oil warm over night.

The following morning when we went back to the flightline, the C-47 door was installed back on the plane, the warm oil was poured back into the engines, and we flew back to Fairchild.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

Great stories about a great plane. Keep them coming

 

[WAYNO]

There's a C-47 locally, and probably the most beautiful C-47 I could ever imagine. The unpainted aluminum is shined to a mirror finish. I saw it just yesterday sitting outside its hangar. Each time I see it I remind myself that I should bring a camera more often. :mrgreen: On nice summer days we see it flying around.

WAYNO.

A stock photo, but I think this is the airplane.

DC-3 photo taken at Aurora State Airport...

 

[SAJohn]

Wayno, That is one great looking DC-3. I see no evidence of oil dripping out of the engines, that is not a good sign.

 

[WendyZXZ]

Very nice site!

 

[WAYNO]

Wayno, That is one great looking DC-3. I see no evidence of oil dripping out of the engines, that is not a good sign.

Ya know, since this picture looked like a photo-op, they likely put absorbant pigs in the lower cowling. 8)

And a story about DC3's.
My Uncle, a pilot his whole life, told me the closest he ever came to crashing was in a DC3. He was carrying a sports team up in Washington and started icing up really bad. The heaters and boots weren't keeping up. He could not find a friendly altitude to de-ice, and he was losing altitude in a place that wasn't good. I no longer remember how he escaped his predicament, but he obviously survived to tell me the story.

WAYNO.

 

[exavid]

I got a few rides between Kotzebue, AK to Anchorage on the FAA's N47. Even got an hour or so of stick time enroute. I always enjoyed watching her arrive with our commissary provisions at the OTZ FSS, it always looked like she had cold feet, sticking one landing wheel out then deciding it was okay and pushing out the other one. We had two interesting aircraft that supplied us in the '60s, N47 and N123 each named for it's type. The Doug also flew flight checks on our VOR facility. The tech (me) stood out in the cold and tracked the airplane with a theodolite as it made an orbit at ten miles radius while the tech called out a "mark" on the radio every ten degrees. In the '70s they replaced the Doug with a Saberliner. Made the tech's job harder on the ground with the increase in speed, you really had to crank the azimuth fast to keep up. It was interesting to watch the Saberliner in the theodolite as the pilots slowed it down as much as they could so the tech could keep up in poor weather, they'd get a real impressive angle of attack on the thing. Miss two marks and you had to fly the whole orbit again. They didn't want to do that and have to refuel and the tech on the ground didn't want to freeze to death out on the tundra with an eyeball frosting over.

 

[Wyandot Jim]

The oldest flying DC-3 was owned by American Airlines. You can tell an AA 3 because the passenger door is on the RIGHT side.
In the early 70s they were scrapping out 6-7, DC-3s at a local airport. After talking to the scrappers about the plane I was building they allowed me to get some of the instruments. Happy to say that my Starduster has a turn & Bank and an Altimeter in the front seat from one of them. I also got the Data Plate from it

The plane has logged nearly 50,000 hours in the air, and though this may sound like a lot it is really a young to middle-aged DC-3 based on the life span of all planes in the fleet. Many have been retired or are still flying with well over 100,000 hours. But even as a middle-aged plane, The Detroit has had a full life. In its youth, it was a Braniff Airlines plane flying passengers coast to coast. It once served to shuttle First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt across America on her many philanthropic quests. It fell on hard times and became a drug smuggling airplane for a short period of time in South America. It was at one time equipped for spraying fire retardant chemicals on forest fires. Finally it was rescued by American Airlines and after being restored ended up starring in a rather lack luster movie titled, “The Killer Inside Me.”

 

[wwb]

I can remember when North Central Airlines (AKA the Blue Goose or the Ruptured Duck) flew DC-3s into the airport in Hibbing, Minnesota. If the wind was northwest (which it usually was) the downwind leg took them right over our house. The sound of those big ol' radials was unmistakable.

 

[Thumbcocker]

I have read that there were even a few built under license by the Japenese before WWII.

 

[SAJohn]

Jim, Getting that altimeter was great luck. Usually, the pilots know when they are a making a last flight in an aircraft and have the altimeter out before they have completed the landing rollout.