DC-3 75th Anniversary

Way too early in my lifetime for any photos, but my first ride in an airplane was on a C-47 with my father as pilot from Oslo, Norway to Wiedbaden, Germany. It was 1959 and the airplane was a 1943 model (data plate in the airplane I still remember), already 16 years old. That seemed old to me then, but most of our fighters are older than that now and the last B-52s were from a 1962 contract.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

1) "Beep Beep" laid up at Fredricksberg, along with an infamous Camel/Mondial owner

2) Bluebonnet Belle, located in Burnett.

3) Cockpit of the Belle
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I am SO bummed that I won't be able to make the 75th

To the guys that are going PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take and post lots of pics of PNR/ and the gang down there

 

Here's pic's of a stuffed and mounted one...... Ran by a railway!!! Located at the Yukon Transportation museum in Whitehorse.
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Here's the one I used to fly about 13 years ago....
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Here's the one I flew on recently.

http://www.vacwarbirds.org/belle/
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It's a shame that they have the wrong colors topside and underside on that airplane. The undersurface gray is far too light and the upper surface is too dark and shiny. If people would check what the colors were actually used in WW2 instead of assuming that the current USAF colors were used in WW2, they wouldn't make the never ending mistakes. They have used the light mouse gray of today's under surface instead of the medium gray of WW2. There are all kinds of references, like FS695, to determine the correct colors.

 

For an airplane that's stuck outdoors in Yukon winters, it's in remarkably good condition!

 

Yeah , there's stuff indoors , mostly from the Alaskan Highway project that are MUCH rougher , and NOT in the elements!

 

Damn shame that a nice airplane like that is set up out of doors to get eaten up by the weather.

 

Ill try to find the picture of the Super DC3 that was parked at the Santa Barbara Airport years ago. 3 Big PT6's, When she took off it was like a 51 heading down the runway.

 

Is there an anniversary celebration somewhere ? My Grandpa flew them for AA back in the '30, and was involved in the Lac O'Connor story etc...he is in his 90's now, would be really cool to take him so he could get reacquainted with the "Ole girl"......

 

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It is the 75th anniversary of the B-17, also.

 

This thread was started in 2010, so...
The DC-3 and the B-17 were both 75 then.

This is the 85th anniversary now.

Time flies....

 

Last Gooney Bird flight I had was an airline flight from Dallas Love to Roswell, NM (Roswell Muni, now closed) in 1965 on the way to NMMI. Long time ago.

 

This was just one that flew over my "cuckoos nest" day or two ago. One of few in town I regularly (few times a month ?) see or hear in the skies above here.

Earlier this week a cool formation of three vintage bi-planes flew over my shop, but I didn't get a chance to snap a picture. They were circled/followed by more modern two engine prop plane, which, based on its (flight) behavior, I assume was probably used for some filming or photography of the three in flight/formation.

Over the years I've had great rides in several of them, bi-planes and DC 3/C 47s.

I might've mentioned somewhere here before that ever since I was a little kid I wanted a DC 3 and "almost" bought a one 30+ years ago, but "chickened out" at last minute.

 

My dumb and a skip of the brain. I participated in the 50th anniversary of the B-17 in 1985. I should know'd better.

 

A DC-3 and a Ford Tri Motor ride have been on my bucket list forever...
Used to be a Tri Motor out of the Wings n Wheels museum in Santee, SC. By the time I convinced my dad to stop, the museum has closed.

Dayum. Hadda be 50 yrs ago.

 

I saw a lot of tri-motors when I was a kid in 1930. Thirty five years later I got to right seat Bill Harrah's at the Merced Antique fly in. Did a DC-3 in 1994 and rode in quite a few, also.

 

On one of my trips to the Sun 'n Fun fly-in in Lakeland some years ago, there was a low-wing Stinson trimotor that was apparently giving rides. I haven't seen that aircraft since.

 

At Oshkosh last year the Trimotors were probably the busiest aircraft on the field. There were 2 giving rides, and they were in near-continuous circuits of the field.