In the process of being re-assembled

A very nice and surprise visitor on this clear day with temperatures reaching 34°C (94F), well above normal and setting a record high for this day at VNY. My friend Thomas and I didn't mind seeing the rare DC-2 and feeling the heat.

This camouflaged C-39 (we called it warpaint then) was taken in September 1941. This was close to the end of the red center national insignia use. The aircraft was from the Sacramento Air Depot and was plane number 20 of the 62nd Transport Group which had been activated in December 1940. The serial of the aircraft is not known. For that you would need to walk up close and inspect the data block below the cockpit. A C-39 has a DC-2 fuselage and wings, and a DC-3 tail unit, centre-section and landing gear. Thirty-five C-39s were built.

On display at Tuulonen shopping mall. [Nikon D750 + Tamron SP 24-70mm/2,8G VC]

K25 slide scan. Delivered March 1935 to Pan American. Later to Mexicana, Aviateca. From 1952 Johnson Flying Service as N4867V, last commercial use of a DC-2. Donated to Donald Douglas Museum and Library at Santa Monica, CA in December 1974. Flew again 25 April 1987 after extensive restoration in TWA colours although never having been operated by them. To Museum of Flight in February 1999, flown to Seattle on 7 June 2007 and kept in flying condition until at least 2013. Note original restoration in highly polished bare metal.

Delivered to the US Navy in September 1935 as 9993. To several corporations and private owners from January 1946, first as NC39165, later as N39165. She became the world's last airworthy DC-2 in 1970. In 1983, the markings PH-AJU/44 were applied, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the original Uiver winning the London - Melbourne race in the handicap class. The aircraft was ferried to Amsterdam that same year and completed the original air race route in 1984. To the Aviodrome in 1999. She is reportedly still airworthy, although she hasn't flown in a long time.

Tucked away in a corner of the airfield

Norway gets land airports. PH-AKI arrived at Fornebu on 31 May 1939 to open the Oslo - Kristiansand - Amsterdam service on 1 June, the official opening day of both Fornebu and Kristiansand - Kjevik. Both airports also had seaplane facilities. Photo by: Asbjørn Barlaup / Nasjonalbiblioteket (Norway)

DC-2s 'U.S. 9', formerly NC13723, and NC14966 (c/n 1406) on the Pan Am ferry route to Africa, on delivery to the RAF. The Americas were not yet at war with Germany and this was a sensitive issue - the 'US' markings were apparently sometimes applied to please Brazil. NC14966 became AX768 and NC14966 became HK821, both with 117 Sqn in Khartoum. 'U.S. 9' is a DC-2-112 while NC14966 parked behind is a DC-2-120 with enlarged tailfin, right hand door and landing lights moved from nose to wings. Photo by: Hart Preston / Life

The C-39 was a DC-2 with DC-3 tail, wing centre section and landing gear. 38-0532 to Fifth Air Force in Australia in March 1942. Loaned to Australia National Airlines in 1943 for military transport duties. Purchased by ANA as VH-ARC in 1946. To MacAir in December 1947. To Guinea Air Traders in June 1948. Damaged in hard landing at Kerowagi , PNG on 16 March 1949. Shipped to Australia and scrapped at Essendon in 1951. Photo from: Leiden University Libraries

Photo: McDonnell Douglas Corporation.

For most the past 75 years A30-9 has been in the open with its wings removed. It was part of Sid Marshall's collection of DC-2 spares at Sydney - Bankstown and then held in the Camden Aviation Museum yard. In Victoria it was parked at Tyabb airport and is now in the storage yard of the Australian National Aviation Museum (formerly the Moorabbin Air Museum) at Melbourne - Moorabbin. But briefly it was hangared and its wings attached at Melbourne - Essendon as part of a project to return the aircraft to the skies. Project terminated after severe corrosion found.

Delivered to Eastern Air Lines as NC13738 in 1934. Joined the RAAF in 1941 as A30-14, and withdrawn from use in Jan 1947 and stored. Forty years later, in Feb 1987, it was bought by the Dutch Dakota Association. Still carrying faded RAAF markings the DC-2 was transported to the Netherlands, for intended restoration as the famous PH-AJU "Uiver". This project never got off the ground and it remained in storage at various locations in the Netherlands until delivered to the Nederlands Transport Museum on 31 May 2018. They restored it into these KNILM colours with fake registration PK-AFK. The real PK-AFK was DC-2-115G c/n 1375.

Coming in from Baghdad, the DC-2 encountered a severe thunderstorm and it was impossible to locate Dekelia - Tatoi airport in Athens. The experienced captain, Jan Moll, decided that an emergency landing in a field near the beach in Voula was the safest option, and although the aircraft sustained serious damage, no one was hurt. Note that the location is very close to Ellinikon (LGAT), but that airport did not exist in 1937. The DC-2 was shipped to Holland and repairs were completed in December 1937. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)

Crashed on a training flight after the idle starboard engine would not pick up. Hit the ready room of an AAA platoon on the NE side of the airport near the bridge. One soldier killed, five wounded. Forward fuselage reads Vrachtdienst (cargo service). Aircraft repaired by December 1939 but destroyed in the bombing of Schiphol on 10 May 1940. Photo from: Nationaal Archief (Netherlands)