This Turbo DC-3 is currently based in Angola. The airplane departs Luanda every morning around 9 am, to return between 5 and 6 pm. Parking and handling takes place on the ramp of the domestic terminal. The FR24 data track stops just outside the urban area of Luanda, so I am not sure what its destination is, nor what the purpose is of the operation. Looking at previous locations where this airplane has been seen flying, places like the Canadian Arctic and Indonesian Borneo, my guess would be that it is oil related.

5/44: TOS USAAF. 6/44: 7th Air Force, Oahu, HI. Ca.1945: Manila, Philippines. By 4/46: HQ 20th AF, Guam. 11/46: Declared surplus. VH-BHC. G-ALFO, N94529, N300A, N700E, N20DH, N3BA. 4/79: N890P. 7/90: Robert Burwell, West Chicago, IL. 8/90: N12RB. Ca.8/92: Dakota Aircraft Inc, Orlando, FL. (remained at DPA). 12/92: Viking Express, West Chicago, IL. 7/93: Vintage Air Tours "Eve Amelia." 9/97: WFU Orlando, FL— owner death. 11/97: Vintage Wings and Things Llc, Carencro, LA. 6/98: N33VW. 6//01: Cavanaugh Air Museum and Cavanaugh Flight Museum. By 3/22: Hangar 360 Aircraft Services Llc, Bolton, MS.

5/44: TOS USAAF. 6/44: 7th Air Force, Oahu, HI. Ca.1945: Manila, Philippines. By 4/46: HQ 20th AF, Guam. 11/46: Declared surplus. VH-BHC. G-ALFO, N94529, N300A, N700E, N20DH, N3BA. 4/79: N890P. 7/90: Robert Burwell, West Chicago, IL. 8/90: N12RB. Ca.8/92: Dakota Aircraft Inc, Orlando, FL. (remained at DPA). 12/92: Viking Express, West Chicago, IL. 7/93: Vintage Air Tours "Eve Amelia." 9/97: WFU Orlando, FL— owner death. 11/97: Vintage Wings and Things Llc, Carencro, LA. 6/98: N33VW. 6//01: Cavanaugh Air Museum and Cavanaugh Flight Museum. By 3/22: Hangar 360 Aircraft Services Llc, Bolton, MS.

5/44: TOS USAAF. 6/44: 7th Air Force, Oahu, HI. Ca.1945: Manila, Philippines. By 4/46: HQ 20th AF, Guam. 11/46: Declared surplus. VH-BHC. G-ALFO, N94529, N300A, N700E, N20DH, N3BA. 4/79: N890P. 7/90: Robert Burwell, West Chicago, IL. 8/90: N12RB. Ca.8/92: Dakota Aircraft Inc, Orlando, FL. (remained at DPA). 12/92: Viking Express, West Chicago, IL. 7/93: Vintage Air Tours "Eve Amelia." 9/97: WFU Orlando, FL— owner death. 11/97: Vintage Wings and Things Llc, Carencro, LA. 6/98: N33VW. 6//01: Cavanaugh Air Museum and Cavanaugh Flight Museum. By 3/22: Hangar 360 Aircraft Services Llc, Bolton, MS.

(photographer not known)

23 Oct 43: TOS USAAF. 11/43: 37th Troop Carrier Squadron, England. 6/6/44: Dropped paratroopers from the 505th PIR, 82nd Abn Div.. 9/44: Flew in Operation Market Garden. UNK: Suffered combat damage during WWII. After 4/45: Assigned to the 61st, 12th, and 60th Troop Carrier Groups in Germany. By 1948: 7290th Air Base Group, Germany. Flew in Berlin Airlift. 1/49: Loaned to Turkish Air Force. By 11/54: Returned to USAF, 169th FBS/126th FBG (ANG), Greater Peoria Airport, IL. By 1971: Ohio ANG at Springfield, OH. 9 Jun 93: Air Commando Park, Hurlburt Field, FL.

6 July 43: To USAAF as C-47A 42-108798 but transferred directly to USMC as R4D-5 17096. Record not found until 1944. August/44 VMR-142, Bouganville, Solomon Islands for remainder of WWII. October/45: NAS Corpus Christi, TX. September/46: Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33), MCAS El Toro, CA. March/48: Naval Auxiliary Air Station Miramar, CA. April/48: NAS Columbus, OH. August/48: Naval Auxiliary Air Station Miramar, CA. UNK: NAS Anacostia, Washington, DC. 1967: TOS US Army with s/n 17096. By 1987: Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum, Ft. Campbell, KY.

Photo by Steve Kraus.

6 July 43: To USAAF as C-47A 42-108798 but transferred directly to USMC as R4D-5 17096. Record not found until 1944. August/44 VMR-142, Bouganville, Solomon Islands for remainder of WWII. October/45: NAS Corpus Christi, TX. September/46: Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33), MCAS El Toro, CA. March/48: Naval Auxiliary Air Station Miramar, CA. April/48: NAS Columbus, OH. August/48: Naval Auxiliary Air Station Miramar, CA. UNK: NAS Anacostia, Washington, DC. 1967: TOS US Army with s/n 17096. By 1987: Don F. Pratt Memorial Museum, Ft. Campbell, KY.

This C-47 was built as wartime 43-49942 and delivered to the Royal Air Force in May 1945 as KN270. It was transferred to the RCAF with the same serial in April 1946 (and later became 12909). Sold to Ontario Central Airlines January 8, 1976, it would pass through several Canadian airlines before sold in the USA as N595AM in 1998. The aircraft was last with the Commemorative Air Force as N47HL from 2004. Sadly it caught fire and burned up after drifting off the runway during take-off on July 21, 2018 at Burnet Municipal Kate Craddock Field, TX .

Little is known about this picture, so any help on location and/or year is appreciated.

Annually, the Battle of Arnhem is commemorated during the Airborne Commemoration at the Ginkel Heath. In 2023, C-47 G-ANAF in Royal Air Force markings was one of the aircraft dropping paras over the heath as part of the commemoration at the same spot where paras were dropped 79 years earlier in an attempt to liberate the city of Arnhem.

Ex 42-23936 (USAAF), OK-WDU, OK-WZB, 23936 (US Navy), F-YGGC, F-GEOM. When the aircraft was flown to the Aviodrome in 2006, it was planned to operate for scenic flights. After the 2011 bankruptcy of the Aviodrome, the aircraft was acquired by Classic Wings as a volunteer restoration project. Paperwork and financial issues proved too much of a hurdle and the aircraft was transported to the Warmuseum in Overloon (The Netherlands) in December 2017. This museum can be visited for free by bicycle riders as an elevated bike path runs through the museum!

In the woods near the village of Best (NL) a museum called 'Bevrijdende Vleugels' (= Wings of Liberation) reminds us of the liberation of The Netherlands. The museum had two well-restored Dakotas parked outside in the markings used during the invasion. Both carry a fake serial, "290321" on this one is in fact the birth date of Jan Driessen, the founder of the museum. In real life this aircraft was USAAF 43-2022.

1/44: TOS USAAF. 3/44: 8th AF, England. 9/45: Returned to USA. 11/45: RFC, Walnut Ridge, AR. Registered NC57278. 11/46: Registered c/r CF-CUC. By 8/85: Registered N141JR. 19 Mar 2010: Vintage Flying Museum, Ft. Worth Meacham Airport, TX. Used as parts source for C-47 41-18590/N86553. 4/10: Thirsty 13th LLC, New York City, later Dallas, TX

Previously on display in at L'Aeroteca bookstore in Barcelona, this cockpit had moved to Sabadell by June 2020. Ex FL575 and 42-92207.

Photo by Steve Kraus.

Ex USAAF 42-100884. At Exeter for maintenance while still in service with Royal Aircraft Establishment, named 'Mayfly'. Became G-DAKS on 14 September 1979, and then N147DC on 5 March 1998. Still current in the USA in 2019, flying in USAAF markings.

12/43: TOS USAAF. 20 Feb 44: 8th Air Force, England. 24 Mar 45: Dropped paratroopers of the 507th PIR/17th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity. 5 Aug 45: Returned to USA. 16th November 1945: RFC, Walnut Ridge, AR. Later registered N79017. 1/05: Basler Turbo Conversions, Oshkosh, WI. Converted to BT-67 turbo-prop. 7/07: Triumph Airways Ltd, Oshawa, ON with c/r C-GAWI.