TRIBUTE TO THE DC-3

[Subdeacon Joe]

TRIBUTE TO THE DC-3

In fifty-one they tried to ground the noble DC-3
And some lawyers brought the case before the C.A.B.
The board examined all the facts behind their great oak portal
And pronounced these simple words "The Gooney Birds Immortal"

The Army toast their Sky Train in lousy scotch and soda
The Tommies raise their glasses high to cheer their old Dakota
Some claim the C-47's best, or the gallant R4D
Forget that claim, their all the same, they're the noble DC-3.
Douglas built the ship to last, but nobody expected
This crazy heap would fly and fly, no matter how they wrecked it.

While nations fall and men retire, and jets go obsolete
The Gooney Bird flies on and on at eleven thousand feet.
No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
She hunched her shoulders then took off (I know this makes you laugh)

One wing askew, and yet she flew, the DC-3 and a half.
She had her faults, but after all, who's perfect in every sphere?
Her heating system was a gem we loved her for her gear
Of course, the windows leaked a bit when the rain came pouring down

She'd keep you warm, but in a storm, it's possible you'd drown.
Well now she flies the feeder lines and carries all the freight
She's just an airborne office, a flying twelve-ton crate
They patched her up with masking tape, with paper clips and strings.

And still, she flies, she never dies, Methuselah with wings.
www.Sierrahotel.net <<

 

 

[Rip Snorter]

Flew on a Carib air DC3 to the islands a long time ago.  Memorable was the uphill climb to your seat.  A solid but noisy ride.

[Alpo]

Heinlein's Glory Road. I think this was the first time I ever heard of a gooney Bird

 

 

But there was an Australian military transport headed for Singapore that night. Aussies weren’t even “military advisers” but often were around, as “military observers.” I found the plane's skipper, a flight leftenant, and put the situation to him. He grinned and said, “Always room for one more bloke. Wheels up shortly after tea, likely. If the old girl will fly.”

 

I knew it would fly; it was a Gooney Bird, a C-47, mostly patches and God knows how many millions of miles. It would get to Singapore on one engine if asked. I knew my luck was in as soon as I saw that grand old collection of masking tape and glue sitting on the field.

Four hours later I was in her and wheels up

[Calamity Kris]

That photo was taken at what was the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach California.  The plant is no more but the Gooney Bird lives on.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Aircraft_Company

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

2 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

TRIBUTE TO THE DC-3

In fifty-one they tried to ground the noble DC-3
And some lawyers brought the case before the C.A.B.
The board examined all the facts behind their great oak portal
And pronounced these simple words "The Gooney Birds Immortal"

The Army toast their Sky Train in lousy scotch and soda
The Tommies raise their glasses high to cheer their old Dakota
Some claim the C-47's best, or the gallant R4D
Forget that claim, their all the same, they're the noble DC-3.
Douglas built the ship to last, but nobody expected
This crazy heap would fly and fly, no matter how they wrecked it.

While nations fall and men retire, and jets go obsolete
The Gooney Bird flies on and on at eleven thousand feet.
No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
She hunched her shoulders then took off (I know this makes you laugh)

One wing askew, and yet she flew, the DC-3 and a half.
She had her faults, but after all, who's perfect in every sphere?
Her heating system was a gem we loved her for her gear
Of course, the windows leaked a bit when the rain came pouring down

She'd keep you warm, but in a storm, it's possible you'd drown.
Well now she flies the feeder lines and carries all the freight
She's just an airborne office, a flying twelve-ton crate
They patched her up with masking tape, with paper clips and strings.

And still, she flies, she never dies, Methuselah with wings.
www.Sierrahotel.net <<

 

 

there be a wing full of TROUBLE   

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Ms Helen Brimstone about ten years ago.  We were at an air show, admiring this C-47 (Betsy's Biscuit Bomber), and talking with her crew.  Helen's mom, Alice Garcia, had been Donald Douglas's personal assistant/secretary during the war; when this came up in the conversation Ms Brimstone was immediately invited aboard.

 

 

 

 

Alice, on her 99th birthday ~ holding her birthday gift from Hardpan.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Copied from elsewhere…

 

300 of 16,000 DC-3s still in service today

The main reason all this is possible is that the twin-engine DC-3s that began to emerge from the Douglas factory in California in 1936 demonstrated a level of resilience, robustness and durability that remains unparalleled to this day. Both the DC-3 (607 had been built by 1942) and especially the military version C-47 (of which more than 10,000 were made) would soon become pillars of aviation. Counting all license variants and subvariants, around 16,000 of these classics were built—and some 300 of them are still in service today. During the Second World War, as “Candy Bombers” during the Berlin Blockade of 1947–48 and later during the Vietnam War, this aircraft was regarded as basic equipment. After the Second World War, many C-47s were converted into passenger aircraft and were the backbone of the global boom in air travel.

It was back in 1980 that company founder Warren Basler (1926–1997) completed the first modern reincarnation of the DC-3/C-47. Brought to market as the Basler BT-67, it soon found buyers. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recognizes the reincarnations as brand-new aircraft with zero flight hours. “In a typical BT-67, only around 10 percent of the metal from the original aircraft has been retained,” Varkoly says. While it’s sometimes possible to reuse up to 40 percent of the total material, the vast majority of the airframe is replaced, as is the skin. Since original spares for aircraft of this vintage are no longer available, Basler manufactures all the parts—6,800 different components in all—it needs in-house.

©Andreas Spaeth

Modern turboprop engines, shiny fuselages: Basler turns DC-3 scrap metal into ultramodern special-purpose BT-67 aircraft.

[Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474]

A couple of years ago, I used to see a turbo version, flying over my home, out of Ottawa's Up[lands Airport, (YOW).

I thought it was a turbo Dak, but now I wonder?!?

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

then there was the DC 2½

 

https://cnac.org/aircraft02.htm

[Subdeacon Joe]

8 minutes ago, Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L said:

then there was the DC 2½

 

https://cnac.org/aircraft02.htm

 

 

THANKS!  

It was referred to in that tribute, but as a Three and a Half:
 

No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
She hunched her shoulders then took off (I know this makes you laugh)

One wing askew, and yet she flew, the DC-3 and a half.

[Chantry]

Take a mostly obsolete C-47, add on some machine guns first designed during the Civil War and you get one of the most feared aircraft of the Vietnam war.

 

Almost 87 years since it's first flight, no other aircraft can match the C-47's ability to carry a useful payload, get into short runways and do it as economically.

 

DC-3/C-47's have been shot down, crashed due to pilot error or engine failure, but there have been no DC-3/C-47 crashes due to a structural failure of the airframe.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

5 hours ago, Calamity Kris said:

That photo was taken at what was the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach California.  The plant is no more but the Gooney Bird lives on.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Aircraft_Company

I worked at Douglas just before Boing bought them.  Watched a DC-3 land wheels up and slide to a stop.  Tore the old girl up pretty badly but about two months later we watched fly out again.

 

I snagged  a ride on a C-47 in 'Nam in 1968.  It was a Aussie civilian plane hauling stuff into Phan Rang (or Phan Thiet.  I never could remember which was which) and I bummed a ride up to NhaTrang.  Noisy but otherwise a great trip of a total af maybe 25 minutes.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

A great read is Ernest K. Gann's 1960 book "Fate is the Hunter", about his days in early commercial aviation, then in the Air Transport Command in the War.

 

He flew everything, starting with DC-2s (which he didn't like), and a lot of DC3/C47s (which he did).

[Trailrider #896]

9 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

TRIBUTE TO THE DC-3

In fifty-one they tried to ground the noble DC-3
And some lawyers brought the case before the C.A.B.
The board examined all the facts behind their great oak portal
And pronounced these simple words "The Gooney Birds Immortal"

The Army toast their Sky Train in lousy scotch and soda
The Tommies raise their glasses high to cheer their old Dakota
Some claim the C-47's best, or the gallant R4D
Forget that claim, their all the same, they're the noble DC-3.
Douglas built the ship to last, but nobody expected
This crazy heap would fly and fly, no matter how they wrecked it.

While nations fall and men retire, and jets go obsolete
The Gooney Bird flies on and on at eleven thousand feet.
No matter what they do to her the Gooney Bird still flies
One crippled plane was fitted out with one wing half the size
She hunched her shoulders then took off (I know this makes you laugh)

One wing askew, and yet she flew, the DC-3 and a half.
She had her faults, but after all, who's perfect in every sphere?
Her heating system was a gem we loved her for her gear
Of course, the windows leaked a bit when the rain came pouring down

She'd keep you warm, but in a storm, it's possible you'd drown.
Well now she flies the feeder lines and carries all the freight
She's just an airborne office, a flying twelve-ton crate
They patched her up with masking tape, with paper clips and strings.

And still, she flies, she never dies, Methuselah with wings.
www.Sierrahotel.net <<

 

 

Oscar Brand sang that song on his tribute to aviation.  Gorgeous girls, but the most beautiful thing in that photo is the Gooney Bird itself.

Used to fly as a passenger on DC-3's from Peoria, Illinois, to Chicago. Was the only passenger aboard one night and the captain let me come up to the flight deck and stand between him and the first officer.  Full moon and a 10/10 undercast. Like flying over a bed of cotton! That was back in '65.  Got to fly a C-47 from the right seat during an AFROTC fam ride. 

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

When the finally retire the last B-52, the Missing Man formation will be a flight of DC-3s