Photo - courtesy Onno Wieringa - depicts The Dakota Hunter on that classic Harley Davidson WL 750 in front of 2 immaculate C-47’s, in Normandy, dated 6 June 2014. Now, we look for yet another C-47/ DC-3 for a new Military Museum, in flying condition or as a Static Display Gateguard, and are curious to consider your proposals.
We present this guest blog by author and Blogger Hans Wiesman!
The Dakota Hunter is overseeing the procurement of two vintage aircraft for purchase by a new Military Aviation Museum. They are currently in search of the following aircraft;
** Douglas DC-3/ C-47 / Dakota, flying or fair static display condition with (near) complete cockpit layout.
** Fairchild C-119, Flying Boxcar in near complete or static display condition.
If you have a lead to one or both aircraft, I am interested to see photos, get a description of the aircraft and eventually details of engines/ props.
Also, a price indication would be practical. If of potential interest for my client, I will consider coming over to you by April 2016 for an inspection.
Thanks for your attention and in case you might have a clue or know a relation that can help me, please forward/ share this message. Our client is very serious with this planned purchase and represents a (US friendly) foreign Air Force which flew the types until some 40 years ago.
Photo above was made by my friend Michael Prophet. He wrote me that the C-47 “Fifi Kate” was photographed by him on Lelystad Airport in Holland during an Air Show. Later this aircraft was sold to Aliansa, one of the major DC-3 Operators in Villavicencio, Colombia. That airport, nicknamed “ The DC-3 Capital of the World” is the home base of the largest fleet of operational Dakotas still surviving.
Quite a number of C-47’s that I saw there during my travels in search of the lost and last Dakotas, have been refurbished or cannibalized for making other airframes operational again. With the demise of FARC (which was a major disturbing factor in the National Pacification process), the local economy and the transport into the Amazon prosper again.
The DC-3 is virtually the only aircraft that flies in numbers to the remote airstrips into the Green Hell Jungle with 3 tons of Cargo and Passengers. Cheap to purchase compared with Turbo Prop aircraft, and low-tech maintenance can be done in primitive and open-air sites. But most important, a low approach speed combined with huge balloon tires.
That combined with the taildragger configuration make landings on ungraded and soft unasphalted strips in the jungle or on the savannah relatively easy and save. Yet, once in a while, things go wrong, like anywhere in the world of mechanical transport (see photo below).
Photo above: The same ex -“Fifi Kate” Douglas DC-3C registered HK-4700 sustained substantial damage in an accident at Guerima Airport, Colombia. There were no fatalities. The airplane had arrived after a cargo flight from Villavicencio. During landing rollout the airplane lost hydraulic pressure. The pilot shut down the engines and unlocked the tail wheel.
He attempted to steer the plane using the tail wheel. The DC-3 swung 90 degrees and ran into a trench, located 20 meters from the runway. The right-hand wing sustained serious structural damage.
The rupture of the hose coupling of the right main landing gear brake assembly caused a hydraulic fluid leak with subsequently the loss of system pressure and therefore, a lack of effective braking action. Source.
Photo above (courtesy Onno Wieringa), made in Normandy after the D-Day commemorative flight 2014, depicting the “Brothers in Arms” Douglas Dakota and Harley Davidson, both here in the stylish 1940’s Olive drab green color. I saw so many Dakotas (and Harley’s) in my life, crashed, abandoned and operational. Since my youth years in Borneo, I was mesmerized by both “transports”: a passion that would never fade away anymore.
Both are the ultimate Survivors, the Gooney Bird as a flying Time Capsule, fostered by Museums, in private hands or still in a transport role, making revenues for the owner. The fact that those operational roles still exist with a transport of over 70 years of age is most astounding. It will be next to impossible to find any transport (car, truck, boat, plane, train) of that age in the world that still can boast such role in the numbers as we have still available of the venerable C-47. “The aircraft that changed the world”, it is still valid, be it in a different setting n0w.
As the Dakota Hunter, I have been operating during 20 years as an intermediate in the search, (dis)assembly, parts location and transport of vintage aircraft for Museums and private collectors, in particular with relation to the Douglas DC-3/ C-47. Now, I am again in search of the legendary C-47, and welcome your proposals / clues/ tips and invite you to share this Blog with your friends who eventually might have a lead.
I made an earlier “Wanted Poster” in Blog format for the other aircraft, the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar. That was published on Facebook group walls and in War History Online Magazine. You can read that most interesting Blog with stunning photos via this link
This Wanted Ad for the C-119 has yielded a number of interesting contacts, but a deal did not come out yet. So also for this rare bird, I would love to hear more leads or clues from my readership. You can contact me via my website contact link dc3dakotahunter.com contact Hans Wiesman
Read the reviews and see parts of the content of my book on my website at dc3dakotahunter.com
For an impressive Video of an ultra low flying Curtiss Commando C-46 in Bolivia, see my new Youtube film here Fatal C-46 flight over Lake Titicaca.
Interested in more stories related to Vintage Aircraft in general and the C-47/ DC-3 in particular? My book The Dakota Hunter offers you 320 pages of tales about my expeditions, in search of the legendary Dc-3 on the Last Frontiers. Illustrated with 250 unique photos that give you an idea of what is left in this World of the Gooney Bird, crashed, abandoned or still operational.
