Meanwhile Colin Smith provided the following on above subject:
"Unfortunately this is all a bit of a mess unless someone has the facts to hand. I'm not at all clear whether Honduras received 6,7 or even 8 aircraft in this transaction as there is a good deal of conflicting
information down on paper....
In 1974 the USAF disposed of a number of C-47s to Central America with several recently retired from active use at Eglin.
Indeed one of the disposals going to Honduras shows a strike from Eglin and not Davis Monthan (so much for precise records). The recipients appear to have been Paraguay (six, a US official total and all identified), El
Salvador and Honduras.

'315' has been assumed to have been 43-48917 (eg JMG). 43-48917 was a MAP delivery 26Jun69 and there are several statistical reasons why it is unlikely to have gone to Honduras at that time but fundamentally the quoted serial is way out of sequence for what was being allocated at the time (307
was given to 43-49504 17Jun68 & 308 was given to 45-1032 circa 18Aug70 and everything prior to then had been neat and tidy).
The likely recipient of 43-48917 was elsewhere in South America (maybe Ecuador).
The reason for the confusion appears - at least to my mind - to have resulted from a misread or
typo of 43-48717 that was struck off USAF charge at DM 16Oct74 and which looks awfully like Amado's 315 that was delivered 27Oct74 !
Of course this then questions the linkage of 309 to 43-48717 as we are only talking about one aircraft in 1974. It also conceivable that 43-48917 is genuine and was an acquisition post-1974 and appropriately serialled 315 and that Amado - or others - have somehow linked this 315 serial with the wrong USAF aircraft.

'303' is another oddity.
This is said to be 43-48485 which was also SOC at DM 16Oct74. If correct, the serial would have back-filled a long-lost earlier aircraft.
To the best of my knowledge the first linkage comes from a sighting at San Pedro Sula in Apr82 but is now regarded as fact. Note that there is no reference to a 303 in Amado's note.

Amado lists 7 aircraft in this transaction - 309 to 315 - assuming no confusion involving crew ferries! The dates quoted for 4 unidentified (Honduras serials) in JMG are actually the USAF strike dates, so are
unreliable for Honduran delivery data.
What we appear to have, in USAF strike date sequence, are:

43-16165 SOC Eglin 24Jun74 later as 314 - delivered as 314 27Oct74 (Amado)
43-16373 SOC DM 16Oct74 as 313 - delivered as 313 27Oct74 (Amado)
43-48485 SOC DM 16Oct74 as '303' (or another serial)
43-48717 SOC DM 16Oct74 as 309 (JMG serial and Amado dly 17Oct74) or
'43-48917' 315 delivered 27Oct74 (Amado)
44-476395 SOC DM 23Oct74 (JMG)
45-1009 SOC DM 23Oct74 (JMG)
(JMG refers to writer/compiler, J M Gradidge, of Air-Britain's DC-3 book -Webmaster)

If there were 7 aircraft (309 to 315), there would appear to have been 309, 310, 311 & 312 delivered 17Oct74 and 313, 314 & 315 delivered 27Oct74.
References to '303' would therefore be wrong (or needing good explanation), 315 cannot be 43-48917 and we are therefore missing one USAF serial...
One candidate is 45-1137, also SOC at Eglin 24Jun74.

All things considered, very muddled (particularly the saga of 43-48917).
It would be helpful to know Amado's sources for his data, the dates being very important but I suspect he may have to go cap in hand to the Air Force and ask to check the files as this may be beyond mere enthusiasts!
Colin Smith (on AB-IX, july 2012)

Bas Stubert on this:
This thread reminded me that I had checked the c/n and USAAF serial number of a Dakota at Toncontin in 1999, so I dug out my logbook for that period. It turns out that this was serial number 303 mentioned, logged on the 02Sep99. A plate in the cockpit revealed that 303 was a C-47D with c/n 14301 and ex 43-48485.
14301 was one of those c/n's that were issued twice by Douglas (though not twice on a Dakota it seems), according to JMG the second c/n issued to 43-48485 was 25746. I found no evidence of this second c/n in the Dakota itself.
It seems that my sighting confirms the one from 1982 and we now know that it is a fact that 303 carried a c/n plate in the cockpit that mentioned 14301 and 43-48485. It certainly did so in 1999.
Bas Stubert (on AB-IX, july 2012)