C-119 Flying Boxcar N8504X turned into a workshop at Shageluk. Nice work! More details on my C-119 Info Page (3)

Photo by Buffalo Airways.

The bad news of course is that presently Canada can use extra capacity in fighting raging wildfires, such as the fires near Fort McMurray.

In 2003 I had come across this ex/ Reeve Aleutian L.18 at Coventry,UK - HERE...

President & Founder Jason Capra and Vice-President Jeff Tramontano are behind this hopeful intiative.

The aircraft, including its history also featured on my Photos by Friends & Guests (20). It languished for many years here in Ohio: "2D7 is an airport at a small burgh, Beach City, OH, in east central Ohio somewhat near New Philadelphia; it's a local grass strip. Don't know why it's named Beach City, there's no water, no beach, and not even really a city!"

N34D is still marked as such, though it was rereg'd as N34DF on 10Oct1990, for Kenneth 'Ken' W. Joseph (Canton,OH).

www.vintagewingsinc.com
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Mission statement: "Vintage Wings Inc. was a lifelong childhood dream of Founder and President Jason Capra.
Having been around warbirds since he was fifteen and building models as a child, Jason had always dreamt of operating his own aircraft to help educate future generations on the importance of these historic machines.
In February 2016, that dream became a reality.
With the formation of Vintage Wings Inc., we hope to preserve, fly, and demonstrate our aircraft to future generations so that their legend may live forever."

See also www.flyinghigher.net/douglas/N34DF.html. It has details on its history as well as 'technical close ups'.
Some of that text: "In October, 1952 it was registered to Ramapo Foundry & Wheel Works in NY as N9959F.
From there it went to Air Carriers Corp.
The FAA registration was changed to N34D and the aircraft was operated by E.T. Barwick Mills, in Georgia. It was in the hands of Houston Aircraft Sales Inc., in June 1963, and went to the Ohio State Dept. of Commerce in Oct. 1964 where it became the official State aircraft.
They cancelled the registration in Dec. 1983, after taking the aircraft to the USAF Museum in Dayton.
From that time until Sept. 1990, N34D was missing from the FAA Aircraft Registry, at which time it was re-registered to Ohio University in Athens, OH, as N34DF. In October it was transferred to Kenneth Joseph, of Canton, OH. The aircraft shows N34D, but that number is assigned to another aircraft and the current FAA registry has '4865' as N34DF.
Ken Joseph had a lot of work done to the aircraft before bringing it to Beach City nearly 10-years ago [this probably dates from 2003 -Webmaster].
In addition to other things, they did major cleanup and painting inside the nacelles and installed fresh control surfaces. He intended to finish restoring it there with new paint, interior and avionics. However, the project has stalled and N34DF is fast moving toward the point of no return."

Scramble magazine Feb.2017 had a nice write on this bird:
"Vinatge Wings Inc is a group of enthusiasts led by Jason Capra. He discovered a forlorn Douglas C-53 Skytrooper, 41-20095, at the airport of Beach City,OH in 2014 and decided to make an attempt to save it from the scrap man.
Capra had found out that 41-20095 was a real WWII veteran that had been active in several theatres of war.
Built in Santa Monica,CA as a cicilian DC-3A passenger aircraft, it was accepted by the USAAC in january 1942, it was designated a C-53 Skytrooper.
Through Bolling Field,WA and Palm Beach,FL it was flown to Africa to participate in Operation Torch. The C-53 was later transferred to the North Atlantic Wing of the Air Transport Command where it shuttled troops and VIPs, amongst them the generals Douglas MacArthus and Jimmy Doolittle, Glenn Miller and Eddie Rickenbacker.
After the war, it was sold to the Danish Airlines (later SAS) and flew as OY-DCE 'Gorm Viking'.
After 1952, the C-53 headed back to the United States and became a corporate transport, registered N9959F, later N34D. From 1963 to 1983 the Dakota was used as the personal transport of the governor of Ohio.
Through the Air Force Museum in Dayton,OH - now reg'd N34DF - it was acquired by the University of Ohio, in Athens, but these people were only interested in the Dak's engines.
In 1992, a man called Ken Joseph bought a set of engines and flew N34DF to Beach City, where it has resided ever since.
Thanks to crowd funding, Vintage Wings Inc has almost reached the amount of $100.000,- needed to secure N34DF's fate.

Restoration was reported complete and ready to fly on 17Sep2018! See my Photos by Friends & Guests (55).

For a number of years NC13347 had been under repairs at the Restoration Center at Paine Field and on April 26th was flown (a mere 15 minutes flight) to Boeing Field for display with Seattle's Museum of Flight.
It will be maintained for a static display, quite possibly because the risk for damage or crash during flight operations is too great to undertake for such a unique vintage airliner.

The Boeing Model 247 was an early US airliner, considered the first such aircraft to fully incorporate advances such as all-metal (anodized aluminium) semimonocoque construction, a fully cantilevered wing and retractable landing gear.
Other advanced features included control surface trim tabs, an autopilot and de-icing boots for the wings and tailplane.
The Boeing 247 first flew on 08Feb1933.
Wikipedia, more..

On March 19th Terry visited another aviation spot on South Island: the Ashburton Aviation Museum.

A nice follow up to the reference made to ZK-AMY C-47 in Photos by Friends & Guests (24)!
c/n 13506 is ex/ 42-93579 VH-ASD, VH-CAN.
In Jan.2014 ZK-AMY was permanently retired from flying and 'rests' at the Ashburton Aviation Museum.

deHavilland Devon NZ1829, with a grand total flying time of just 17.7 hours !

UB232 is an ex/ Burma AF Percival Provost Mk53 (c/n 2232)

Curtiss C-46F Commando N78774 (c/n 22597) is operated by... City of Monroe,NC! Which is quite unique.
I intercepted a request for volunteers to help put this C-46 on the 2016 air show circuit and got some details of its owner and operation.

"May be a long shot, but trying to put some feelers out there for potential pilots.
I oversee the C-46 The Tinker Belle for the City of Monroe (which owns the aircraft) and we are trying to see if there is anyone locally, or has the means to get to us regularly (we are just outside Charlotte in North Carolina) who has the experience (probably mostly in a DC3 or C47) that could transition and volunteer time to help us get to some air shows throughout the year.
We currently have two pilots certified to fly and go to about 10-15 events each year, typically your normal fri,sat, sun shows.
We need some folks that can dedicate the time and energy needed to get certified and that have enough experience to handle this one-of-a-kind aircraft. We can provide the training and 'ground school', but need folks who are serious about it. It is also more than just flying, we work during the airshows, giving tours and talking about the aircraft, so your job wont be done when we land.
I know it may be a tall order, but could be a great opportunity for someone retired or just someone who has a passion for this sort of thing.
Feel free to contact me for more information.

The City has had her for the past roughly 5 years. We partner with the non-profit Warriors and Warbirds who help to oversee her operation. Basically, the city pays expenses and the nonprofit provides volunteers and takes her to air shows. Helps to promote our aerospace industry."
www.facebook.com/wwairshow

The city of Monroe’s C-46, 'The Tinker Belle', has been sold to the non-profit Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, Virginia. ¬generalaviationnews.com/2023/08/01/c-46-tinker-belle-finds-new-home/

Photo by William Alvarez
Douglas C-47B HK-2663 (c/n 12352) burning... Three injuries, fortunately nil fatalities!

"An Arall, Aerolineas Llaneras, Douglas DC-3, registration HK-2663 performing a flight from Puerto Gaitan to Villavicencio (Colombia) with 3 crew, was climbing out of Puerto Gaitan when the left hand engine (R-1830) failed.
The aircraft lost height, the crew attempted an emergency landing outside the aerodrome. The aircraft burst into flames and was evacuated.
Two crew received injuries and were taken to hospitals."

"Colombia's Aeronautica Civil reported the DC-3, registration HK-2663, plunged to ground a few minutes after takeoff at 06:25L (11:25Z), two crew members were injured and were taken to hospitals.
Other than Colombian media reported (claiming the aircraft was carrying 14 passengers) the aircraft did not carry passengers.
Investigators have been dispatched onto the accident site."
From/by Aviation Herald - By Simon Hradecky, created 07Ap16, updated 07Apr16 22:22z.

See also Aviation Safety Network (ASN) website

So, if you are close to Oklahoma City during your travelling, please stop and visit Mark's aviation museum, The Cimarron Field and Mustang Field Museum.
In addition to the WWII displays, there is the forward fuselage (38 feet) of C-118B N1037F (ex/ Victoria, TX), the cockpit of the ex/ Midland,TX (Gary Austin's) KC-97L, and the nose / cockpit of a Lodestar from Tradewinds Aircraft in San Antonio.
Mark has spent about 5.000 hours working to get this museum established!