Pleased to see Coulson's C-130 airtanker N134CG is operational!

Photo by Mike McKeig, shared on Facebook's 'Fire Bombers' (Oct.2019).
This is Lockheed EC-130Q c/n 382-4904, manufactured 1981. From JoeBaugher.com: this one is a Lockheed
Hercules of a batch of three, all delivered to NASA (Bu.No.161494/161496). Airtanker 134 was formerly
BuNo.161496 (c/n 4904) went to NCAR for spares, stored at WIA Yard, Tucson. In 2017 it was in rework to become Tanker T-134 with the Coulson Group. Reg'd on 18Jan18 as N134CG with Delaware Trust Company, Wilmington,DE.

UPDATE: 'This Lockheed C-130 Hercules N134CG firefighting aircraft impacted terrain and burst into flames near Cooma, north-east of the Snowy Mountains in Australia. All three crew members died in the accident. The aircraft was engaged in fighting forest fires in the area. Date 23Jan2020.' ¬aviation-safety.net/database/

Sadly DC-3 N437GB ditched near Nassau 18Oct19; crew (2) were the only occupants and both got out ok.

aviation-safety.net/database/
An 2008 image by Geurt van den Berg can be found on my Photos by Friends & Guests #19.

Martin 4-0-4 N255S at Toco,TX by Chuck Koehler (Facebook 10-2019)

History and more images of N255S can be found on my Off-Airport gallery.

JoeJoe Prince caught DC-6 N151 at Bethel on 09Sep2019; this vintage propliner has
almost reached the end of its useful life but Everts Air has found a good home in Sola, Norway.

Initially the planned date of the ferry flight to Norway was set on 01Oct19, but that date date has been portponed,
now more likely to take place at the end of that month. Maybe N151 was required to perform a few more flights.

Note: DC-6B c/n 45174 was the first to be registered N151 for Everts Air; on landing at Selawik-Mun'l all props
failed to go in reverse after touch down, overran icy runway, ended on frozen river with undercarriage collapsed,
declared damaged beyond economic repair). This 2nd N151 is c/n 45496/992 and was bought from Conair of
Abbotsford (Canada): C-GICD reported in Aug.'97 at Abbotsford while the airtanker equipment was taken out.

History of DC-6B c/n 45496 (ADB.aero - 13Sep19); it was converted for aerial firefighting by Conair ('447')
In June 1996 it had been reg'd to Tatonduk Outfitters Ltd, when Cliff Everts' son Robert decided to start his own business: Air Cargo Express (which was changed to Everts Air Cargo on 01Sep02). See also on my Anchorage 2006.

N151 c/n 45496 is expected to be ferried during the spring of 2020 to its new home in Norway. Stay tuned!

During the early hours of 11Sep19 Convair CV440 N24DR crashed while in approach for landing at Toledo-Express Airport, OH (TOL/KTOL). It had taken off from Laredo,TX and was transporting auto parts. Apparently a brief stop was intended, the reason unspecified. Both crew members were from Laredo and perished in the crash and/or fire.

The aircraft came down on the premises of a recovery and truck repair company, located 1 km short of runway 25.
aviation-safety.net/database

Fred de Ruiter came across DC-6 YU-AFF in Lubljana in Slovenia on 08Jun2019 and shared these images with me.

Douglas DC-6B YU-AFF (c/n 43553), manufactured in 1952, delivered to the KLM (PH-TFL, later PH-DFL), as
YU-AFF to Adria Aviopromet in 1962. Reported as 'wfu' at wfu Ljubljana-Brnik in 1975; and in 1995 still there
with some bullet holes to shows for as war (1991) damage. In 1998 action was undertaken to preserve the aircraft.
It sits among the buildings outside Ljubljana Jože Pučnik Airport.

Adria Aviopromet (1960-1968) was nenamed to Inex Adria Aviopromet/Airways when acquired in 1968 by
Interexport Group. Became independent in 1986 and renamed March '86 to Adria Airways. [ATDB.aero]

JoeJoe Prince caught DHC-2 Beaver N734Q on a splendid day in take off at Bethel,AK (09Sep19)

JoeJoe has a 2-page gallery on my website: PAGE ONE + PAGE 2

A new addition to the Yankee Air Museum's collection: this Convair 340 (C-131B), making one final flight, landed at
Willow Run AP in Detroit,MI (KYIP) 05Sep2019 after a short ferry hop from Oakland County Int'l Airport (KPTK).

Built as a USAF C-131 (serial number 53-7813 / construction number 265), it ended its career as N7813B.
The airframe had spent the last several years at Oakland County International Airport (Pontiac).
The titles of Contract Air Cargo (served in their Lone Star Division) can still be made out.

On a CBS video shared on Facebook and other media (06Sep19) this Convair C-131B (CV340) appeared
briefly in th efilming: N1360D (c/n 241) stored for decades now at Roswell-Industrial Air Center,NM.

This 'ConvairLiner' is ex/USAF 53-7789 (delivered 13Jan55, converted to EC-131B and JC-131B; MASDC 19Dec75) and flew as N1360D for Air Resorts Airlines (07Nov83) as a freighter.
For well over 15 years now it has been stored here at the Roswell-Industrial Air Center. Doomed?

Ulrich F. Hoppe sent me this, he wrote: "Please find the latest pictures of C-47 ex HC-ALD, which I
have taken at Tabatinga, Brasil on 04Jun2019.

More details of this preserved Douglas DC-3 can be found on my 'Off-Airport Latin Americas' page

Ken Swartz sent me this 'ugly duckling' seen at the 2019 air event at Oshkosh, the EAA Air Venture

The conversion to turbine power may have extended its useful life but it sure is ugly!

Dirk Septer looks back on the days that Vancouver Island Air operated predominantly Beech 18s

Beech D18S C-FGNR, on the Campbell River Spit (16Oct2013)
See more on this on Dirk's vintage propliners in Canada

Russ Norwood wrote me: "I found your website while looking for information about some of the aircraft I’ve flown, or in this case, jumped out of."

Gerben Tornij wrote me on 25Aug19 with disconcerting news regarding flying vintage transports representing
aviation heritage in Europe. It confirmed my feeling during 'D-Day 75' when I noticed most DC-3's came from the US.

Douglas C-47B 9Q-CUK (N41CQ 'Congo Queen'; c/n 33445/16697), not to be confused with C-47A c/n 12734
a previous 9Q-CUK. Photo by Gerben Tornij, taken while this C-47B was on its way to an event in England and
spent a night at Lelystad, The Netherlands. Exif data shows 13Sep2012.

Gerben wrote me (NL-EN translation): "The following stems from a management memorandum dated 17Aug19 on this website: www.vallentuna-aviators.se " 'As your members have noted, there have been no member flights this year with the Congo Queen and the reason is that she is still not allowed to make a start (except for departure from the country). The reason for this is that the Swedish Transport Agency believes that the DC-3 is permanent in Sweden and therefore needs to be registered in Sweden and therefore with the EASA, the European Aviation Authority. The situation is thus that the Congo Queen is registered in the US N-register and the fact that the aircraft is permanently in Sweden is in violation of national legislation, hence the take-off ban. The board has discussed various alternatives with the owners about how we can solve this problem together. The owners are open to dialogue, but have also offered the Congo Queen for sale, on the condition of the administrative and financial burden that deal may now bear.' History of c/n 33445 by www.vallentuna-aviators.se/en/ ¬ Ordered in 1944 by the US Army Air Force with s/n 44-77113 ¬ Built in 1945 in Oklahoma City ¬ Delivered on the 08Jun1945 from the plant in Oklahoma City via Montreal to the Royal Air Force as KP227. ¬ The aircraft arrived in England on the 22nd of June 1945 ¬ In 1946 the aircraft was transferred to RCAF, the Royal Canadian Air Force, still as KP227 ¬ On the 26th of June 1970 the RCAF changed the call sign to 12906 ¬ On the 30th of July 1976 the aircraft was withdrawn from use ¬ In June 1977 sold to Basler Flight Service @Oshkosh,WI and registered N99665 ¬ Åke Jansson selected this aircraft for his employer Kalicak Constructions, St. Louis, Missouri. Åke ferried the aircraft from St. Louis via Oshkosh, Goose Bay, Narssarssuaq, Bergen and Stockholm/Arlanda to Vallentuna. Shortly thereafter the aircraft was flown to Africa ¬ In 1979 the aircraft was bought by Åke Jansson (from Transports Aériens Zaïrois) with registration 9Q-CUK ¬ Due to the unsafe situation in Zaïre in 1991 the aircraft was flown to Sweden, arrived at Vallentuna on 20Oct91 ¬ In 1999 the aircraft was re-registered ES-AKE and it was re-registered once more as 9Q-CUK in 2007 ¬ In May 2009 the aircraft was given the name 'Congo Queen'. ¬ Owner: Åke Jansson

History by ATDB.aero online database; note that this includes the relevant N-number N41CQ which is not included in
the Vallentuna Aviation (Vallentuna aviatörsförening) website. On FAA's N-inquiry the registration date shows as 06May2016 to Adams Aviation Services (Delaware). The ES- registration was done in Estonia, avoiding SE- legislation!
(Note to the above history, for 'Air Kasai' probably should be read Transports Aériens Zaïrois).

UPDATE NOV.2019 by Gerben Tornij en Coert Munck (webmaster's translation). Gerben wrote me he'd read in
FlyPast magazine that N41CQ had been sold to a new owner in China. Coert replied that 'CQ meanwhile had arrived in China (Nanching) had been sighted in CNAC-livery at an air event. The DC-3 is destined to join a new collection in Bejing and is to be kept airworthy. Åke Jansson ferried 'The Congo Queen' last october; he'd reached a point where he saw no option to keep N41CQ in the air in Sweden. His relation with Swedish aviation authorities had been strained over a number of years. Not an easy decision as Ake had been, directly or indirectly, owner/caretaker of this C-47 for 45 years! Fortunately it will remain airworthy (a status for no less than 193 DC-3s allegedly).

(Webmaster's note to this: on 25Sep19 the 2nd airport of Bejing, Daxing Int'l Airport, was officially opened by Chairman Xi Jinping (capacity of 74 million passengers with room to grow to 100 million). It has been suggested that
the old airport Nanyuan may see the establishment of an aviation museum. Could this be the new home for c/n 33445?)

UPDATE DEC.2019: Fake reg XT-125 applied, CNAC c/s (orig XT-125 c/n is unknown), will be part of flying
collection near Beijing. ¬Scramble magazine #487, Dec.2019.

Simon Paul visited the EAA Venture 25Jul19 and shares some information and a few interesting photos here.

Douglas C-47B N64766 (c/n 27218/15773) of Airborne Support/Environmental Air Services.
Ken Swartz' gallery has N64766 still at Houma,LA in March 2017.

This seems to be C-FDTB (c/n 12597), which obviously has donated much of its parts. I believe these parts were
used in the 'D-Day 75' resurrection of C-FDTD: check Mikey McBryan's YouTube channel 'Plane Savers' on this.

Basler's conversion #68 has obviously some way to go! Described as N167TW (c/n 26005, ex CF-QHY of Sioux Narrows Airways a.k.a. Plummer's Lodge) this is likely an error: N1350A (c/n 33032), former Rolla Airport (Vichy,MS) resident can be identified by the USAAF roundel and 'U.S. Air Force' markings.
Thanks to Micheal Prophet for pointing this out.
My page Photos by Friends & Guests #26 has a 2010 photo of CF-QHY at Gimli, Manitoba (with 'FNT Inc.'- titles), compare it to www.jetphotos.com/photo/542648 and I am sure you will agree this is C-47B N1350A!

Douglas DC-3 with 'Vera Lynn II'-titles
Simon identified this as N941AT (c/n 12907) by the photos on www.aerialvisuals.ca which shows, vaguely, the 'Vera
Lynn'-titles. I consulted Air-Britain's 'The First Seventy Years' which has a detailed history on c/n 12907: USAAF 42-93040 ended up at RFC Walnut Ridge on 22Nov45, reg'd NC54366 for Essair Inc., ended up back with the air
force again in the 1950s, R27Jan67 N6666A for Coty of New Orleans for use in mosquito spraying, to T.E. Demint
in June '84, reg'd N941AT to R. and S. Dover of Georgetown,TX on 16Feb95, trading as Air Tejas; named 'Vera
Lynn II' in Oct.'97. R25Jan00 N914AT Inc of Wilmington,DE and sighted at Gainesville,TX in July 2003.
End quote from 'the DC-3 bible' published in 2006.
The book 'Douglas DC-3 Survivors' by Kengo Yamamoto has a 1997 photo of N941AT, also mentioning the
'Vera Lynn II'-titles, on page 62 while it is seen landing at Georgetown,TX; the caption also mentions
".. unusual double landing lights on each wing and the one piece windscreen, .."
Airliners.net has a 1998 photo by AirNikon, "Owned by Rob & Simon Diver (Air Tejas). Has 'Air Tejas' titles
on inside of freight doors only."
Aerialvisuals.ca has "25 July 2001: Crashed. The airframe was a loss. The accident occurred at Del Rio Int'l
Airport, TX (DRT) (United States of America) while landing. Narrative: The DC-3 was damaged beyond
repair during landing at Del Rio, TX when a brake failed. The aircraft noses down and hit the ground."
Elsewhere online I found: "93040 (MSN 12907) To RFC Nov 22, 1945. To NC54366 with Pioneer Airlnes [sic]
"Stephen F. Austin. Back to USAF as C-117C mar 1, 1952. then N6666A City of New Orleans.
To N941AT. Stored at Gainesville MAP,TX in 2008 with no tail."

JoeJoe Prince sent me this image, of N251CE fuel hauling at Bethel,AK 20Aug19.

Petr Nesmarak published this (and his) photo in August 2019 on Facebook. Date of photo 11Aug19, arrived on the 9th.
For me it is a much appreciated updated to my Parco Tematico dell' Aviazione (Rimini) 2008 report!
Glad it found a good home: Zruč Air Park, Czech Republic.
Follow the link for the details of this Douglas C-47 c/n 4380.

C-47 mm61826 Italian Air Force, moved from Museo dell'Aviazione in Rimini to a new home in the Czech Republic

DC-3 HK-2820 of Aliansa (Aerolíneas Andinas S.A.) was involved in a runway excursion on 15Aug2019.

"Civil Aeronautics reported that in the morning hours of Thursday, August 15, an air incident occurred with an
aircraft covering the Route Araracuara – La Chorrera, Amazonas. According to the authorities, the aircraft
with 19 passengers and 3 crew suffered a mishap when leaving the runway after landing.
At the moment details of how the events occurred are unknown, however, the authorities confirmed that
all the people who were on board are well and out of danger.
Civil Aviation indicated that an investigation has already been opened to clarify what happened."  (¬ 15Aug19)

History of C-47A c/n 20171, courtesy online database ATDB.aero (aug.2019)

Here's another photo that circulated on Facebook:

During the runway excursion, this veteran Douglas suffered damage to the landing gear, engines and on the right wing.
All passengers and crew left the plane on their own and there were no injuries. Located in the middle of Colombia's
dense Amazon, the La Chorrera Airfield has no basic infrastructure and suffers from the climate of the region,
making its operation extremely complicated.
www.transponder1200.com/sufre-excursion-de-pista-douglas-dc-3-de-aliansa-colombia-en-la-chorrera/

The airline produced a statement 15Aug19 (online translation)- "The incident occurred today with the HK-2820 aircraft where a runway exit occurred, did not cause any serious event or injury to the people on board or those exposed at the site, only mild damage occurred at the right wing tip of the plane."

In an update I read it was pulled out by hand by the local military staff and thus parked on the main ramp.
The damage, possible limited to the rh-wing, may well be repairable.

A photo circulated on Facebook of C-118B (DC-6A) N451CE written off (?) upon a landing mishap at Candle,AK.

More on N451CE on my page USA 2012: Propliners at Fairbanks

Ian Whitlock wrote me today (07Aug19): "I was just searching for information about PH-PBY and found your article. Here is a photo of the aircraft in the hangar at New Smyrna Beach today!"

'The Dutch Cat' at its new home..

On Paul Weston's Alaska Flying added DHC-2 N37741 on a summer's day in a crater lake called Jewel Lake

Casey Lasota wrote me in August 2019: "Am up in Beaver working a fire, and came upon the Boxcar wreckage.
Wouldn't you know it, it's become a den for a black bear!"
(See also Casey's photo of ATL.98 Carvair N103 at Venetie,AK on my Abandoned Plane Wrecks of the North plus
many other contributions of similar abandoned wrecks in the Arctic North!)

Fred Barnes went to Duxford IWM for 'Daks over Duxford' on different dates than I did and shares some here:

DC-3C (C-47B) NC33611 (c/n 34378) in vintage Pan Am livery and named 'Tabitha May'.

Fred wrote me: "I was lucky to do a 'fly in' to Duxford on 30th May, with two friends, when the weather was sunny but not all of the Daks had arrived. We returned by car on 4th June, but sadly the weather was not the best for the paradrop and photography. Here are two photographs taken on 4th June: LN-WND 'coming back on one', with the port engine shut down, and 'Tabitha May' firing up after work on the port engine."

The blades turned to reduce drag.
Engine problems would cut short the 'D-Day 75' participation of Dakota Norway.
Very disappointing to all concerned.

See my extensive report on 'DAKS OVER DUXFORD (2019)'
PAGE ONE (D-DAY SQUADRON) + PAGE 2 (EUROPEAN PARTICPANTS)

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Whilst on the subject of DC-3s, Fred had seen an issue on my Photos by Friends & Guests #57, on Hiper (or Hi-Per) conversions of the DC-3. The facts are not always clear to me: a full conversion seem to have included more powerful
engines such as were put on the DC-4 plus wheeldoors to reduce drag ('maximizer speed kit'). But some of these
Hiper conversions did not include the engine change or went back to the original Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp.
I would welcome more information: EMAIL (please include the URL you're referring too).

C-47A F-BCYV (c/n 10141) of Vargas Aviation taken at Exeter on 1st June 1973. Photo by Fred Barnes.
It has the 'maximizer kit'-type wheeldoors, not sure if it is a full Hiper conversion with upgraded engines.

A little bit of history on this C-47A: From USAAF (42-24279) it went to Air France (F-BCYF; opf CEP/Centre d'Exploitation Postale from 28/10/48) and afterwards was operated by Fretair, Vargas Aviation and Uni-Air then
'became' J5-GAL for LIA of Guinea Bissau. And seems to be still around, status: 'stored at Bissallanca / Oswaldo
Viera' (Guinea Bissau). [Info courtesy ATDB.aero per 7-2019; nil info on a Hiper conversion].
Air-Britain's 'DC-3, The First Seventy Years' has no information of a Hiper conversion for c/n 10141 either.

DC-3-2000 C-GJDM at Peterborough visited by Ken Swartz; for more on this see Ken's gallery on my website!

Following the disassembly of C-119 N5216R at Battle Mountain,NV - For more see my C-119 Info Page #4

'Boxcar Bulletin' May-July 2019. As one can read, for the RCAF nose a home has been found..

Albert Davidson shared this photo on Facebook, identified by others as a DC-6.

The paint on the nose seems to have a slightly weathered look. The trailer does not appear to be suited to haul
it over considerable distances. Owner a collector or retired UAL pilot? (EMAIL)

I thought this list I came across a forum would be of interest to copy and save!

www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=69586&start=30
By John Terrell-
Being on a DC-3/C-47 kick over the past week, I thought I would spend a bit of time collecting as much information as I could on all variants of the DC-3 currently flying (including turbo-conversions), world-wide.
Here are my results (187 at current count):

Australia: 7 (VH-AES, VH-ABR, VH-AGU, VH-EAE, VH-EAF, VH-OVM, VH-TMQ)
Bolivia: 1 (CP-2421)
Canada: 24 (C-FBKB, C-FCUE, C-FDTD, C-FGCX, C-FKAL, C-FKGL, C-GKKB, C-FLFR, C-FMKB, C-FTGI, C-FTGX, C-FVNS, C-FWUI, C-GAWI, C-GDAK, C-GEAI, C-GEAJ, C-GGSU, C-GHGF, C-GJKB, C-GPNR, C-GRSB, C-GVKB, C-GWZS)
Colombia: 16 (FAC1654, FAC1658, FAC1667, HK-1175, HK-122, HK-1315, HK-2006, HK-2820, HK-3037, HK-3215, HK-3286, HK-3292, HK-5016, PNC-0256, PNC-0257, PNC-0258)
Denmark: 1 (OY-BPB)
El Salvador: 2 (FAS116, YS-53C)
England: 5 (G-AMPY?, G-ANAF, N147DC, N473DC, ZA947)
Finland: 1 (OH-LCH)
France: 3 (F-AZTE, F-AZOX, F-HVED)
Germany: 1 (ZS-NTE)
Guatemala: 1 (FAG590)
Hungary: 1 (HA-LIX)
Iceland: 1 (TF-NPK)
India: 1 (VP905)
Kenya: 1 (5Y-WOW)
Mauritania: 1 (5T-MAH)
Netherlands: 1 (PH-PBA)
New Zealand: 3 (ZK-AWP, ZK-DAK, ZK-JGB)
Norway: 1 (LN-WND)
Russia: 3 (RA-05738, RA-2059G, RA-2944G)
South Africa: 9 (SAAF6839, SAAF6852, SAAF6885, SAAF6887, ZS-ASN, ZS-BXF, ZS-CAI, ZS-CRV, ZS-DIW)
Sweden: 2 (N41CQ, SE-CFP)
Switzerland: 2 (N150D, N431HM)
Thailand: 8 (RTAF46151, RTAF46153, RTAF46154, RTAF46155, RTAF46156, RTAF46157, RTAF46158, RTAF46159)
Turkey: 1 (N3291)
United States: 90 (N103NA, N115U, N131PR, N137PB, N138FS, N141PR, N143D, N146RD, N147AZ, N151ZE, N15MA, N15SJ, N17334, N18121, N193DP, N198RD, N1XP, N200MF, N231GB, N24320, N25641, N25673, N26MA, N271SE, N272R, N272ZZ, N2805J, N28AA, N28TN, N29TN, N3006, N300BF, N300MF, N30TN, N3239T, N33611, N33644, N33VW, N34, N341A, N345AB, N346AB, N34DF, N353MM, N400MF, N41HQ, N437GB, N43XX, N44587, N45366, N467SP, N472AF, N47E, N47SJ, N47TB, N500MF, N5106X, N534BE, N56V, N583V, N587MB, N59314, N60154, N61981, N62CC, N64766, N64767, N64784, N705GB, N728G, N734H, N737H, N74589, N791HH, N7AP, N814CL, N8336C, N836M, N86584, N8704, N87745, N877MG, N882TP, N8WJ, N92578, N932H, N9796N, N982Z, N983DC, N99FS)

Purposely not included: N16005 of the Lyon Air Museum and N1944A of the Fantasy of Flight collection - both are not currently operated.

I don't know exactly how many of the Thailand Air Force Basler fleet still remains active at this time - I've listed out all of them except for RTAF 46152, as I know that one is now on outdoor static display at Phitsanulok.
With regard to the list of types in the US, this is not just a listing of all of the N numbers registered in the US (there are far more!) - each one that I have listed has been verified to have been active within the last 5 years and could still fly at this time.

John: "I wouldn't be surprised at all if there is still a large swath of DC-3's (and related types) still to add."

Last edited by JohnTerrell on Fri Jun 07, 2019 3:24 pm, edited 22 times in total.

When the Museum of Mountain Flying (Missoula, Montana) was restoring their 'Miss Montana' to airworthiness they
needed to lease or purchase another DC-3 for crew training in order to get under way to England in time for D-Day 75.
They bought this 'Western Airlines' DC-3A N33644 (c/n 4123); reg'd 16May19 to Western Airlines (Drummond,MT).

Beech G18S N233H (c/n BA-481) seen derelict here at Bethel,AK 04Jul2019

N233H of Renfro's Alaskan Adventures suffred a landing gear collapse 15Jun10 upon landing at Napakiak, Alaska
Had been reg'd 12Feb2010 to Michael W. Renfro of Bethel,AK
Allegedly Renfro's, after they salvaged the engines, they donated N233H to the local fire department for training.
Previous reg'd to Bilco Air LLC of Danville,IL it seems this Twin Beech has reached the end of the road here at Bethel.

N233H is featured among a number of webpages of mine: Photos by JoeJoe Prince | Photos by Friends & Guests #24 |
Page #38 | Page #39

EMAIL

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