Well-known in Dutch and international propliner circles, Ron Mak's history with classic transports go back a long way.
Ron has been particularly involved in the Consolidated PBY Catalina, at some point actually organizing tours with this fascinating flying boat, but his journeys to countries far and wide concerns all vintage propliners and I am proud to be able to share some of his images and recollections here.
Where applicable, Ron has added his comments.

Photos © Ron Mak Collection

-> 'Thumbnails' can be clicked on for a larger format photo <-

Ron Mak sent me this photo, with which he wrote:
"I noticed the nice pictures of deHavilland Dove PH-MAD on your website and remembered my very first flight! That was in another Martin's Air Charter (MAC) deHavilland Dove (the PH-MAC) in May 1960, from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.
My incomplete history on PH-MAC is as follows: De Havilland DH.104 Dove (c/n 04020) was leased from T.D Keegan Ltd (ex G-AMVV ) by MAC for the period May 1958 - May 1960; it was returned to T.D Keegan, reregistered G-AMVV and sold as D-IBYC.
The scenic flight I made may well have been the last one PH-MAC made.
I'd welcome further details on the history of this Dove."
EMAIL

Janic Geelen wrote me the following history

Martin's Air Charter became Martinair (Holland); per 01Nov2011 passenger operations ceased, after 53 years and the company continued as Martinair Cargo.
See also my Martinair page in my gallery Changed Liveries.

"DC-3 PH-DAW is seen at Schiphol-Oost ('-East') on 02Dec1968. I was working at Schiphol-Centre for only 2 months and riding my Tomas motorcycle home when I passed PH-DAW. It was operating for KLM Aerocarto and I never saw it again."

Herman Dekker has (C-47A) PH-DAW listed as involved in 2 incidents (Amsterdam, 18Jan61) & Rotterdam, 10Apr68) of which he would like to learn the details.

This website has the following on PH-DAW: In 1965 the last DC-3 left the KLM fleet, but two DC-3 aircraft continued services at KLM Aerocarto. The last one (registration PH-DAW) was sold in 1970.

C/n 13458 was delivered as 42-108961 on 29May44, reregistered KG646 on 06Jun44 (RAF Montreal) and transferred to the UK where it served with 575 Squadron and 24 Sqdn (14Aug44). In 1945 it was assigned to 1381 (T) CU.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines bought it on 20Nov46 and saw it delivered 27Feb47; it was registered PH-TDW but reregistered PH-DAW on 11May54; the registry was revised for KLM Aerocarto on 04Apr55.
On 16Jul70 it was registered in the Surinam Registry as PZ-TLA. At some point its registration was cancelled and PZ-TLA was last seen end-1970s at Paramaribo's Int'l Aiport Zanderij (IATA: PBM) without its engines. [Source: Air-Britain's DC-3 the First Seventy Years, 2006 and Herman Dekker]

Ron sent me this vintage DC-7C shot:

EC-BCH DC-7C Trans Europa, at Amsterdam's Schiphol 20Jul1969, during engine startup.

C/n 45092/759 was first delivered to Pan Am World Airways (N748PA "Clipper Georgia) on 26Jan57. In 1963 it was leased to Panair do Brasil and registered as PP-PEH. In 1965 it returned to Pan Am and became tailnumber N7181.
Intercontinental Air Inc. bought it on 06Jan66 and in June of that year it was purchased by Trans Europa, becoming EC-BCH.
A few years later it was stored at Palma de Mallorca and subsequently broken up during March 1970.
[History by 'Piston Engined Airliner Production List', TAHS 2007]

Colour photo on AirlineFan.com

Ron wrote: "Here is another nice Douglas DC-7C at Amsterdam's East ramp: N2977 of Servairwise. Its c/n is 45467, by then ex/ EC-BOZ, seen at Schiphol on 10Nov1971.
It was delivered to Northwest Orient Airlines as N297 21-04-1958, flown with Lance Air Transport, Riddle Airlines, Liberty Air Inc., International Aerodyne, Airlift international, Standard Airways, TAE as EC-BOZ leased in 1968 and returned to Int'l Aerodyne as N2977 in august 1970.
TR-LQC International Aerodyne reregistered on27-07-1971. N2977 Servairwise Inc bought 30Aug1971, Airwise Ltd transferred 28-09-1972, International Air Lease bt 27-07-1973; Air Management Corp. bt 15-08-1973, Ronald J Clark bt 12-1974, United Air Cargo ( Kenya ) lsd 11-1975, Ronald J Clark, ret 12-1975, Emirates Air Transport "Ality " bt 01-1976 , TZ-ARC Emirates Air Transport " Alily, rr 09-1976.
Crashed on Mount Kenya, near Nairobi (Kenya) 04-10-1976... Sad! "

More on this DC-7 N2977 see Terry Murphy's image when N2977 was flying for United Air Cargo Kenya.

Martinair's DC-6A PH-MAM (c/n 44257) taxies past the end of the B-gates, which was then an extension of the terminal terrace and accessable for the public.

C/n 44257 was delivered to KLM as PH-TGB on 13Nov53 and named "Generaal C J Snijder; it was reregistered PH-DFB for KLM on 16Feb54.
It became N4065K for General Electric Company, which bought it on 08Jan61. Charlotte Aircraft Corporation bought it in 1965.
Martinair bought it on 13Dec66 and registered it as PH-MAM.
The next owner was Inex Adria Airways who acquired it in May 1971 and put tailnumber YU-AFG on it. Alyemda bought it in June 1976 and it was registered as 70-ABO; in 1979 it was reported 'wfu' and stored at Aden. Its remains may still linger at a scrapyard in Aden-Khormaksar.
[History by 'Piston Engined Airliner Production List', TAHS 2007]

"Canadair CL-44 N447T of Flying Tiger Line, caught on camera on 06Sep1965 at Amsterdam's Schiphol."

N447T was later reconfigured to the remarkable Conroy CL-44-O Guppy. Airliners.net has a selection.

Douglas DC-4 TL-KAP, the personal plane of Jean Bedel Bokassa,
caught on camera by Ron Mak at Paris - Le Bourget 27Mar1970.

C-54A c/n 7483 was delivered as 42-107464 to the US Army Air Force on 21Apr1944. Bought by American Air Lines in 1946, registered N90416 (named "Flagship San Antonio"). Purchased by Air France in 1949 and registered F-BBDP. Acquired by Central African Republic on 19Nov1968 and registered as TL-KAP. It became TL-CDG for Ste. Le Paysan Air when bought on 14Jun79. Reported stored in Nov79. [Piston Engined Airliner Production List, TAHS 2007]

Jean-Bédel Bokassa: 22 February 1921 – 2 November 1996, also known as Bokassa I of Central Africa and Salah Eddine Ahmed Bokassa) was the military ruler of the Central African Republic from 1 January 1966 and the Emperor of the Central African Empire from 4 December 1976 until he was overthrown on 20 September 1979. [Wikipedia, more..]

This seems to be a KLM Lockheed Constellation, undergoing (phase out?) maintenance. No date/location.

Constellation c/n 2069 was delivered to KLM PH-TAV 'Venlo' on 9 September 1946. Planned sale to Swiss Air Lines (unconfirmed). Registration cancelled 19 July 1950 and aircraft sold to Capital Airlines via Lockheed Aircraft Company (trade-in for L-749As) as N86532 'Capitaliner Liberty', FN754
and delivered 1 October 1950. [Zoggavia]
Herman Dekker: PH-TAV Lockheed 049 Constellation (2069) - 19Jul1950 Registration cancelled - Became N86532, (LV-PWK), (LV-PKW), N86532, CC-CAA. Scrapped Santiago de Chile, after march 1979.

Ron Mak sent me this 'jungle shot' in Sep. 2009:

Ron: "I departed the following day from Leticia and enjoyed a flight onboard an Aeropesca C-46 for some 4 hours, and all that time nothing but jungle below us, a remarkable experience!"

As explained on the first page of Ron's photos, two Curtis C-46A Commando's have flown in Colombia with tailnumber HK-388: c/n 25796 was destroyed somewhere and c/n 26796, Aeropesca's, seems to have vanished, its ultimate fate obscured...
Source: ATDB

MORE OF RON MAK'S PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS WEBSITE HERE...

Ron Mak sent me some more images from his fascinating propliner collection.

Fokker F.27 Friendship from Guatemala TG-AOA, taken at Tikal on 29Oct1980.
Ron compiled of this fine Dutch product;
c/n 10261 | F-27-200 | f/f 08Oct1964
PH-FGC to All Nippon JA8636 del 03-11-64, bought by Air Niugini P2-BNF 28-11-1974 rr P2-ANF 11-11-1975, sold to Aviateca 06-04-1978, to Guatemala A.F 01-01-1983, cvt to F27-400M march 1985, returned to Fokker as PH-FGC 16-06-1987, leased to Sudan Airways as ST-ALF october 1987, returned to Fokker 29-08-1989 as PH-FGC, sold to Air Jet as F-GHRC november 1989,
Source: TAHS production list.

Arrival of Aviateca F.27 TG-AOA at Tikal, Guatemala on 29Oct80.

Notes from the Webmaster: From Air Jet it went to Lina Congo on a lease (F-GHRC), then it moved to Germany for WDL Aviation (D-BAKB) and as such it is presently stored at Köln (source ATDB.org)

Tailnumber TG-AOA was previously assigned to another Aviateca aircraft, a Douglas DC-4. And below registration TG-AMA was, after use on the DC-3, assigned to a Boeing 737-300 of Aviateca.

C-47A TG-AMA (c/n 13484, 12435)

C-47A TG-AMA seen here at Floris on 11Nov1980. I found TG-AMA (c/n 13484) had crashed on 17Feb1975 and has been described as 'beyond repair' in the report on Aviation Safety Network. But Ron claims to have this photo taken in 1980. ATDB.org supports the claim TG-AMA was destroyed at Tikal.
When I asked Ron's comment he wrote: "... but I did in fact fly TG-AMA on 11Nov1980, from Guatemala City to Floris! That image below was made at departure from Guatemala City-La Aurora airport; possibly registration TG-AMA was used more than once?"
So I checked Air-Britain's "DC-3, the First Seventy Years" and found TG-AMA was later applied to DC-3 c/n 12435!

Lockheed Constellation ..-121 and visible under the wing 'LAPSA".
Research by Ron (TAHS' referencebook on Piston Propliners) brought the following to the surface:
Lockeed C-69/L.049 RX-121 (c/n 1968)
Delivered as 43-10316 to the United States Air Force on 11May1945
Stored at Burbank,CA Oct.1945. Then to War Assets Administration, transferred 31Mar1947
Registered as N90829 for Service Airways Inc, bought 11Mar1948
Next as RX-121 to Lineas Aereos de Panama SA, 1948.
Returning to registration N90829 for Intercontinental Airways in 1949; stored that same year.
Purchase by Capital Airlines not taken up
Registered as, 4X-AKC for El Al, bought April 1951; subsequently converted to L.149
Shot down north of Petrich, on Bulgarian - Greek border on 27Jul1955.

Note: while Panama now has the HK- prefix, this used to be RX-.

A March 2010 update of propliners at Manilla (MNL), Philippines; opening with the famous 'Winky Fish Constellation'
(in this photo also visible An-24 RP-C7205 of Mosphil-Aero and DC-3 RP-C1354)

Impounded since early 1988 at Manila International Airport, Lockheed Constellation C-121J (R7V-1) N4247K has been slowly rotting away in the hot and humid climate.
contrary to the oddss, the aircraft seems almost totally intact.
This Super Connie was delivered to the US Navy in Dec1953 as R7V-1 BuNo 131643. After being retired in May 1974 it was stored at Davis Monthan AFB until May 1981 when William 'Winky' Crawford bought her at an auction.
Registered N4247K, she was restored and ferried to Arlington,WA in June 1981.
Restoration was completed in Nov87 and the aircraft was registered to Winky’s 'World Fish and Agriculture' company.

The aircraft was flown across the Pacific Ocean to Palau Island during the second week of Nov87 for the purpose of flying fresh tuna from the island to Nagoya, Japan. A few flights were made hauling fish before the aircraft was impounded at Manila in early 1988...
Winky was reportedly the victim of unscrupulous Filipino businessmen, who wanted to gain control of the aircraft and what they thought was a lucrative fish hauling business.
The 'Winky’s Fish' -titles are still visible.
Sofar it has been 'overlooked by the the scrapman, but for how much longer..?
Source: www.conniesurvivors.com

In November 2011 it was under notice to be removed or scrapped. Fortunately the QANTAS Museum stepped in and work began under way to prepare it for transport to Australia. On 19Aug2015 it was seen being partly disassembled. And in the march 2017 issue of Scramble magazine I read it had been reported in Manilla's seaport, ready for transport (unfortunalely no date of that sighting).
See also the item on my page Photos by Friends & Guests (40). Transport by sea from Manilla to Australia was set for later in 2017 and indeed arrived at the QANTAS' Founder's Museum (Longreach,QLD) and now awaits reassembly and restoration for display!

Notes to the above thumbnails,
left to right- 1st row
Fokker F.27s 10267 and 10327 - F.27 10267 - F.27 10310
left to right - 2nd row
YS-11 RP-C3338 (c/n 2142) Interisland (one of two airworthy YS-11s on de Philippines, regularly operating to Kalibo) - F.27 10327 derelict - Lockheed Constellation N4247K (c/n 4144).

All photos taken by Ron Mak @ Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport 09Mar2010.

Ron sent an image of DC-6 YV-290C, taken by him at Caracas 03Nov1983.

Ron included the following historical data:

C/n 44107 DC-6B

N6107C Pan American World Airways "Clipper Balboa" del 30-09-53

cvtd to DC6a/b 1960.

6701 Portuguese Air Force bt 26-06-1961

N789TA Atlas Aircraft Corp bt 09-1978

YV-290C Aero B "Caracas" bt 12-11-78

YV-243P ??? bt 1985

HI-454CT Transporte Aero Dominicana bt 10-1985

w.f.u & stored Santo Domingo 07-1991

[Source: TAHS Piston Engine Airliner Production List]

C/n 4107 on Airliners.net

Caracas 03Nov1983: (left to right) YV-293C , YV-295C ex Sata c/s, and YV-297C.

This photo was taken from Catalina Z-CAT, of African Safari, shortly after lifting off from Sana'a airport in Yemen, on 01Dec93.

The second DC-6, 4W-ABV, I could not find in my edition of the Piston Airliner Production List by TAHS; could anyone provide such a history & fate for 4W-ABV? EMAIL

Matt Miller and Aad van der Voet responded on the possible identity of 4W-ABV:
"Merely an opinion. I am confident the second DC-6B has Swissair connections.
Looking at options, I am drawn to 44088 and 44089, namely HB-IBU and HB-IBZ.
Can we prove beyond all doubt that both 9Q-CVM and 9T-TLB were scrapped? There is a world of difference between 'withdrawn from use' and 'scrapped'..."
Matt

"9Q-CVM seems an unlikely candidate.
4W-ABV was first listed in the JP Airline Fleets 1978 (without a c/n), which means it must have been around in a fleetlist, or photographed, or sighted, as early as Apr1978. It is not yet mentioned in their 1977 edition.
But 9Q-CVM was still at Basle by Jun1979, as seen here:
www.airliners.net/photo/0162903/L/
This makes it unlikely for 4W-ABV to be ex/ 9Q-CVM.
9Q-CVM was also reported to be still stored at Kinshasa-N'djili in 2005, but this was not a very reliable report and it may be incorrect.
I can add absolutely nothing about 9T-TLB..."
Aad.

Alexandre Avrane wrote on this:
"4W-ABV was first reported in 1983, although the sequence suggests it was imported in the early 1970's. This page (in German) suggests it was put on exhibit near the airport:
www.globezoom.info/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=6022&page=2 " (dead link by 29Apr21).

ON A CONCLUSIVE NOTE:
"Matt, Alexandre and I looked into this 4W-ABV mystery more closely, and we came to the conclusion that it must almost certainly be DC-6B c/n 43548, ex YK-AED of Syrian Arab Airlines.
The main clue is 4W-ABV's uncommon arrangement of small skylight windows, three forward of the wing, and three aft, clearly visible in Ron's photo. This arrangement is only found on ex Swissair and ex SAS aircraft. Also, more detailed photos of 4W-ABV showed that it is a DC-6B and that it has a cheatline that very much resembles an overpainted Syrian Arab Airlines cheatline.
This gave us a short list of possible candidates, and a process of elimination based on known fates and time frames showed that only YK-AED was a perfect match.
There's no 100% certainty, that would require access to the aircraft's data plate or Yemen's civil aircraft register, both very unlikely to ever happen. But we are very confident that 4W-ABV is DC-6B c/n 43548.
Also of interest is that this aircraft still survives at Sana'a today, or at least in Oct 2009 it still did.
The sole DC-6 survivor at Sana'a is often quoted as 4W-ABP, but this is wrong. 4W-ABV is the surviving one."
Aad van der Voet.
[18mar2011]

Brian Maddison offered a suggestion:
"I have this as c/n 10604 (source unrecorded), but google found what appears to be confirmation: http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/americas/peru/AirForce/Peru-af-C54.htm as does Joe Baugher's site.
A couple of photos exist (as OB-R-894) taken in 1972, no idea what happened since.
Almost certainly scrapped ?"
Brian

Aad van der Voet noticed the anomaly of dates here:
"The date of the photo taken is noted as Dec 1973, but OB-R-894 already flew in Dec. 1972 with SATCO! And by Dec. 1973 SATCO no longer operated under that name but had changed to AeroPeru!"

John Davis volunteered on Air-Britain's (members) AB-IX forum:
"There has never been any question as to the identity of the Fuerza Aerea del Peru's C-54 386. It was C-54D 42-72499, c/n 10604, supplied to Peru under MAP on 27Jul66.
As noted, ultimate fate is unknown, but undoubtably broken up for spares or scrap."

Aad & John discussed things further and concluded:
"It's a fact that the aircraft was registered for SATCO as OB-R-894 in apr72.
Two photos on the internet show it in full SATCO livery by Dec72. The following link shows an image on which the aircraft still has the FAP serial 66-386 on the rudder: www.planes.cz
(Assuming the date published with the photo is correct).

Quite possibly the aircraft was retourned to FAP in may73, when SATCO was merged into the newly formed AeroPeru. It wasn't unusual for aircraft to be returned to FAP.
So the history would be:
42-72499, FAP 66-386, OB-R-894, FAP 66-386, fate unknown."