The Ubiquitous DC-3

 


*** NOTE: If imagery has changed and a marked plane has gone missing, you can use historical imagery to find it as it was. ***

You can link back to the second version of the DC-3 thread HERE. Perusing that and its linked predecessor (first posted 6/30/05), you can read all posts contributed by many people who helped make this collection possible.

Collection folder last edited 03-03-2016.


The 80th Anniversary of the DC-3's first flight was December 17, 2015.

Documentary: The DC-3. The plane that changed the world (YouTube)
Originally shown on PBS in the mid-1980's.


Documentary: Discovery - Great Planes - Douglas C-47 Dakota (YouTube)
This more recent Australian production concentrates on the use and
conversion of the DC-3/C-47 during war.


You can see lots of DC-3 images with a Google search HERE.

If you like DC-3's, you will like DC-3: A Legend in Her Time A 75th Anniversary Photographic Tribute

As I've searched airports and air museums around the world, the most likely easily recognizable plane I see is the Douglas DC-3 or one of its variants. . From high altitude, even from space, the distinctive DC-3 stands out. The shapes of the wing and tail are distinctive. A few other similar looking planes, like the Curtiss C-46 Commando, are also included in this thread and in the placemark folder because they often get posted as DC-3's




DC-3 dimensions are approx 95' wingspan and 65' length.

Image from www.wmof.com



The first one flew in 1935; many still fly today. With the help of other DC-3 fans the folder attached here contains many hundreds of placemarks.

This post includes all DC-3 placemarks to date in one folder. If you think you have a new one, download the attached placemark folder first. All finds to the time of the update are in it. If there is no placemark on your find, it's a new one.

There are undoubtedly more out there. So if you find one, attach it as a reply, or send me the coordinates by private message if you prefer (I'll credit you with the find when I add it to the folder. ). I'll bet we can find a lot more of them. Happy hunting.  Note: I originally wrote this in 2005. Boy was I surprised at the response.

A BIG THANKS to all of the DC-3 fans who have added to the list.

Other sources:

Wikipedia Link

The Aviation Forum 

www.ruudleeuw.com/dc3_gate.htm

The DC-3 Hangar

The Aviation History Online Museum

www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Dakota.htm

DC-3 History.org

Old Props

The Dakota Hunter - a Facebook site

  



Many are still used for skydiving (left from www.allposters.com ) Some are modified, like this DC-3 floatplane. www.dc3history.org (center) A World War II identification card from



C-47 in D-Day color scheme (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michelle Turner) Source

You Tube videos of DC-3's. There are about 20 more of varying quality linked in the You Tube site.
  




There were even two glider versions created from C-47's - XCG-17's

QUOTE:
"In early 1944 Lieutenant Chester Joseph Decker had an idea to remove the engines from the C-47 thus making it a glider. Chet Decker was a National Soaring Glider Champion assigned to the Glider Branch as a power pilot and glider pilot at Wright Field and Clinton County Army Air Field (CCAAF),the glider test and experiment base.

Official records and other writers credit William Lazarus as originator of this conversion concept. Floyd Sweet who was assigned to the Glider Branch, Wright Field from late November, 1942 until becoming head of the Glider Branch from October 1945 through its demise in 1952 has said the idea was Decker's and Decker was "shafted" for the idea because he was "out of line" for going to the Pentagon over the head of Wright Field officers with the idea. This experimental article was designated XCG-17." 

  
Since I can't afford my own full-sized DC-3, I've been purchasing a small fleet of DC-3's and
variants over the past few years. They are 1:144 scale.

Attachments:

DC-3s_08-08-2016.kmz (121.64 KB)

A BT-67 conversion further south than the currently marked DC-3

Attachments:

BT-67 at Chiang Mai.kmz (706 B)

Not many photos of this one around the net. The nearby DC-4 seems to capture more attention.


Bet you could sit on that see-saw underneath it for hours.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

DC-3 at Briceo.kmz (724 B)

Base imagery at Cheongju has finally been replaced with good imagery. The C-123B that was there in the base imagery has now been replaced with a C-46.
The C-123 hasn't been lost but, unless they are expanding the museum into another area, it doesn't appear to be part of the main display anymore.

Lots of other aircraft to be identified.



Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-46 at Cheongju.kmz (709 B)

Ailes Ancienne Toulouse has slipped into the new imagery at its new home. Been there a while, I just missed it.

Plenty of aircraft there including this DC-3.

Attachments:

DC-3 at Ailes Ancienne.kmz (707 B)

Thanks to nostranger for the link to this story.

"This Douglas Dakota DC-3 once flew at altitudes of 8,000ft, but now it lies 70 feet beneath the surface of the Mediterranean.

The 65-foot-long plane, which was used as a transporter for a Turkish paratroop regiment, was deliberately sunk in waters off Kas, Turkey, in July 2009, and has become an underwater playground for divers.


'As the underwater visibility is often poor at the site you have to dive quite deep before you see the plane - as you get closer it looms out of the darkness.'

The sunken plane, with its 30-metre wingspan, now acts as an artificial reef and provides shelter for a wide variety of marine wildlife."



SOURCE

Attachments:

Sunken DC-3.kmz (1.11 KB)

Here's an experimental DC3 at RAF Bitteswell in 1949, the engines have been replaced with Armstrong Siddeley Mamba turbo prop engines with DeHavilland props.

 

The Smithsonian Channel is showing a series called "Planes that changed the world". This week the channel introduced a show entitled DC-3. Nothing much new but if you get the channel you may be interested in checking it out.

Now this is different, it was posted on twitter.

Been a while since I found a new one. 

Judging by the colour scheme, this is N115Z, rather than N142Z which has a red cockpit and retired in 2012.

Interesting story here about the pilots trying to keep 115 flying with the forestry service.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

BT-67 at Missoula.kmz (705 B)

Then 2 come along at once. 

This one is C-FKAL operated by North Cargo.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

BT-67 at Thunder Bay.kmz (710 B)

Judging by the boom sticking out from the tail, it is probably C-FTGX of Bell Geospace.

Lots of BT-67's starting to appear in the new imagery. 

Regards,
Sean.

C-47B (IJ817) in the Air Force Museum in Dhaka.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47B IJ817 in Dhaka.kmz (718 B)

This is believed to be the only C-46 in India.
It's in the Airforce research station at Sarasawa, Uttar Pradesh.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-46 at Sarasawa.kmz (712 B)

Thanks for your continuing contributions, Sean. The initial folder now has the latest additions, all provided by you. 

2 C-47B aircraft in what must be one of the strangest military museums in the world.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

2 C-47Bs UB735 UB736.kmz (728 B)

There is only an open field here in 2006, but the planes have been in view since the 2011 imagery.  I'm surprised no one has found them before. 

Also just to the east is an An-2 (or Chinese Y-5 version) which I have added to the An-2 thread. 

Thanks.

This aircraft was apparently written off in an accident at Korat AFB in August 2004.
Appeared at its current location in 2014.
Street view hasn't caught up and has a different aircraft there.

About 200 yards south-west of it, there are 5 more aircraft near the river. (Best viewed in historical imagery)
EDIT: Apparently, these are Nomads that have been converted into "Holiday Homes". 

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

BT-67 near Phitsanulok.kmz (699 B)

Used as a jump trainer by the local police.
Outer wings and tail removed.

Visible in Street View. 

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-46 near Udon Thani.kmz (710 B)

Wreckage is quite clear on latest imagery. Story of the crash here. Thankfully everyone survived.


Panoramio image by edboots.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

B-23 Wreck.kmz (717 B)

N777LW based at Moses Lake, Washington. In much better condition than the one in my previous post.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

B-23 Dragon N777LW.kmz (721 B)

Preserved outside the Centre of Culture in the town.

Panoramio image by Carlos Girardi.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

DC-3 PT-KVA cn 4756.kmz (741 B)

This appeared about the same time the one at the nearby airport disappeared. So I guess it is probably the same one sporting a new livery.

Panoramio image by darlison.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47A HC-ALD.kmz (716 B)

PK-GDZ at the Satria Mandala museum.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47A PK-GDZ.kmz (718 B)

A C-47 that was previously in the database, but seems to have been lost along the way.
Also a new BT-67 has appeared there. That means there are now 5 DC-3 variants at the one base. 

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47 at Koke Kathiem Airbase.kmz (720 B)

BT-67 at Koke Kathiem Airbase.kmz (721 B)

I guess they must have trucked it in, as there is no open ground to land on nearby when it arrived in 2013.

Look at all the services going in and out of the tail here, and it is clear someone is living in it. 

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47.kmz (701 B)

Looking at the latest imagery, I believe this to be the exact location of the wreck.
I have made an overlay to show the orientation I believe fits best with the imagery.
This image backs up the orientation by showing that only the port wing tip and outer starboard wing are visible poking out of the snow.


This photo and more, plus the story of the crash here.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47 Wreckage - Isachsen.kmz (5.11 KB)

Currently in the database about 7 miles west of this position, PT-KUB disappeared to undergo a renovation before appearing at its new home outside the Museu Catavento in the centre of São Paulo.

Panoramio image by Urias E. Takatohi

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

C-47B PT-KUB.kmz (704 B)

Used in the movie "Fly, Dakota, Fly!" in 2013, this Dakota was dismantled and moved to its new home in 2014.
It is a replica of Lord Mountbatten's Dakota "Sister Ann" (FL510) which crashed on Sado Island in 1946.

Visible in Streetview.

Cheers,
Sean.

Attachments:

DC-3 Sister Ann.kmz (713 B)