US
DOUGLAS DC-3s - 1970s I was pleased to see so many Douglas DC-3s still flying airline passenger services and freight charter in USA in the late 1970s |
Honolulu was the base of
a good number of DC-3s plying passenger and freight services between the
Hawaiian islands. N162E seen in September 1979, was fitted with the Garrett-AiResearch DC-3 Maximizer performance kit. It was operated by Airspeed Hawaii on cargo work, but seating could be quickly installed for occasional passenger charter |
Airspeed's other DC-3
N104RP also had Viewmaster windows
and the Maximizer modifications.
Their DC-3s flew with a fleet of Piper Aztecs on a contract to carry tourists and supplies to a resort on a Hawaiian island |
N99131 at Honolulu in September 1977 had
both engines removed for overhaul. It was operated by Island Air Transfer
Inc,
along with Beech 18s, to carry excess passenger
baggage between the islands for the major airlines.
It retains the paint scheme of its former owner Ansett in Australia as VH-ANX, and Australian Aircraft Sales logo behind the cockpit |
Worldwide freight forwarder DHL established
DHL Island Airways at Honolulu in 1977 with DC-3s and DC-6s to carry cargo
between
the islands. Their DC-3s N102BL & N103BL were US Embassy disposals at
Bangkok in 1976 and ferried from Thailand to Honolulu |
DHL Island Airways N102BL
at Honolulu in September 1977 had not yet been repainted in the DHL scheme |
N401JB was flying cargo work from the Brandt
Air cargo shed at Honolulu in September 1979.
It retained the colourful paint scheme
of its previous US mainland passenger charter operator
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This USAF C-47B 0-49852
in tactical camouflage was stored at Honolulu in September 1977, with a
C-54 and F-102 which had been assigned to a proposed aviation museum on the airport, which failed to get started |
N2647 Crewbie
Liner at Chino, California in September 1979 carried the sound
equipment and road crew for Doobie Brothers tours.
The VIPs in the group travelled in an executive
Martin 404 named The Doobie Liner,
in identical colour scheme
|
N32B was a corporate aircraft with executive
seating and Maximizer modifications
to reduce drag and improve performance.
Named Tinsley's
Boss Bird, it was visiting Lake Tahoe, California in September
1979
|
N21768 pulls in at the Miami passenger terminal
in October 1977, wearing Air South and Florida Airlines titles |
The original Air South scheme on N28364 at
Miami in October 1977 |
Air Sunshine used DC-3s on scheduled passenger
services in Florida. I took this picture from the window of a jet airliner
as we
aloofly passed N74KW in the engine run-up bay at a Miami runway holding point in October 1977. |
Air South and Florida Airlines also flew
services under the name The Connection.
N86U at Miami in October 1977
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Provincetown-Boston Airlines's southern
division was Naples Airlines based at Naples, Florida. N139PB at Miami
in October 1979
|
The oil-soaked itinerant ramps of Miami
International Airport were home to many anonymous DC-3s engaged on a variety
of operations.
N2028 seen in October 1979 was owned by
Layne Dredging Co of Hallandale, Florida
|
N123D at Miami in October 1979 was fitted
with the Maximizer kit including
enlarged undercarriage doors |
N25661 at Miami in October 1979 was another
with Maximizer mods. It had
been built as a pre-war DC-3 for American Airlines |
N230F at Opa Locka, Florida in October 1979
looked particularly smart. It was used by a training school for pilot endorsements |
Also at Opa Locka in October 1979 was N1294
with Viewmaster lengthened passenger
windows |
N4682T at Fort Lauderdale, Florida in October
1979 had been released by US Navy only several months earlier,
after years of military test work by Raven Industries of Sioux Falls, South Dakota |
N48159 at Ft Lauderdale in October 1979.
International Field Studies used a number of propliners to carry student
groups |
Pinehurst Airlines N52V at Greenville,
South Carolina in October 1979 had been recently retired and was up for
sale
At the time Pinehurst was replacing its seven DC-3 freighters with used Japanese YS-11A turboprops |
Freighter N13AT at Fairbanks, Alaska in September
1979 was still wearing its former USAF VC-47D paintwork |
N99663 at Fairbanks in September 1979 retains
its distinctive RCAF paint scheme from its days as Dakota KP227, later CAF
12906 |
At Anchorage, Alaska in September 1979 was
N75142 of Northern Air Cargo, purchased from Reeve Aleutian Airways |
DC-3s were becoming popular as warbirds,
being restored as WWII paratroop carriers and transports. The Confederate
Air Force used
them at airshows for paratroop-drop displays,
such as N21729 seen at Harlingen, Texas in October 1977
|
Another Confederate Air Force C-47 taxies
out at Harlingen, Texas in October 1977
|
This FAA nav-aid testing DC-3 N43 had been
sold to a dealer and new registration N54595 hand spray-painted. There were several ex-FAA DC-3s at Chandler, Arizona in October 1979 for civil overhauls by air tanker company T&G Inc. Note the long navigator's window behind the cockpit, a feature of the FAA's DC-3s |
Where do DC-3s come from in the 1970s?
Part of a collection of USAF disposals C-47s at Ryan Field near Tucson, Arizona in October 1977, stripped for parts by Neal Veal's Mayo Clinic for Douglas Aircraft, according to the sign on the hangar. Each had made the short ferry flight across the desert after auction at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. Some were refurbished for civil sale and for South American air forces |
Millardair's executive DC-3 CF-WTU was at
Ryan Field, Arizona in October 1977, down from Toronto for maintenance |
Another desert airfield to finish. N3MJ
was parked at Mojave, California in September 1977 in the high Mojave
Desert.
It
was operated by Detoit-based Cryderman Air Service, specialising in delivery
of new motor vehicle spare parts from the factories
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