|
|
DC-3
at YCAB
|
|
21-Apr-12
|
|
|
|
There
was a rather
unique vehicle parked at Caboolture Airfield today!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[ click
on individual images for larger views]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Photos
provided by
Kevin Rodda]
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
It is, or
was, a Douglas C-47A-25-DK (c/n 13210) ...
|
|
|
|
This
C-47 saw WW2 action during the invasion at Normandy and in
1946 she crossed the equator, heading for Indonesia, to serve
with the Netherlands Indies Navy. In 1947, during a flight
over Australian soil, she force landed near Katherine due to
an electrical fire. The wreck was shipped to Brisbane and with
the wings taken off, she was used as an engine test-rig by KLM
in Archerfield. Later the rig was gutted and the empty shell
awaited scrapping. At that time Bill Chater was running a
ships' plumbing business. He had the urge and know-how to
rebuild these remains into his own caravan and in his
workshop, under the Story Bridge, he married half of it to the
chassis of an International truck ... work was completed in
1950. Werner Kroll met Bill, got on well and when Bill died,
aged 88, Werner inherited "the Dutch Bomber". In
1995, after a three year restoration period, Werner got the stamp
of approval and yet another name was issued: on the
registration paper she is known as "Inter
Dakota".
The number plate is an aircraft designation. All Australian
aircraft registrations starts with "VH" and Dakota "Down
UNDER" simply becomes "DAK".
|
|
|
|
[The
text above is from the Vintage
Airliners page of Ruude Leeuw's Aviation
History and Photography website]
|
|
|
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Seeing this
unique vehicle parked at Caboolture Airfield yesterday
immediately brought John Clayton to mind ... surely this would
be the ideal campervan for him! John's
flying years with ANA included endorsements on DC3, DC4 and
Bristol Freighters. At
its peak, ANA operated thirty six
DC3's, ten DC4's, two DC6's, six DC6B's and three Bristol
Freighters.
John
has been either in command of, flown at the controls of, or flown
as passenger in all the Douglas Passenger aircraft after the
DC1 (DC2, DC3, DC4, DC5, DC6, DC6B, DC7, DC8, DC9 and DC10)
|
|
|
|
[Refer:
John
Clayton's lifelong flying affair]
|
|
|
|
|
|
