Anyone like Dakotas?

[gully_raker]

G'day All.
As most of you would know there is a planned fly over of C-47 Dakotas' over Normandy on the D Day anniversary & the one in the attached photo has been appearing at air shows in the UK.
Nice bird so enjoy the pic.

[Baxter]

That would be a great show to attend. What a fantastic plane those things were.

[Teaticket]

Sweet. There was a DC-3 flying out of Hyannis Cape Cod that had logged over 91000 hours over it's life. Incredible plane.

[Guntruck]

I’m attending an event at Duxford airfield next week called Daks over Duxford. They are hoping for more than 30 Dakotas which will carry out mass parachute jumps over 2 days, culminating on the 5th with them taking off for the cross-channel flight to commemorate D-Day. Looking forward to getting some good photos to rival the ones that Baz always manages to turn up.

[zenlizard]

Fantastic pic (as usual) of a real workhorse.

[Teaticket]

That sounds like a great event Steve. Hope you can get some good photos.

[BobP]

Took this at the Andrews show and they said this plane was one that was there. Just shows how good they were built back then.

I saw today that a group of US SF guys are going to jump on the 5th of June (air restrictions because of the dignitaries) but that was when they did jumped on D-Day. He said one of the guys going to jump with them is a D-Day vet who jumped that night. They also estimate that 1 million people will be there on the 6th of June. I guess that will some show.

[Naharaht]

Those two Dakota flypasts will be worth seeing. I hope that they will be filmed and shown on the news.

[flash]

A lot to hope for but I hope the Daks fly my way on their way out on the 5th, that would be something to see.

[Hedeby]

Had one of the Daks flying overhead on Monday up in the Yorkshire Dales... very nice

[milcoll73]

who couldnt like the gooney bird. such an iconic aircraft that changed the face of aviation.

[Guntruck]

There is a 3-part series (one after the other) on “The Plane that led D-Day” on Friday 7th June at 9pm on the U.K. History Channel. It’s about how the Commemorative Air Force discovered C-47 “That’s All Brother”, one of the transports involved dropping paras on D-Day, derelict in a scrapyard, acquired it and restored it to flying condition. I think this is one that will be taking part in the Dakota flight to Normandy.

[Jager]

Here's the one that flew in for the MAPS bomber show a couple summers ago.

[BobP]

Took these at the MAM a few years ago.



Then again in Canada a few years later.

[BobP]

I 1972 I was TDY to Da Nang and could see some C-47's parked in their area. Don't think they were AC-47's but might have been RC-47's. Now I am sorry I never got any pictures of them.

[BobP]

My Squadron catalogue came in the mail today and they have a RODEN 1/144 C-47 with a free book about D-Day for 21.99. Now you have me looking for my ZVEZDA C-47's.

[BobP]

And don't forget these Dakotas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKOrpyO0z48

[Naharaht]

Here is another video from Youtube about Dakotas.

[BobP]

Had to find something like this. From A Bridge Too Far. Seeing that this is from 1977 how did they manage this ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfv-19f8ZG8

[Naharaht]

It was trick photography. They filmed a few Dakotas with paratroops jumping out and then put copies the same film side by side and on top of each other. The same trick was used in the Battle of Britain movie.

[gully_raker]

Had to find something like this. From A Bridge Too Far. Seeing that this is from 1977 how did they manage this ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfv-19f8ZG8

Hi Bob! Mix of real paras jumping & lots of CGI in my opinion.

[NewFlyBoy]

Many years ago I had a boss who flew C-47's "over the hump" in the China Burma India theater of operations. I found a video showing a number of them in flight. Enjoy. BTW -- when I was a kid I regularly saw them flying freight into an airport near where I grew up -- in my mind I can still see them flying overhead...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiLJdgjs12s

[gully_raker]

Here is a pic of more of the Dakotas that will take part in the D Day flyover.

[Jager]

Glenn (Jago85) sent me this pic:

[Naharaht]

Great picture, Karl!

[BobP]

Awesome picture.

[Rebel]

Just finished watching the Guy Martin D-Day program and the DAK they are re-building and were hoping to use on D-Day has over 90,000 flying hours on the clock. They unfortunately ran into unexpected problems and this aircraft will not now be ready in time for the great event.

[Guntruck]

Nice pic Karl.

[matt56]

All of these pictures are lovely! And I especially like the pic of the three banking over the coast - very tasty I look forward to any D-Day commemorative pictures of a potential airborne drop...

All the best,
Matt

[flash]

Smashing pic of the Daks over the Sussex coast Karl, great to see, wish they'd done that when I was down there last !
In spite of the caption when you hover the cursor over it the aircraft are flying over the coast of East Sussex just west of Cuckmere Haven, the river Cuckmere can be seen in the valley in the background. East of the Haven there was an RAF airfield on the cliff top.

[Jager]

Here's a fresh link from Jago85; all the C-47s flying this year for D-Day:
https://worldwarwings.com/heres-all-...AuA8kT4V_8tO4E

Karl

[Rebel]

Thanks Karl I look forward to seeing them flying tomorrow!

[Guntruck]

Here's a fresh link from Jago85; all the C-47s flying this year for D-Day:
https://worldwarwings.com/heres-all-...AuA8kT4V_8tO4E

Karl

Not quite all - there were quite a few civilian owned DC3/C47 variants at Duxford taking part as well, even a Lisunov Li2. In the end they managed to get all but one of the 22 aircraft off the ground for the trip to France, so I’m guessing as some on this list weren’t at Duxford they may have flown directly to France. The BoB Memorial Flight Dak to name but one.

Ten aircraft carried paras for a drop over France, and it was good to see they were wearing period uniform.

I have a few (hundred) photos to sort, then I’ll share some with you tomorrow.

[BobP]

To go along with the C-47's I found this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMgD0VaYms4

[BobP]

I am sure we will see many more but I thought this was very interesting on how they put this together and flew to England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV4Uzsd1jF8

[Guntruck]

Here are the first pictures taken at the Daks over Duxford event. More to come once I've processed them. They will all be in this album

[David Manley]

We had one come over us here in Gloucestershire in the early evening today. Alas silhouetted against the sun and I was too slow getting to the camera so I don't know which one it was

[Teaticket]

Nice photos, thanks Steve.

[mikeemagnus]

Very nice Steve. I've also got quite a few pics from the Tuesday event, but I only had my mobile phone camera with me and the pics are nothing like as good as these. Shall leave it to Steve, therefore, unless I end up having a pic or two he doesn't have - unlikely by the sounds of it.

The fly past by the Daks was really majestic, with six taking to the air and flying in line astern; followed by a flight of three in close V formation, all of which had been there on 6th June 1944 - very thought provoking. But I have to say that for me the highlight was the display put on by the two Spitfire Mk IXs. No aerobatics, because of the weather (low cloud), but the flying and the sound were never the less awesome. US fighters followed, including a couple of Mustangs, a Wildcat and a P 47 Thunderbolt (Hope I got that right) - brilliant

Weather on the Tuesday prevented the parachute drop from the Daks, but otherwise the event was a real joy. Have never been to Duxford before, so I had loads to see, including the restored DH9 and her sister. There were rumours that this may have flown again during the event, but it turned out she was grounded by engine problems - now that sounds familiar for this aircraft. Hobbling around on a bad foot, from hangar to hangar, dodging the showers, was a bit of a grind but it was well worth the effort.

Had a nice long chat with Alan Pickford of the People's Mosquito - turns out he went to school in Exeter and left it just two years before I went there on my first teaching job - small world huh I support this project, as I know some of you do too, so it was good to hear that they are aiming to have the aircraft airborne in the next six years. The moulds for the fuselage have just been purchased at a cost of £35,000.

Anyway, there was a real enthusiastic buzz at this show and I had a great day, shared with my nephew, Oliver. Our thanks to the organizers Looking forward to seeing the rest of Steve's pics

[Guntruck]

More Dakotas - I think one of every one at Duxford now in my album, plus a few other aircraft present on the day

[flash]

Great pics as usual Steve - thanks for posting

[zenlizard]

Here are the first pictures taken at the Daks over Duxford event. More to come once I've processed them. They will all be in this album

Absolutely awesome album, Steve, entirely rep-worthy.