Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/11/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, firstly my apology that my spell check has wrongly "corrected" your name in my last posting. Secondly, I recalled three of the tail numbers from that period. There were more. Keep in mind that I was in the armaments and aircrew egress systems area, so the Dakotas to me were not a high priority. Having said that, you have to respect any aircraft that has a plywood instrument panel and cockpit side windows that you can open in flight. They did take us a lot of awkward places and transported quite a variety of goodies and folks, as you may appreciate. I'm sure that you also understand that the Berlin airlift was a little before my time in service! The tail numbers that I recall for the moment (there were others) were: A65-78 Remarkable as probably the only ?stealth? DC3 on record (used to trial a low vis paint scheme for P3C maritime patrol aircraft) A65-86 A65-114 Which I watched crash on take off after a double engine failure. There were no casualties. I recall that the passengers were veteran aircrew on their way to some gathering. They all emerged unscathed and undaunted, I found an excellent website that you may like to look at. http://www.adf-serials.com/ It includes the following information for A65-69, which has apparently ended up back in Germany. A65-69 VH-CUZ C-47B 27127 43-49866 Delivered to the RAAF 02/45. Served with Butterworth Station flight from 1964 to 1980. Departed for West Germany 06/06/80 under the command of Flt Lt Garry Dunbar RAAF and arrived in West Germany 11 days later. Became RAF ZD215 for delivery on 18/06/80 to Berlin Gatow for preservation as due to treaty details only British, US and French serialed aircraft were allowed safe passage through the Berlin air corridors up to 1989. Flown there by Sqn Ldr Al Culloway RAF and AV Marshall David Evans who was a veteran of the Berlin Airlift. On Display at the Berlin Airlift Museum, RAF Gatow Germany. Cheers Hoppy -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of G Hopkinson Sent: Sunday, 12 November 2006 16:00 To: 'Leica Users Group' Subject: RE: [Leica] Tri Motor/Ju 52 Mark, I shall have to check the unit archives. I served there from 1983-1991 and again in 1999. I was recalling something commonly accepted at the time. I shall see what I can dig up. Certainly these aircraft were used for quite a number of interesting purposes during my time there. Cheers Hoppy -----Original Message----- From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Marc James Small Sent: Sunday, 12 November 2006 15:11 To: Leica Users Group; 'Leica Users Group' Subject: RE: [Leica] Tri Motor/Ju 52 At 11:47 PM 11/11/2006, G Hopkinson wrote: >Douglas, up until the 80's/90's the Royal >Australian Air Force still operated several "Daks" at our Aircraft Research >and >development Unit (ARDU) where I worked. I have >flown as a passenger many thousands of >kilometres in these aircraft over quite a >period. At least one of these airframes participated in the Berlin airlift. >http://www.adf-serials.com/gallery/albums.php?set_albumListPage=14 Hoppy Who operated it during the Berlin Airlift? This WAS a multi-national effort but I had not realized that the RAAF played a part in it. The USAAF pretty much discouraged the use of the C-47/Dakota/R4D/DC-3 in the Airlift as the resources required to push a C-47 to Berlin and back was about 80% as large as that required for a C-54, which carried almost three times the cargo. Thus, the USAF pretty much insisted on all flights being on C-54's but some C-47's might have gotten through. Whenever someone starts spinning a story, GET THE DETAILS. After all, there are truly "a million stories in the naked city", and every one has some piece of truth in it. (If someone tells me that the RAAF operated flights of Dakotas into Templehoff and Gatow during the Airlift, I will be surprised to learn this, but hardly astonished, as I learn new things every day on every imaginable topic (other than digital photography, which just becomes increasingly beyond my grasp, I fear.) Marc msmall@aya.yale.edu Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!