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Douglas DC-3 70th Anniversary Celebration,
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Saturday, December 17 was the 70th anniversary of the first flight of the douglas DC-3 at the Santa Monica Airport. To commemorate the event, the Santa Monica Museum of Flying broke ground for a new DC-3 memorial and staged a formation flyover of DC-3s at the Santa Monica Airport. Several vintage airplanes were displayed to the public.
North American P-51D Mustang, N151DP Cottonmouth is owned by David Price. The original serial number of a major fraction of the airplane was 44-73973. After retirement from the U.S.A.F. in 1951, it was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force as 9281. It entered the U.S. civil register as N6325T in 1957. After passing through the ands of several owners, it was sold to the FA Salvadorena in 1969. It returned to the United States in 1974 and was registered as N37FF by Flaherty Factors Inc. of Monterey, California. Jerry Janes of Vancouver, British Columbia restored 44-73973 with parts from several other FAS Mustangs over the period from 1975 to 1978. It was registered in
Canada as C-GJCJ in 1979. David Price bought it in 1983 and registered it as N51JC. A year later he changed its registration to N151DP. He raced it as #49. It crashed at Reno in 1988 and was subsequently restored.
Waco ATO, NC9553 was manufactured in 1929. Its Waco construction number is A-44.
Howard DGA-15P, N5553N is restored as a U.S. Navy NH-1. It was built in 1944. Its Howard construction number is 978.
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat, N5833 has been restored in the colors of a Royal Navy Martlett. It originally carried U.S. Navy BuNo 86819. Its General Motor construction number is 5877. It crashed in 1955 while flying as a sprayer for Butler Aviation of Redmond, Oregon. The rebuild project took many years and the airframe passed therough the hands of several owners. It received its current registration in August 1983. It was returned to the air on April 24, 1987 by Air Group One at Ramona, California. It spent a short while in the hands of Military Aircraft Restoration Corporation at Chino. It is now registered to the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum and based with the 3rd Pursuit Squadron of the Commemorative Air Force at Upland.
North American Navion, NC91707 was manufactured in 1947. Its North American construction number is NAV-4-178.
North American Navion, NC91707 nose art, Late Night Liason.
Lockheed Model 12A Electra N18137 was manufactured in 1937. Its Lockheed construction number is 1229.
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat, N1078Z Minsi III. Its construction number is A-5634. John Sandberg recovered it from the Fergus Falls Airport in Minnesota in 1962. It was subsequently owned by Lloyd Nolan from 1972 to 1973 and Ed Messick from April 9, 1973 to 1990. The Confederate Air Force acquired it in 1990. It has been registered to the American Airpower Heritage Flying Museum since 1991. It is part of the collection of the Southern California Wing of the Commemorative Air Force and is based at Camarillo.
Great Lakes 2T-1A-2, N5762B was manufactured in 1980. Its Great Lakes construction number is 0833.
Bob Odegaard's Goodyear F2G-1 Corsair, N5588N. The F2G is a variant of the Vought F4U with a 4,360-cubic-inch, 28-cylinder engine in place of the standard 2,800-cubic-inch, 18-cylinder engine. Only fifteen F2Gs were built: five pre-production XF2Gs, five F2G-1s and five F2G-2s.
This F2G was piloted by Ben McKillen Jr. in the 1949 Thompson Trophy Air Race. It came in third, behind two other F2Gs. Five F2Gs were converted to racing planes after the war: two pre-production XF2Gs, two F2G-1s and one F2G-2.
Five F2G-1s were built. They were intended to operate off of land, not aircraft carriers. They lacked a wing fold mechanism and tail hook. They were equipped with a fourteen-foot diameter propeller. Five F2G-2s were built with wing fold mechanisms and tail hooks for carrier operations. Their propellers were thirteen feet in diameter.
This F2G served the U.S. Navy as BuNo 88458.
You can buy framed prints or greeting cards of this photograph.
The R-4360 radial engine has 28 cylinders in four banks of seven. Each cylinder is equipped with 2 spark plugs, for a total of 56 spark plugs.
The wings of Race 57 were not clipped and are the full span as built.
The F2G has a tear-drop canopy in place of the original Corsair cockpit and turtle deck.
The vertical stabilizer of the F2G is 12 inches taller than on the standard Corsair.
Link to a history of F2G-1, N5588N on the web site of the Society of Air Racing Historians.
Douglas DC-3, N101KC Rose was built as a DC-3 in 1943 and served the Army Air Force as a C-53D. It is a veteran of the D-Day invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. Its Douglas construction number is 11639.
Douglas DC-3C, N814CL Mainliner O'Connor's construction number is 34370. It was delivered to the Army Air Corps as a C-47 in October 1945 and declared surplus the following month. Standard Steel Spring Company converted it to an executive transport and registered it as NC5414. Rockwell Spring and Axle Company registered it as N5414 in 1963. North American Corporation registered it as N541Q by December 1967. The Georgia Department of Air Transportation registered it as N541G in July 1969 and used it to fly governors of Georgia, including future President Jimmy Carter. Clay Lacy restored it in 1948 vintage United Airlines livery. Its restoration was completed in June 2000. It is based at the Van Nuys Airport.
Visit Clay Lacy Aviation's web site. Founded in 1968 by a living aviation legend, Clay Lacy Aviation is one of the world’s premier business aviation companies.
Douglas DC-3C-S1C3G, N1XP Duggy. Its Douglas construction number is 4733 and it was built in 1942.
Link to the Duggy, the Smile in the Sky web site.
Rose, Mainliner O'Connor, and Duggy.
Duggy.
Duggy.
Mainliner O'Connor.
Mainliner O'Connor.
Rose.
Rose.
Mainliner O'Connor.
Duggy.
Rose.
More of my photographs of Douglas DC-3s.
You can buy a 2020 calendar featuring my photographs of Douglas DC-2 NC1934D.
A dozen photos of Douglas DC-2 NC1934D. Locations of the photos include:
Chino October 18, 1987
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake April 16, 1988
Marine Corps Air Station el Toro April 29, 1989
George Air Force Base November 11, 1991
Santa Maria August 25 - 26, 2006
Put a copy of the Douglas DC-2 NC1934D: 2020 Calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $14.95.
You can buy a 2020 calendar featuring my photographs of Douglas DC-3 Variants.
A dozen photos of variants of Douglas DC-3s, taken over a span of thirty years. DC-3s pictured include:
PCA DC-3 N50CE, San Francisco International Airport, August 6, 1974
DC-3 N25CE Puff, Santa Barbara Airport, October 1985
DC-3C N403JB Pegasus, Santa Barbara Airport, October 16, 1985
Salair DC-3C, N3FY, Santa Barbara Airport, May 10, 1988
Douglas Historical Foundation DC-2-118B NC1934D in TWA livery Marine Corp Air Station el Toro, April 29, 1989
Lisunov Li-2T Yellow 03, Zhukovsky, Russia, September 5, 1993
Royal Air Force Dakota, Farnborough Airshow, September 11, 1994
DC-3-253 NC41HQ (C-41 38-0502), Nellis Air Force Base, April 25, 1997
DC-3 N20TW, Edwards Air Force Base, August 19, 2005
DC-3C N814CL Mainliner O'Connor, Camarillo, June 12, 2006
C-53D Skytrooper N45366 D-Day Doll, Gillespie Field, June 15, 2007
C-47A Dakota N53ST, Phoenix-Mesa Gateway, March 9, 2012
Put a copy of the Douglas DC-3 Variants: 2020 calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $14.95.
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