Dakota III CC-129 KG668 12942

[docthrock]

My buddy and his wife bought the RAF/RCAF DAK now registered as N472AF, previously C-GRSA. It's a beautiful low time C-47A airframe, with only 18000 documented hours! The airframe has history of "flying the hump" and perhaps participated in the Berlin Airlift. We're not totally sure about it's service and we're looking for help. So we're seeking any historians out there who may have information, pictures or any documentation on the airframe. It's our intention to restore it's colours to reflect it's Canadian WWII (and after, AETE) heritage. It will be a flying museum, and we intend to take it throughout the US and Canada for exhibition and to give living history flights. The plane is in flying condition, but it will undergo a considerable cosmetic reconditioning. We'd like to know what it looked like during it's time in service. We're pretty sure it has some original paint and perhaps it's mostly painted as it was back in the day. But we want to be sure. Thanks for any help, advice and direction!

[Moose47]

G`day

Let me preface this post by saying that the C-47 is "The Greatest Plane I Never Flew!"

I put the following together for you and will add information as I continue my research on this aircraft.

The Aircraft
The aircraft was built as a C-47A-25-DL Skytrain, U.S.A.A.F. serial number 42-93560. Simplified, a C-47A - Block 25 – built by the parent company's plant in Oklahoma City. Oklahoma.

It was delivered to the Royal Air Force on the 2nd of June, 1944 through Lend-Lease -
Requisition No. 7204
Contract Number AC28405

The aircraft was designated as a Dakota Mk. III and given the R.A.F. serial number KG668. It was flown to Montreal, Quebec on the 6th of June, 1944. The aircraft was then ferried to the United Kingdom arriving there on the 13th of June, 1944.

R.A.F. Service Record
14 August, 1944 – No. 24 'Commonwealth' (Transport) Squadron at R.A.F. Station Hendon, Middlesex. They carried out long range transport flights from the United Kingdom. The squadron`s Colours has Burma 1944-45. I have not found any reference 'yet' to their Dakotas's venturing that far away. The squadron code was NQ.

In Canadian Service Overseas
15 September, 1945 - Transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force but still an R.A.F. asset until being officially taken on strength with the R.C.A.F on the 8th of April, 1946.

Dakota KG668 served with two Canadian transport squadrons while at R.A.F. Station Down Ampney, Gloucestershire post war. Both squadrons were part of No. 120 (T) Wing, No. 46 Group, R.A.F. Transport Command. No. 120 (T) Wing was tasked with transporting passengers, casualties, freight and mail in support of Canadian occupation forces in Germany.

No. 436 'Elephant' (T) Squadron - coded ODN*S.

No. 435 'Chinthe' (T) Squadron coded ODM*S. The squadron maintained a detachment of ten Dakotas at R.A.F. Station Croydon, Surrey from the 9th of October, 1945 until the 16th of March, 1946. Members of the squadron ferried Dakotas back to Canada in mid-May, 1946.

On the 8th of September, 1945, R.A.F. Transport Command assigned its units a four-letter code. The first letter denotes the command. The second letter is the aircraft type. The third letter identifies the squadron and the last letter is the individual letter assigned by the squadron. NOTE: The asterik represents the R.A.F. roundel.


Service In Canada
17 June, 1946 - No. 1 Air Command Composite Flight – R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario. Designated Dakota Mk. III FP (Freight & Passengers).

29 November, 1950 – Stored Reserved at No. 6 Repair Depot at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario

7 May, 1955 – Air Transport Command`s Central Flying School at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario

26 October, 1955 – Air Transport Command`s No. 4 (Transport) Operational Training Unit at R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario

9 November, 1959 – Central Experimental & Proving Establishment – R.C.,A.F. Station Uplands, Ontario

31 March, 1960 – No. 111 Composite Unit – R.C.A.F. Station Winnipeg, Manitoba.

18 January, 1963 – No. 102 Composite Unit – R.C.A.F. Station Trenton, Ontario

26 February, 1963 – Back No. 4 (Transport) Operational Training Unit

21 November, 1963 – Central Flying School – R.C.A.F. Station Gimli, Manitoba

20 July, 1964 – Central Flying School – R.C.A.F. Station Winnipeg, Manitoba

19 February, 1968 – Canadian Forces Navigation School – Canadian Forces Base Winnipeg, Manitoba

8 January, 1969 - Canadian Forces Flying Training Standardization Unit - C.F.B. Winnipeg, Manitoba

14 October, 1969 – Stored Reserve at Saskatoon Saskatchewan

8 January, 1970 – 101 (Transport) Flight – C.F.B. Shearwater, Nova Scotia

15 January, 1970 – 4 (Transport) Operational Training Unit – C.F.B. Trenton, Ontario

5 March, 1970 – Aerospace Engineering and Test Establishment C.F.B. Uplands, Ontario

NOTE: 26 June, 1970 – aircraft re-serialed from KG668 to 12942. The aircraft became a CC-129 Dakota.

30 June 1971 – Air Transport Command`s Airborne Sensing Unit - C.F.B. Uplands, Ontario

21 May, 1975 – Struck off strength with the Canadian Armed Forces.

It should be no problem finding a paint scheme for your aircraft. Go here and surely someone will be able to help, http://www.ipmscanada.com

You or your buddy can contact me at: ccharlandATcogecoDOTca.

Cheers...Chris

[linecrew]

Where will it live?

[xsbank]

Interesting history, Chris. Thank you for compiling it and presenting it.

The Racer was the first airplane I flew two-crew where the captain spent our entire time aloft either breaking every Air Reg. he could fit into a flight or, between violations, spending as much effort as he could muster to kill us both. I Have 800 hours in that particulat one and graduated from the school of "no" with all its permutations and nuances.

Levelling at 12,000' and calling "level at 14,000'" when the mea was 14...calling "by the beacon outbound" when we weren't there yet as My Hero didn't like procedure turns... Easy stuff in a no-radar environment, no? Tracking an NDB down a frozen northern lake in the mountains in the dead of winter in a snow storm at night, 50-100' on radar altimeter, to a one-way gravel airstrip with flare pots...

Anyway, I'm here and he's not, having thundered in with another copilot.

But it was the Racer that kept me alive, any other airplane and I wouldn't be here either. He had to hit a mountain top in solid cloud to do in his last Racer. Or in his case, a better name would have been "Eraser."

[Waldo Peppar]

A review of my logbook shows one flight in "942"...in May 25, 1970...5.2 hours, a NAV trip at ANS CFB Winnipeg
Does not quite jive with your data moose, at you say she was rebranded shortly after that and she was not supposed to be in Winnipeg then.
Not sure if same airframe. My logbook is full of the adjacent tail numbers 941 , 943, 944 etc.
Except for the SAR birds the paint scheme was all the same for the DAKS , including the VIP transports ( Their aluminum was polished)
If you have any problem getting the paint scheme...I am sure that I could dig up some old pictures. I have a painting of 129905 , a SAR Dak from 429 SQN ( formerly the Air Nav School) done in early seventies.Also still have some books, Techinical and operrational...and a checklist.....I have kept this stuff in case I ever get a chance to add to my 3500 hours plus in a Dak ( Hint Hint )

[Moose47]

G'day Waldo

If you send me a pm at ccharlandATcogecoDOTca, I will send you a scan of the aircraft record cards.

I am planning on doing a lot of not so subtle hinting to get a ride on this aircraft if in their area.

By the way, we have the B-17 'Sentimental Journey' up here for six days early next month. Not sure if I am going to spring for a ride or not. Little pricey to fly as a pax.

Cheers...Chris

[Beefitarian]

This is great. Both of your replies are interesting.

If the airframe has only 18000 hours how many journey logs does it have or did the military not keep a journey log for each plane back then?

[Old Dog Flying]

A good book to buy for this project would be Patrick Martin'd "Finish and Markings of the RCAF-1947-1968". All of the EO's for the Dakota and others are there.

Barney

[BGH]

Not the paint scheme you are looking for but this aircraft C47 668 shows up in my dad's log book on May 8,9,10 of 1960 with a f/l Johnson - looks like a round robin wg - Wainright,looks like Wainright- xe,xe- mj,MJ- wg.
Total flight time of 9.6.
Dad was also part of 101 in Shearwater at the time the aircraft was there as well but I can't find 12942 in his log.

Daryl

[BGH]

i know that this picture isn't of 942 ,but it is a period picture of the front end showing some of the color scheme of the time.

Daryl

[Old Dog Flying]

This 1;48 sale model is of RCAF 1000 a VIP a/c from 412 Sqn. The scheme is standard and detailed in Patrick's book.

Barney

[Cat Driver]

He had to hit a mountain top in solid cloud to do in his last Racer. Or in his case, a better name would have been "Eraser."

Ahhh you triggered a memory.

If he is the same pilot I am thinking about he was the best example of dangerous I ever met.

I was doing some part time flying for Freddy Carmichael out of Inuvik and got paired with that idiot in
the DC3 because Freddie was really short of drivers.

One trip was all it took for me to tell Freddie I would never get in the same airplane again with him.

[xsbank]

That's him, Cat, you always were a lot smarter than me!

He smoked into the top of that hill on Mayne Island, doing buckshee IFR. Took his copilot with him too.

[Cat Driver]

He smoked into the top of that hill on Mayne Island, doing buckshee IFR. Took his copilot with him too.

His disregard for the rules of safety was breath taking like his special VFR departures into known IMC weather on the route could only end one way which it did that morning.

Why didn't T.C. give him special ops to fly the DC3 single pilot?

It would have saved a life.

[Old Dog Flying]

The right seat in that one was a friend. John flew many thousands of hours on Maritime patrol and when he retired from the RCAF/CAF, he wanted to fly a DC-3. He got his wish but.....!

[fleetcanuck]

Hi Barney, would you happen to have the proper colour codes or names for the paints that were used on the trainers in WWII? I am also looking for the proper colours for the roundels.

Peter

[xsbank]

What a waste Old Dog, I'm sorry for your loss, even if it was a long time ago.

I'm still trying to get my head around a private Racer...I remember how much work ours was to keep her flying and it staggers me to think of paying somebody to do that. Of course, we blew jugs and engines regularly because our hero apparently had never heard of "shock cooling" so they came through our cowlings like popcorn. Of course, it was the overhaul companies fault, "...spray can overhaul!"

God I'm glad I survived all that!

I forgot that one time when it was damn cold, I would pull out the engine heaters and hook the engine cover on one prop blade, pull the prop through and then the cover would fall off. Then I would take the cover into the hanger and pull the engine through 12 blades. Then Our Hero would start the right engine while I did the same to number one. This time he hit the wrong starter, accidentally or on purpose, which flung me through the air like a bag of laundry, bruised me from hip to shoulder and threw me into a snow bank! I remember that as one of my finest moments as I recited every boat word I knew...

I used to have a clipboard and I was to supervise the loading and stop it at gross weight - 4000#? Can't remember the exact number. As soon as I was done, the loader would go to O.H. and wimp and the nimrod would take all the freight anyway. "We've got room." Total waste of time for me and a farce. We were always a ton over gross. The Racer could do it though, it probably never flew under gross in its entire life except for test flights.

I REALLY wanted that multi time and I got my ATP when I was there so I did it all, to my eternal shame.

[Old Dog Flying]

Peter: I have all of the Allied colours but they are mil/spec codes which would be of no use to you. There were many "trainer" schemes so if you are planning on a particular aircraft type, then you need a photo of the individual aircraft. If you are painting a full size machine, the best way of getting a proper colour match is to buy small tins of the model colours required then have them matched by a n automotive paint supplier.

Give me more od an idea of what you have in mind and I would be happy to help
Barney

[Old Dog Flying]

Here is an Avro Ansom MkI used at MooseJaw as an example

Barney

[Cat Driver]

Wow that Anson sure brings back good memories Old Dog, used the fly them for Austin Airways doing mag. survey they were great for that because they were made out of wood.

But the ones I flew were Mk. 5's .

Except for the goofy vacuum over hydraulic brakes that had a lag in them the Anson was a dream to fly.

[Old Dog Flying]

.: Here's another WW2 trainer..I only flew one once , right seat, from Windsor to Pelee Island with Carm Mills laughing at me throughout the whole trip

[7ECA]

Cessna Crane, if I remember the RCAF name for the Bobcat?

[Old Dog Flying]

CORRECT! It is a MkI with Jacobs engines and fixed pitch wooden Props/

Barney

[Old Dog Flying]

Sorry for the thread hijacking. That photo of the Dak in the O/P tells me that what remains of the original paint is from about 1968, the New Leaf Era, from the lightening bolt. I have Patrick's book in front of me with plenty of Dakota photos and different schemes but nothing on 942

Barney

[xsbank]

Yes, I apologize for the thread drift too. Sorry!