C47s still in service!

[Bill W]

Took this pic at the Greenville, Maine. "Fly in" quite a few years back.

 

[jamesfrom180]

C47 always impressed me but Favorite is the G21. You can not get a 0 hr. I believe re-manufactured. from this company
Antilles Seaplanes, The Official Website for the G-21G Super Goose

 

[trukhead]

Flying The Way It Shold Be!

Don't know that much about planes but enjoyed watching this interesting vid about C47s (DC-3s?), still in service, carrying supplies and people to remote, isolated villages in the Columbian jungle.
It always amazes me seeing old MVs (or planes in this case) still on active (civilian) duty... and the people operating and maintaining these!

This one is called "Risking It All...", find out why...

The daredevil pilots of Colombia - Risking it all - Al Jazeera English


G.

Thanks for finding and posting this link. This is the way flying should be. Quit subsidizing expensive airports and piss on stupid security screening, Ground all the7...7s and fly with these old girls. who really is so important that they have to ride in a multi million $ jets anyway. gotta get somewhere, take a train or a buss. USA will get out of debt just by not buying all the jet fuel that fuels the 1000's of flights every day.
Old prop planes are just the COOLEST! I took a ride in the nose of the sentimental journey ( the B-17) that tours around the country. Taking off in the bombardiers seat is the mind blowingest ride I ever took in a man made machine.

 

[Thunder in NWOR]

The U. S. Forest Service has used DC-3 aircraft, since retiring the Ford tri-motor, for Smokejumping since the 1940's. Two "Dougs" are still in service (along with two other types of jump ships - Otters and Shepras), although they have been converted to turbine engines (and had the fuslage extended several feet) in the 1990's.

I was hauled to numerous wildfires out of McCall Idaho (before the upgrands). Always a treat, with the net seating, oil leaking and popping engines.

One memorable rough air flight from McCall to Helena had 19 of the 21 firefighters puking our guts out, while the pilot and co ate a hearly sack lunch....!

Picture of the McCall Jump ship:
Smokejumper Aircraft

 

[sigo]

Everts Air out of Fairbanks, AK still flies C-46s and C-54s daily. They may have others but those are the birds I saw routinely flying out of FBKS Int'l. Everts has quite a few hulks it looks like they strip to keep them running. If you happen to land at FBKS you'll see them along the north edge of the airport. There are some cool birds sitting in little boneyards around the back side of the airport too.

I saw some re-engined C-47s still serving at an Airbase in El Salvadore in '98, they might have been turboprops as best as i can recall, but they're the last 47s I've personally seen in military service. They had more than a few deuces sitting around too, I wish now that I would have taken pictures...

 

[Roger.Olson]

I flew into the Dominican Republic about 10 years ago and the first thing I saw before we hit the runway was about 6 C-47s lined up along the runway with palm trees between them. I love the tropics....