| | This plane was built as C-47A 43-15512 and delivered to the USAAF on 4/3/44. On 5/15/44 it was assigned to the U.S. 9th Air Force in the European Theater, and operated from the U.K. with the 89th Troop Carrier Sqdn of the 438th Troop Carrier Group, which was part of the 53rd Troop Carrier Wing of the 9th Troop Carrier Command. In Feb 1945 the plane was moved to a forward base in France. On 8/8/45 it returned to the USA, and two months later was assigned to the Reconstruction Finance Corp. In 1946 it was sold as NC62736 to Empire Air Lines, but on 8/4/52 it transferred to West Coast Airlines. The plane was WFU in 1963, with 32,181 flying hours. On 5/24/66 the plane was donated to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. To get to the museum it was disassembled at Boeing Field, Seattle for the 140 mile road trip. In 1982 the Museum asked Hughes Air West to repaint the plane, and they repainted it in Hughes Air West Livery with the ID of N56598. The plane was parked alongside the main museum building and an enclosed brick passageway led to the cabin door so the cabin itself was a classroom. (Information from Arthur Pearcy’s 1988 “Douglas DC-3 Survivors”). The plane was eventually transferred to Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum at McMinnville, OR and repainted in USAAF colors. |
by Nick Dean @ KMMV