Warbird Information Exchange

Hi all,

I've always been interested in the Douglas C-117 which is somewhat an upgraded C-47. I never really hear much about them and I was wondering why? A forgotten bird indeed. There might still be a few in AMARC. In one of my books it states that a few C-117's were sold to private in Clalifornia. There is no mention of the C-117 in the WIX registry. Was wondering if anyone here knows anything about them and are there any still flying?

I hope this thread sparks some interest. Please anybody and everybody chime in.

Thanks,
Nathan

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The box hauler that crashed on a Miami street several years ago was an ex Navy C-117. There are a few of them out there. The biggest problem Douglas ran into in marketing the 'Super DC-3' was it's own DC-3/C-47 which could be had post war through the WAA by the acre, for cheaper than a brand new SDC-3, and the improved aircraft was only a bit faster, etc than the surplus airplanes.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

There's been one living at Denton, Texas, for many years. I've been told that it flies occasionally on ad-hoc freight jobs. The owner used to bring it to air shows back in the 1980s and 1990s. I was at Denton on January 10th to shoot photos of the B-26K, and the C-117 was still parked on the active ramp at the south end of the ramp. If you look up the B-26K thread, you can see the C-117 in the background in one of my photos.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

There's two sitting derelict at the airport in Brantford, Ontario.


(photo taken during the airshow there last August)

Formerly Millardair C-GGKE and Gateway C-GDOG.

Gateway, based out of Brantford, used to operate one or two more of these up until 2005ish. No idea where they went, though.

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Thanks guys for the info. Still a cool bird in my book. Hope some of these are saved.

Thanks,
Nathan

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
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I'm a huge fan of the DC-3 and it's various incantations so I thought I would step in to clarify things.

The designation C-117 does not imply that it is the staright tailed, advanced version of the original design. The C-117D was the one. The C-117 a, B and C were cersions of the original design. Check out this page for a brief explanation:

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/we ... C-117.html

Another C-117D that operated in Canada.
C-FALL photographed at Halifax, Nova Scotia on 12 December 1987 while flying mail to Newfoundland during an Air Canada strike.
It was possible to read the U.S.M.C. Bureau # 17140 and QUANTICO on the tail.
Photo by Barrie MacLeod and free to a good home.

Found these on the web. The same aircraft, c/n.43385, as N9663N before (Winnipeg 1987) and after (Fort Lauderdale 2002) it became C-FALL...

I saw and photographed an active C-117D belonging to TransNorthern at Anchorage, Alaska in March, 2007. Not sure if it still flies, but I have a strong feeling it does. Registration is N3UTN.

Cheers,
Richard

PS. Whatever happened to the example with huge prop domes that I remember seeing at the Santa Monica Museum of Flying back in the early 1990's?

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Richard Mallory Allnutt - Photography - http://www.rmallnutt.com

used to see the Gateway Super 3 during my freightdog travels in the late 90's,sad she ended up that way.

There was or is a C-117 in storage at the Bassler company on the other end of the Oshkosh Airport.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

It seems like there were only about 30 or so C-117D's built. The Navy and Marines needed more range, payload,and a little more speed to supply their Pacific outposts. The Super Gooney has so many differences from the DC-3 it requires a separate type rating, the DC-3S. IIRC, the last duty stations for the C-117d's for the Marines were Iwakuni,Japan in the early 1980's.
Some of the C-117D's have turned up with bad spars (corrosion) and is the reason some of them are no longer flying. My favorite version of the DC-3, they will probably follow the B-23 as going extinct from flying status without being noticed. THere's a shot of one in the movie "THe Great Santini."

The Navy had 100 built (R4D-8 later C-117D), or converted actually. I believe that the ones Capital Airlines used were seperate from that number. They were the only airline to order them. Looks like 5 civilian were built aside from the military order.

Rich

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Rich Kolasa
www.crystalgraphix.com

Right Rich, my bad. The book says 17 new build and the remaining 83 were conversions. Capital Airlines ordered three. Sure don't know where they all went!

I was lucky and happened to see a Marine version at Kadena Airbase, Okinawa Japan in 1979. I thought it was pretty cool to see the Gooney bird still flying for the U.S. military even at that point in time.

Larry