Warbird Information Exchange

Hello,

I am new here, so firstly allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ben Major, and I am a WW2 historian, researcher and collector from the United Kingdom. I was recently lucky enough to obtain a rear fuselage section for a C-47 (USAAF SN: 43-49240) and am currently looking at restoring it for display in a museum over here.

There are a number of items that I are missing from the fuselage section, and despite my best efforts, I have thus far been unable to locate some of the parts over here in England, and wondered whether or not anyone in the US can provide me with the spares themselves, or contacts that might be able to help.

I am trying to locate the following items:

- Cargo door assembly (I already have the integral jump door itself)
- Rear bulkhead (restroom) access door
- Access steps

There's a possibility that I could get the access steps made if I can obtain detailed measurements and photographs of them. I am also looking for details showing the mounting of the Jump Signal on the airframe of the aircraft, if anyone can assist with this, I'd be most grateful, too.

Advanced thanks for any help with the location of these spares,
Ben.

buffalo airways northwest territories canada they have website they still operate fleet of c47 c46 etc contact info on there they like to assist museums hope that helps

Thanks for the lead, Spitfire. I have dropped them an email, so let's see what might become of it.

Regards,
Ben.

Tradewinds Aircraft Supply in San Antonio has everything your looking for.

Thanks! I have sent them an email, but haven't yet received a response.

Thanks,
Ben.

Ben,

I'm currently restoring a C-47 cockpit section & have found the following to be good sources;

http://www.retroaviation.com

Located in Shropshire, they've got a large barn full of mostly NOS C-47 parts, including the larger airframe assemblies. Very nice guys to deal with & very helpful.

http://www.skysportengineering.co.uk

Located in Bedfordshire, they've also got a barn full of C-47 parts. Mainly smaller asemblies, but well worth a check. Again, very nice people to do business with.

With both of the above, you'll be better off arranging to visit & sort through / collect your parts as they're busy people with their core businesses.

Further afield, you could give Nadine at American Aero a try (http://www.american-aero.com). She has a great range of C-47 parts at good prices & is great to deal with. She was able to supply me with many parts that others, including Tradewinds & Basler couldn't source.

I have all the C-47 parts & maintenance manuals, if you drop me a PM with your e-mail address, I can send you scans of the pages you require.

Hope this helps!

Rich

Rich,

That's fantastic information indeed. I have just been on the phone with Retro Aviation and they have been able to assist with locating most of the items for which I am looking. Hopefully going to collect them sometime in the next week.

Thank you so much for providing details of companies in the UK!

Best regards,
Ben.