Warbird Information Exchange

Does anyone know many of the old prop aircraft (ie. the WW11 /propliners era large disp. motors) are still used in regular service? Aircraft operating in a commercial/military environment rather than as a warbird or historic display.

Which aircraft are still in service?

I know there is a number used in Cargo ops, firefighting & military transports, such as the Dc-3, Caribou, Cl-215's, Neptunes

Well,for starters,Butler Aircraft of Redmond,Oregon has three DC-7's that are still earning their keep.Tanker 62 (N401US) is ex-United Airlines DC-7 and will be used as an air tanker on a Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) contract this year.Tanker 66 (N6353C) is another ex-United Airlines DC-7 which is also on contract to the ODF.Tanker 60 (N838D) is an ex-Eastern Airlines DC-7B which will be a reserve airplane that is available to the ODF on a Call When Needed (CWN) basis and is Butler's training aircraft.T62 will be based in Medford and T66 in Redmond.This is the second year of a five year contract with the ODF.

There are two C-47s flying the mail and restaurant supplies from Long Beach, CA to Catalina Island daily (about a 26 mile flight). Probably a bunch of Convairs still flying cargo as well. Not to mention a bunch of fire bombers... They recently hired a DC-10 here in California.

There is an old Convair that used to come out of PIT late at night, I don't know whose, but I used to see it once in a while. Also, like 5 years ago, a C-133 used to fly in once in a while. That was a something to see.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

I was flying a Longranger in Alaska last year and there were several DC-3 and DC-4. and even what appeared to be a civilian C-130 flying in and out of Dillingham. Northern Air Cargo I believe ran the DC's no idea on the Herc.

Ill bet there are a lot..thats What Chris told me

Don't forget the Mars flying "boats". There is a C-133 in Alaska, the only one flying.

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Shop the Airplane Bunker At
www.warbirdbunker.com

Oh, there was also a C-46 there in Dillingham Alaska as well!

Check this out...

http://www.ruudleeuw.com/tmp-photos.htm

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

The Classic Flight here in the UK has two DC 3's on regular passenger excursions as well as a DC 6 that will be used for displays and maybe something else interesting in the near future......

Alan

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Those that can do,those that can't be bothered,TALK about it.
Volunteer with Classic Flight and a member of Beech Restorations team.
http://beechrestorations.wordpress.com/about-us/
http://www.classicflight.com.

There are a handful of Convairliner (240/340/440) operators and a smattering of Convair Jetprop (600/640/580) operators out there worldwide. Desert Air Cargo out of Alaska flies a pair of DC-3s and recently acquired an ex-Air Force T-29B from Air Tahoma (N153PA) as a replacement for the DC-3 that Air Tahoma is storing at Rickenbacker for them. Air Tahoma and the IFL Group are currently the largest operators of Convairliners of all types out there, IFL the largest 580/5800 operator and Air Tahoma coming in second, but also operating a pair of 240s in addition to 8 580s.

Flying Fireman Inc out of Deer Lake, WA still flies a PBY-6A fire tanker for the State of Washington and several Canadian outfits are still flying tankers converted from old propliners, but they're getting sparse due to the new USFS rules severely limiting their opportunities for employment in North America.

Ruud has a great site, also you can check out Airlinerlist.com for up-to-date censuses of various aircraft used in airline service over the years and what's still out there operating.

I just saw some pix on-line of a couple of P2V Neptunes and a P-3 Orion fighting the wildfires in Colorado this week. There are a bunch of both still working hard in that most honorable profession.

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

http://www.flyingboxcar.com/index.php?page=1

Man, where can I get one?!

Always a big fan of that twin boom design!

Evertt's Air Fuel operate 4 C-46's out of Fairbanks, with 6 in mothballs

Evertt's Air Cargo operate about 10 DC-6's out of Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska

Brooks Fuel operated several DC-4's and a Carvair out of Fairbanks, but lost the Carvair, and a DC-4 in the last three months.

Northern Air Cargo operate about 8 or 10 DC-6's out of Fairbanks and Anchorage, AK. There are about 10 in mothballs as well.

There is a C-119, plus one in mothballs in Palmer Alaska, as well as a couple of C-47's

At least three C-47's and a C-117 operate out of Anchorage.

Several C-46's operate out of Yellowknife NWT, and a couple more are under restoration.

There's a C-133 operating out of Anchorage.

These are just a few of the vintage cargo planes flying from Alaska, and the North West Territories.

Until recently, Air Spray, operated 17 A-26 Invaders out of Red Deer, Alberta... they are due to be replaced very soon though, and several have already been sold on.

Cheers,
Richard

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

100+ DC-3s (all variants) are still active worldwide.