Douglas Dakota

Transport / glider tug · Douglas Aircraft · United States

Douglas Dakota
ⓘ licence & creditAirwolfhound / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:C47_Skytrain_-_Duxford_D-Day_Show_2014_(cropped).jpg
Typical crew4
Engines2 × Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp
First flight1941
Number built16,079

Photographs

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory acquired two Boeing R4D‒6 Skytrain aircraft in the fall of 1946 to assist the icing research program and serve as general utility aircraft. The Boeing aircraft was a modified military version of the Douglas DC‒3 transport aircraft that included a reinforced floor and enlarged cargo door. The US military requisitioned almost all of the DC‒3 aircraft being produced in 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe. The military versions were referred to as C‒47s. The army called them Gooney Birds, the British called them Dakotas, and the Navy referred to them as Skytrains. The R4D‒6 included two-speed superchargers, auxiliary fuel tanks, and improved heaters. Icing research at NACA Lewis during the war focused on the resolution of icing problems for specific military aircraft. In 1947 the laboratory broadened its program and began systematically measuring and categorizing clouds and water droplets. Lewi
ⓘ licence & creditNACA / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Boeing_R4D%E2%80%926_Skytrain_Aircraft_Outfitted_with_Icing_Research_Equipment_(grc-1953-c-31685).jpgView source & full licence →
CAPTION: Air Freight NZR [New Zealand Railways Department] Paraparaumu. Dakota front part side nose and 2 engines. Pinup shot. PHOTOGRAPHER: F.G. Tingay. DATE: 1948 [?] This image comes from the NZ Railways Series 6390, a large mixture of black and white glass plate negatives, safety film negatives, and black and white prints stored in glassine bags. Archives New Zealand Reference: AAVK 6390 W3493 Box 176/ B655 Material from Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
ⓘ licence & creditArchives New Zealand from New Zealand / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:B655_(29567990387).jpgView source & full licence →
Airborne over Southern France. C. 1944-09. British Gliders towed by Douglas C47 Dakota aircraft over Southern France for the Allied airborne invasion.
ⓘ licence & creditUnknown, but likely member of Allied armed forces, either United States Army Air Force or Royal Australian Air Force or Royal Air Force. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AWM_SUK12892_Airborne_Southern_France.jpgView source & full licence →
ⓘ licence & creditChipo / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aviones_de_la_aviaci%C3%B3n_militar_dominicana.jpgView source & full licence →
Coastal landscape with an aircraft, vehicles', and several people. "NZ3538" is written on the aircraft.
ⓘ licence & creditCollins, Tudor Washington, 1898-1970, photographer / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Airplane_parked_on_beach_(AM_88246-1).jpgView source & full licence →
Loading patients in ambulance plane. Evacuation of casualties by plane. At Maingkwan, Burma - 151st Medical Battalion. Patients brought by ambulance from 42nd and 46th Portable Surgical Hospital below Walabum, Burma. Patients flown to Ledo for 73rd and 20th General Hospitals. Patients wounded less than 24 hours previous. World War 2. 73rd Evacuation, 20th General Hospital. 03/20/1944. Selected by Kathleen.
ⓘ licence & creditOtis Historical Archives National Museum of Health and Medicine / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A44-124-4_(3236770372).jpgView source & full licence →
Photographs of the Korean War
ⓘ licence & credit공보처 홍보국 사진담당관 / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:6.25%EC%A0%84%EC%9F%81%EA%B4%80%EB%A0%A8%EC%9E%90%EB%A3%8C15.jpgView source & full licence →
Douglas C-47 5W-FAC in unknown date
ⓘ licence & creditJahhem aerofly / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5W-FAC.pngView source & full licence →
The Emir of Buraydah [and] Col. Walker.
ⓘ licence & creditCameron, Harry F. / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:479_Cameron_personnel_near_Buraydah_-_USACE-p15141coll5-15782.jpegView source & full licence →
1942-12-14. NEW GUINEA. TROOPS LOAD PLANE WITH AMMUNITION WRAPPED IN BLANKETS, WHICH WILL BE DROPPED TO THE TROOPS IN THE BUNA-GONA AREA. GENERAL BLAMEY DISPLAYS KEEN INTEREST IN THE LOADING OF THE PLANE. (NEGATIVE BY G. SILK).
ⓘ licence & creditG. Silk / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:013836_-_loading_C-47_with_ammo_to_drop_near_Buna_Gona_AWM.JPGView source & full licence →

About

The Douglas Dakota was the RAF’s name for the military version of the Douglas DC-3 airliner — the C-47 — and it became the indispensable transport aircraft of the Allied war effort. More than 1,900 reached the RAF, largely under Lend-Lease, the first arriving in India in 1942, and they served in every theatre.

Rugged, reliable and able to operate from rough strips, the Dakota carried troops and freight, towed gliders, dropped paratroops and parachuted supplies. It was central to the airborne assault at Arnhem in 1944 — where Flight Lieutenant David Lord of No. 271 Squadron won a posthumous Victoria Cross pressing home a supply drop in a burning aircraft — and to the campaign in Burma, where air supply kept the Fourteenth Army fighting in country with few roads. Beloved by its crews, the “Dak” remained in RAF service into the 1970s.

Sources: This page was compiled from publicly available historical sources, including Douglas C-47 Skytrain — Wikipedia and Douglas Dakota — RAF Museum. The text is original and has been written from factual source material; no source text has been copied unless specifically quoted and attributed.