C-47 Color Picture

The Douglas Aircraft Company produced the C-47 Skytrain military
transport aircraft. The C-47 was developed from the civilian, and
Douglas built, DC-3 airliner and is widely regarded as not only the
most successful military transport aircraft from the Second World War
but also from well into the Cold War.

Capable of carrying men, heavy cargo or pulling a glider, the C-47,
and its many variants, proved versatile as well as rugged and reliable.
Well over 10,000 C-47s were built at aircraft plants in California and
Oklahoma. The most common variant to serve during the Second
World War was the C-47A with 5,254 built. One of the great strengths
of American aircraft was and remains to this day their engines and the
C-47 was no exception. Powered by two Pratt & Whitney radial
engines the C-47A completely outclassed the German Ju-52 miltary
transport aircraft in range (1,597 miles to 682 miles), payload (10,000
lbs. or 28 paratroopers or 14 stretchers to only 4,400 lbs. for the
Ju-52) and service ceiling (24,000 ft. to 19,300 ft.).

During World War II the ubiquitous Skytrain proved equally adept at
ferrying supplies from India into China, carrying thousands of
paratroopers through Europe's dangerous airspace, or landing and
taking off from makeshift runways on countless Pacific islands. After
World War II the Skytrain proved its worth yet again during the Berlin
Airlift and the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command
employed C-47's until late into the 1960s. Vietnam era variants even
served as flying AC-47 gunships. Dozens of nations have used, and
continue to use the C-47 in a multitude of roles further enhancing a
reputation already placing the C-47 among history's most useful
military aircraft.

Picture Courtesy of Steven Douglas Mercatante