jankees
SOH-CM-2025
Here's a bit of an enigmatic aircraft:
The Dutch Air Force received her first Dakota's in 1952, although they owned one in 1946, but that crashed near Katwijk the same year and was destroyed. That one carried the registration X-1, but that is not the subject of my paint... The Air Force later leased one C-47 from the KLM, gave it the military registration X-2, but it kept its civil registration, PH-TBV, on the tail. I painted that one earlier. Later they leased a few more, and clearly they liked them, because they bought a few more in 1952. The first one was taken on charge in 1952 and was numbered X-1, yes, that is this one.
The makers badge with its construction number was missing however, and nobody seems to know where this aircraft came from. The logbook mentions the aircraft was 'found'. There was a rumour that the aircraft had been used by refugees and landed at Valkenburg airfield without registration..
About a year later, the aircraft made an emergency landing near Valkenburg after taking off for a relief flight for the flooded areas in the south of the Netherlands on 6 februari and was written off.
On a final note, you'll note that the text above the windows reads 'Netherlands Air Force / Luchtmacht Nederland', without the word 'Royal/Koninklijke' added to it. This was because the Royal Dutch Airforce officialy did not come into existence until 27 March 1953, so two months after the crash of X-1.
The paint still needs some tweaking on the nose and the door hinges, but I thought you would enjoy it already.
The Dutch Air Force received her first Dakota's in 1952, although they owned one in 1946, but that crashed near Katwijk the same year and was destroyed. That one carried the registration X-1, but that is not the subject of my paint... The Air Force later leased one C-47 from the KLM, gave it the military registration X-2, but it kept its civil registration, PH-TBV, on the tail. I painted that one earlier. Later they leased a few more, and clearly they liked them, because they bought a few more in 1952. The first one was taken on charge in 1952 and was numbered X-1, yes, that is this one.
The makers badge with its construction number was missing however, and nobody seems to know where this aircraft came from. The logbook mentions the aircraft was 'found'. There was a rumour that the aircraft had been used by refugees and landed at Valkenburg airfield without registration..
About a year later, the aircraft made an emergency landing near Valkenburg after taking off for a relief flight for the flooded areas in the south of the Netherlands on 6 februari and was written off.
On a final note, you'll note that the text above the windows reads 'Netherlands Air Force / Luchtmacht Nederland', without the word 'Royal/Koninklijke' added to it. This was because the Royal Dutch Airforce officialy did not come into existence until 27 March 1953, so two months after the crash of X-1.
The paint still needs some tweaking on the nose and the door hinges, but I thought you would enjoy it already.
