Unusual C-47 at McKinnon Apt SSI GA

S

SSI01

Charter Member
The local EAA branch has got a C-47 or derivative parked in front of their flight line shack. This is very unusual for SSI, believe me. Standard C-47 profile but has pointed nose (similar to "Que Sera Sera" or an AF EC-47), plus an astrodome on top. Aircraft is painted dark olive drab w/neutral grey undersides, white WWII AAF star & bar insignia. No invasion stripes. I couldn't see a serial on the vertical stab. "N" number is in yellow in front of stabilizer, about four inches high & too small to read. Will try to get picture in the morning if it's still here.
 
I thought about that, but it has that rounded C-47 rudder, and no doors around the landing gear. Just that more pointed nose with a black radome.
 
The Luftwaffe modified some C-47s with an F-104 nose and radar to train their pilots with the radar in the 60s when they were flying the Starfighter. Perhaps it is one of those.
 
From information and a profile in "Great Aircraft of the World", published 1986, I quote word for word -
"One of the 98 US Navy R4D-98s modified to Super DC3 standard with swept wings, lengthened fuselage, enlarged tail and fully enclosed undercarriage. Redesignated the C-117D, this version had a top speed of 270 mph."
 
Between the 30 or more 'factory' versions of the basic airframe and the dozens more field-modified ( including civilian mods), without knowing a registration it would seem difficult to pin down. A few clues though: pointed nose -black (the standard weather radome mod is noticeably 'sharper'), astrodome (normally removed in civilian use as they are prone to leak), no gear doors (unmodified - no 'speed-kit' or restored to original) and the paint comments...

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Douglas-C-47A-Skytrain/1843183/&sid=ddc5289b70ba0b442f7ce0a6af8bce09

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N99FS&distinct_entry=true

this a/c is currently listed as owned by: Brooks Aviation Inc, Douglas GA so, it's "local", and paint is relatively easy to change, remove, modify at an owner's whim.

On the other hand it may be a newly painted example of one of the many OTHER versions/mods like this one:

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pied...0082425/&sid=b12dcabac8b877613353a5030ee59fd0
 
I have to head to the clinic for an MRI of my left shoulder in a few minutes. That takes me right by the airport so I'll ask around and find out. Will also get a reg no. for us all.

I can tell you it most nearly resembles the first photo you've enclosed above, with the exception of the slogan above the windows, and the aircraft and Army reg no - none of those are on the bird.
 
Srgalahad is dead on the money - the aircraft is C-47 N99FS out of Douglas, GA. The logo over the windows, serial no. and individual aircraft no. have all been oversprayed with OD paint but are faintly visible through the overspray. It's here for Veterans' Day Weekend, a TP-40, also out of northern Georgia, will be here tomorrow afternoon.

I got a chance to crawl up into the inside of the C-47. It does have a weather radar nose, the screen for it is on the panel. The interior is set up for paratrooping, complete with the static line cord running the length of the pax compartment. I noted the paint on the fabric control surfaces, wings and tail, was a little the worse for wear, lots of flaking and in some places bare fabric. Still wonderful to take that uphill stroll and smell the hydraulic fluid, dubbing, and avgas.
 
The aircraft itself is not only a D-Day vet, but was used in the salvage of P-38 "Glacier Girl" so you've had a chance to enjoy a bit of history.
 
Thanks for this info - two members of my family were WWII paratroopers (one ETO, one PTO), but only one was alive when I grew up enough to know who they were. The other died shortly after the war from something he contracted (TB) that just ate him up. I wonder if my mom's now long-dead nephew rode in this airplane on his way into Normandy - he made the Dutch drop also, with the 82ABN.
 
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