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The Staff of SOH
What In The Heck Is C-53?
- Thread starter Aharon
- Start date
There's more where the C-53 came from.... Scroll down and check out chapter 'Variants' :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_C-47_Skytrain
The internet is your friend.
cheers,
jan
DennyA
SOH-CM-2023
https://www.goldenageairtours.com/n341a/
Since the sole purpose of the C-53 was to drop para's the big cargo door as well as the enforced cabin floor were no longer needed. The pax/cargo combo door arrangement was replaced with just a single 'normal' door. That's the 'big' visual difference between the C-47 and C-53.( also noticeable in the above drawing are the long desert scoops on the C-47 and smaller airscoops on the C-53. But that doesn't have to mean that the C-53 never flew with the elongated desert scoops. (when it comes to the C-47/DC-3 it's usually nothing that doesn't have to mean anything... ;-)
Not a purist ? I'd say go happily flying Manfred's C-47 as a C-53 ( the paraseats arrangement is already exactly as you'd find in a C-53(D) ).
Btw, if you didn't know already, Manfred's C-47 model is capable of dropping para's.
Have fun!
Better watch out going there, Denny, you might end up in a swamp.
To name but a few : C-48, C-49, C-49A, C-49B, C-49C, C-49D, C-49E, C-49F, C-49G, C-49H, C-49J, C-49K, C-50, C-50A, C-50B, C-50C, C-50D, C-51, C-52, C-52A, C-52B, C-52C, C-52D, C-68, C-84.....
Nice pics, Ted! Never noticed these reinforced plates before. Both C-41 and C-41A were staff transport but what about those plates, éh ?... Plates on both sides but cockpit door only on port side. Still, maybe has to do with the removal of it ?
You're welcome, Aharon.
Btw, it is of course not like the C-53 was the only version used for dropping para's. The C-47 (with 'normal' pax/cargo door combo) was used for that just as much. Another interesting 'point' of distinguishing between the C-47 and its civil DC-3 version is that the latter had the 'pointy' tail where many C-47's were equipped with a 'glider-tow tail'. You can see the difference between the pointy tail of the C-53 and the glider-tow tail of the C-47 in the drawing above as well.
TuFun
Charter Member
https://www.vintagewingsinc.com/
