DC-3 Fly In, Aviodrome 2006

DC-3 Fly In, Aviodrome 27 & 28 May 2006

Photos © Ruud Leeuw

A unique event took place during the weekend of 27 & 28 May 2006: Douglas DC-3 vintage airliners flew in from all directions into Lelystad Airport (EHLE), Netherlands.
These 2 days we heard radial engines triumph over modern turbine props!

The people and volunteers of the Aviodrome Aviation Theme Park excelled yet again in bringing aviation history alive to the masses of this modern day and age !

Aviodrome's PH-DDY sits in the background, while DC-3's LN-WND of Norway and K-682/OY-BPB of Denmark take prime parking places on Aviodrome's ramp.

While in their glory days it was quite common to witness a scene like this, it now takes a huge effort by many enthusiasts to make something like this happen: the people of the Aviodrome and those who support the visiting classic airliners I salute them whole-heartedly!

Now isn't this a sight for sore eye's: DC-3's lining up behind each other !

Unfortunately a few DC-3's were unable to appear here: DDA Classic Airlines' 2 DC-3 were detained for various reasons and the French F-AZTE returned back to France when weather at Lelystad was below landing minima on the Friday; unfortunately it did not make another attempt.

Air Atlantique failed to appear as well, still, an impressive number of DC-3's did show up and the ramp showed a nice line up as can be seen here.

In the background DC-3 look-alike Lisunov Li-2 HA-LIX can be seen: a unique appearance here in Holland !

This photo shows the arrival of OY-BPB, a C-47A from Danish DC-3 Friends; the aircraft is decorated in the Royal Danish Air Force livery and carries tailnumber K-682. It has construction number 20019.

Note the copilot has his cockpit window open to facilitate taxying, improving his view as taxying in a socalled taildragger is a tricky affair.

An unusual viewpoint, from the vintage atc tower of Amsterdam Municipal Airport.

OY-BPB c/n 20019 has the following history:
Delivered as 43-15553 on 09Apr44 to the US Army Air Force, it went to Norway in April 1945, where it was registered 43-15553 for the Norwegian AF (serving with 20 Transport Flight) later that year.
It took on a civilian career with DNL in 1946 and became formally registered LN-IAT for Det Norske Luftfahrtselskap AS (DNL) and named "Nordfind" on 09Oct47 (initially serving on a lease, but purchased on 15Dec48). After SAS (Scandinavian Air System) was formed it was renamed "Terie Viking" on 01Aug48. It did however return to military service, no doubt when SAS went for more modern transports, and was registered K-682 with the Royal Danish Air Force (16Sep53, with Esk 721).
It was reregistered OY-BPB for Bohnstedt-Petersen 03Mar83 and probably flew a while in camouflage colours.
On 22aug92 it went to Foreningen for Flyvende Museumsfly at Vaerlose; it is hangared at Karup during winters.

C-47A OY-BPB is seen here warming up its engines for a short flight display.

The weather on the Saturday of this event was cloudy, but the rains stayed away until late that afternoon; the sound of the radial engines managed to warm the hearts of the many enthusiasts.

Here is OY-BPB's history in detail by Nils Rosengaard

K-682 is seen here in the company of PH-ALR, a DC-3 better known as G-AMCA previously owned by Air Atlantique (whose presence was sadly missed here). The real PH-ALR (c/n 1939) managed to escape to England when WW2 broke out, but was written off near Heston on 21Sep1940 (operating as G-AGBC at the time).
G-AMCA (C-47B 16218/32966) was decorated in the "hi-vis" colours of KLM's WW2 activities (flying between UK and Lisbon), but will probably never fly again.

The Goldtimer Foundation spent over 30.000 man hours and over 120.000 euros to complete the restoration of this Lisunov Li-2, which could well be the only flying Li-2 presently around. The restoration was completed in 2001, but to keep it flying is hard work because people in Hungary don't yet fully appreciate the uniqueness of this plane and funds is always in short supply.

The smoke with engine starts is common with the radial engines, it can be quite spectacular at times!

HA-LIX is seen taxying past the Lelystad atc tower.

Gold Timer Foundation was launched in 1993 to continue restoration of vintage airplanes which was started inside the Air Service of the Ministry for Agriculture and Nutrition the early-1980s.
The collective of enthusiastic mechanics, engineers and pilots resurrected a couple of oldtimer aircraft like the Polikarpov Po-2 biplane or the famous Gerle-13 (designed by Antal Bánhidi), a classic sports and aerobatics airplane of the 1930s, which belongs to the Hungarian Museum of Transportation.
The planes have beenthe highlight of numerous air shows in Hungary and around Middle Europe ever since. The Lisunov Li-2, the Soviet version of the DC-3, is a part of this unique collection.

www.goldtimer.hu

The Lisunov Li-2 HA-LIX (c/n 18433209) came all the way from Hungary and made some money to recoup the costs of flying to Lelystad by doing some flightseeing flights. I was very pleased to see it here, as I had not seen it before.
And it was good to see that in spite of the far from perfect weather, people did indeed book for the opportunity to fly onboard the Li-2.
I hope to do the same on a next visit.

Landing a DC-3 or Li-2 with a crosswind takes some skilfull handling and this landing got a bit bumpy, smoke is seen coming from the tyres.

This here is a detail of the cabin interior. It seems the seats come from a Tupolev TU-154 jet airliner and is featured in 2 by 1 row of seats, totalling 21 seats. I hope many more will come and join a flight with the Goldtimer Foundation Li-2, to keep them flying.

The cockpit of the Lisunov Li-2 HA-LIX; note the gloves on the righthand steering column.

A detail of the tail of HA-LIX; apparently Hungary's national airline Malev does some sponsoring, but the budget is small.
Hopefully with years to come the awareness for Hungary's Industrial Heritage will grow there too.

Clouds get darker but the sun puts a spotlight on HA-LIX.
Note how the tailwheel is positioned, rather unusual, probably caused by the pushback into this parking position.

LN-WND seems to await its passengers...
This DC-3 is a C-53 and has c/n 11750. "Dakota Norway" proudly operates this fine Classic airliner and more can be learned from their website.

Read this...

K-682/OY-BPB of Denmark and LN-WND of Dakota Norway share this shot, waiting for events to come about.

I was pleased to buy a Dakota Norway t-shirt, to sponsor their worthy efforts, and I was glad to be able to meet some Danish friends, having shared the fascination for vintage transports through the internet for a number of years and it was nice to put some faces to the names now: a big HI! to Nils Roosengaard and Niels Helmø Larsen, editor of DC-3 NYT, Danish DC-3 Friends.

Now this looks good, eh? There is quite a story to this excellent looking Douglas C-47A.

This C-47A has c/n 19345 and is owned by Patrick "Paddy" Green; who had this warbird restored to impeccable detail !

How this came about can be read on my page on N5831B, though it was recently (14Jun06) reregistered to its present tailnumber N473DC (in name of Dakota Heritage).
The paint is hardly dry from its magnificent makeover at RAF Church Fenton in recent weeks. Note how the registration has C-47 and DC-3 worked into it.

As one can see, she is sporting her 87th Troop Carrier Squadron colours, following a 5 week repaint at RAF Church Fenton (in Yorkshire,UK). She is nearly complete now - some history panels remain to be added inside the aircraft (such as her USAAF, RAF and RCAF details and also the 82nd and 101st US Airborne insignia and the British 1st Airborne; they will be placed on the front bulkhead). Also, on the port nose, the 87th squadron emblem will be applied, which was a cartoon of a paratrooper sitting astride a giant skyrocket!

This here is a detail from the lefthand side and show the Normandy D-day stripes to full advantage,

N473DC will participate in next June's anniversary of "D-day", dropping paratroopers on June 5th and 7th.

In August 2006 I received the following email:
Here is our teamphoto of the LIBERTY JUMP TEAM and 'DRAG EM OOT' just prior to her dropping them in Carentan on 05Jun06 on the 101st DZ (Drop Zone).
Two days later (07Jun06) she dropped them in Amfreville, on the 82nd Airborne DZ.
Our Halo jumpers from the Golden Wings Parachute Team also jumped from her as well.
Through the generosity of Mr Patrick Green, Mr Peter Kuypers and crew plus their dedication to the veterans, we also were treated on a flyover for the 507PIR Ceremony in Amfreville on 06Jun06. And our veterans, who travelled to Normandy with us, were given a wonderful aerial tour of the beaches.
We also had the added thrill of Mr Bill Allin, the original pilot of this beautiful plane, coming to join us in Normandy.
MR. Green truly epitomizes the kind of individual who helps those of us seeking honour the brave men and women of WW2.
We cannot thank him enough and look forward to our future associations with him in 2007.
JIL LAUNAY
TEAM LEADER, LIBERTY JUMP TEAM

The name "Drag-em-Oot" is Scottish slang for drag them out and refers to snapping up the lines of the gliders to bring them home.
For info on this see further below.

The cabin has only 8 seats.

Following stripping out a lot of old electrical wiring, plus the cargo liner and replacing the old cargo floor with a lightweight structure, this vintage transport now weighs 1000 pounds less than she did in 1985... How many 62 year old`s can boast that!!

As I said before: restored with an impeccable sense of (historic) detail: the names of all the crewmembers during D-day have been applied on various places of the aircraft (the name of the crewchief is next to the cargodoor and the pilot and copilot crewnames are on the exterior, beneath the cockpit windows.

The construction plate of this aircraft, as one can see it was built for the USAAF as 42-100882, converted to DC-3C and found its way to Canada (it was registered as CF-AKZ and C-FKAZ)

On the left is a look in the cockpit and on the right is remarkable evidence of its war history: a hole caused by a bullet, in the pilot's seat !! It came through the co-pilot's cockpit window - along with about another 8 or 10 bullets around the cockpit area, fired probably in a single burst from a German fighter. Maybe this happened in the battle around Arnhem?

Mr Green has done an amazing thing, having Drag-em-Oot restored like this.

Read more about DC-3 towing gliders:

OH-LCH came all the way from Helsinki, Finland and we were more than pleased to see it here.

This Douglas C-53C once operated for the Finnish Air Force and has c/n 6346.
It has been decorated in the livery of Aero OY, which became Finnish Air Lines and later Finnair. OH-LCH is operated by Airveteran OY.

The people of the Aviodrome have proven in the past to go the extra mile to please the aviation enthusiast, but this time they outdid themselves: a special thanks to Raymond Oostergo and Peter v.d. Noort for facilitating the opportunities to be able to make these photos.
Fortunately the Aviodrome share excellent relations with the Lelystad Airport Authorities and some of us were allowed to travel by bus to a good photo spot.

SE-CFP is the Swedish contribution to this event and this is a Douglas C-47A with c/n 13883.
It is operated by the Flygande Veteraner and the livery is clearly an early SAS colourscheme; I haven't been able to detect a website in English of them yet.
They nicknamed their Classic veteran: "Daisy".

Except for the fun to be able to immerge in all this aviation history, it was great fun to share topics with people such as Roger Syratt, whose propliner experiences go back so much further.

It was also good to meet Andrew Martin, Bill Blanchard and Mick Bajcar, who show such excellent aviation photography and represented AirTeam Images this day. Sorry about the weather guys, but am sure you've seen worse on your global travels!

For their photos on Airliners.net: Andy | Bill | Mick

Andrew wrote me afterwards: "Though I have some pics on A.net I really only upload to AirTeamImages now - my pics are at www.airteamimages.com/photographer19.html. My stuff on AirTeamImages is much more representative of my current output than is what I have on A.net."

OH-LCH, very much airworthy, looks out over the grounded PH-ALR. Though restoration work is ongoing on this aircraft, I am not sure of its chances to be airworthy again.

A nice book to read up on the Dutch DC-3 aviation heritage, is "Sluipvluchten naar Lissabon" by Ad van Ommen (subtitled "Nederlandse vliegers en hun Dakota's", which covers the wide range of subjects much better. Am not sure if it was ever published in an English translation.

KLM has always named its aircraft, in the early days the names were hardly international: PH-ALR became (starting with the last letter of its registration) "Reiger" (meaning "Heron").

Nice to see the "Reiger" found a place on the waterside...

Recently engines have been fitted, but these are not serviceable and only serve to overcome its "amputated' appearance.

Douglas C-54A PH-DDY (c/n 7488) has exchanged places with the Lockheed Constellation and was moved outside.

Its history can be read on my page Aviodrome Dec. 2003

Close up of the (cargo)door.

I have the distinct impression this nose was modified and have reason to believe it was done whilst in service of the South African Air Force.

Douglas DC-2-142 PH-AJU (c/n 1404) is still very much in maintenance.

For the sake of Fokker's heritage I could not resist including this Fokker S.11, a flight trainer.
This particular S-11 served the Royal Netherlands Air Force from 1952 until 1973, registered as E-27. Its present registration is PH-HOL (since 1974). The PH-HOL is now owned by the Stichting Fokker Four.

One of the first activities undertaken by Fokker after the second world war was the design of a new military aircraft for initial pilot training, the S-11 Instructor. An aircraft trader already placed orders for 100 of these aircraft in 1946, before construction had even begun!
The first prototype flew at Schiphol on 18Dec1947. Eventually 101 S-11's were sold to the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Israeli Air Force, Italian Air Force and Brazilian Air Force. Numerous S-11 instructors are still flying today. The Dutch organisation Fokker Four, dedicated to the preservation of this aircraft, owns five S-11's and amongst other activities still performs with them on airshows.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_S.11
Go to the link for the Technical Specifications

Quite the opposite of being "Classic", but since DDA Classic Airlines did not show up with PH-DDZ (or PH-PBA for that matter) and so Martinair's colours seemed absent: the cheatline of this flight simulator is much like Martinair's and "JMS" written on it, refers to J.M.Schröder, (retired) CEO and Founder of Martinair.

The Spitfire is very much a replica but does add atmosphere, and the Beech in the background will never fly either.

For a list of aircraft present at the Aviodrome, have a look at my 2003 page (though the list stems from a later date.

The Grumman S-2 Tracker has long stood at the Aviodome at Schiphol and joined the move to Lelystad. Hopefully it will see some good restoration in the future.

The Saab Viggen was a contender in the follow-up competition when the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter needed replacement with the Royal Netherlands Air Force; I still regret the choice befell the F-16.
On the Saturday an excellent looking Viggen was handed over by the Swedish military in a formal procedure, reminding us how close we got to the deal with the Swedish.

The Noorduyn Norseman is slowly progressing in its restoration.

One should have a look how it looked in 2003...

Lockheed VC-121B Constellation N749NL (c/n 2604) has changed places with PH-DDY; recently 2 good engines were purchased by the Aviodrome from South Korea and expect they wanted a dry place to start making the 'Dutch Connie" airworthy again (2007?)

Tom Beudeker sent me a photo of engine maintenance in the ol'days...

Another photo of the "Connie" and in the background one can see that the Fokker F.3 has been raised off the ground, compared to the 2003 photos.

Well... that's all Folks !!!

Many thanks to all those who made this weekend so tremendously enjoyable !!

DC-3 index page

To email me, click on the image and write the correct adress as given below
(replace -AT- by the @ symbol).

Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is because spam has increasingly become a problem.