James Richard Covington, Jr (c) sent me this photo of N5831B, now stripped of its paint, taken on 17Oct03 at Avra Valley. Published with permission.

 
This Douglas C-47 was delivered to the USAAF on December 28th, 1943. as 42-100882
but transferred to the RAF as TS422 in Sep.1943.

 

Dennis also sent me the fruits of his research:
"When the owner, Mr Green, researched the history of the C-47, he found out it was piloted by a Bill Allin who got his wings in 1943.
During World War II Allin was stationed in Greenham Common, England. He brought the wounded back to England, and delivered 5 gallon cans of gas to France for Patton's tanks. One time Patton thanked him with a case of Champagne & Gognac. The C-47 was a glider tower and had a large reel of cable. The cable would catch the gliders and pull them into the air. Allin named the plane after the job it performed : 'Drag 'em oot" He also named an engine after his back home girlfriend "Irene".

The owner also chipped in with some information:
When I decided that if I was going to be mad enough to buy and operate a Dakota, I wanted one with a good war record. N5831B served with the lead squadron on D-Day and flew 2 missions that day, plus re-supply. Then Market Garden in September (although I need more info on this) and then it transferred to the RAF and went to Burma with 435 Squadron fighting the Japanese until August 1945.
She has about 30 large calibre bullet holes in the fuselage and wing centre section (and also alarmingly, the pilots seat!!), but whether they are German or Japanese, I don`t know.
Future plans? There will be a repaint and on to the airshow circuit and some corporate use for my company here in the UK.
Ultimate plan is to install about 12/16 seats and divide the cabin by installing a bulkhead, into a WW2 paratroop transport at the rear of the plane and a DC3 airliner at the front. 2 planes in one!
She will remain on the US register and I`ve reserved the number N747PG.
However, at a later date he changed his mind and decided the following on the tailnumber:
"I decided to drop N747PG as an option and decided on N473DC.
The new licence number acknowledges that the aircraft was built as a C-47, became a 3 and was a Douglas Commercial (DC)..."

Steven Martin sent me this in July 2007: "I was excited to see your web site detailing the restoration of N5831B. I was a pilot on that airplane for about 5 years with McNeely Charter Service. I have many hours sitting in the Co-pilot and Captain seats staring at those bullet holes while delivering baby chickens and auto parts all over the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. I knew the airplane was a historic one and am glad to see it ended up in good hands. I have many stories of engine failures, flight through thunderstorms, and crosswind landings that took place in that airframe. One particular instance occurred when I was a new first officer almost ended in a fatal crash of N5831B back in the mid-1990's... On take off from the West Memphis airport we experienced an engine failure of the right engine just after lift off. The Captain called for gear up, so I retracted the landing gear. The Captain then secured the engine by shutting off the mixture, and then pressing the feathering pump for the right engine. We thought at this point a single engine return to the airport would be simple. This was not the case!!! The Captain was trying his best to keep the crippled airplane in the air, but it looked like he was going to have to put her down in a farm field, which in itself would have not been fatal, but coming up quickly was a large levy that extended the length of the field. We were heading straight for it... It would have been like hitting a brick wall at 80 miles an hour. The Captain began yelling "we have drag, we have drag, Is the gear up?". I replied Yes, the handle is up!. He then asked, "Is the propeller feathered?". I looked out the window to see the propeller windmilling. I said, "NO, it is spinning !". He said, "feather the &*#@ thing!!". I reached up and held the feathering pump while looking out of the window until the prop stopped spinning and immediately the aircraft began climbing. We cleared the levy by feet and the captain nursed the wounded ship back to the airport. After landing we discovered that there was no fuel in the right fuel tanks. I only checked the left tanks on pre-flight and we had 150 gallons of fuel, which was more than enough for the short 20 minute test flight we had planned. I learned some valuable lessons that day. I always knew how much fuel was on board and where it was located from that day forward. I also learned that those solenoids on the feathering pump switches wear out. I hope Mr. Green is successful with her on the airshow circuit."

The crew of C-47A 42-100882 "Drag-em-Oot", May 10th, 1944. Lt. Bill Allin Jr. is on the far left. Click on the photo for a larger image.

Gary Allin wrote: "I am the son of the American pilot, 1st. Lt. Orlando Bill Allin, who originally flew this plane during the D-Day campaign in Normandy. We were able to meet up with the new owner Mr. Paddy Green in Great Falls, Montana for a reunion while it was on the way back to England.
My father had a wonderful time seeing his old plane again and sharing his portion of its history with Mr. Green and the "new crew" who took it to its "old turf". My Dad has told me that he called the plane the "Drag em Oot" from an expression his maternal grandmother used to say. She was from the Winnipeg and Sault St. Marie areas of Canada before moving to the United States.
BTW, the girlfriend that my Dad named one of his engines after (Irene) married him after the war. The war ended while he was in Missouri and they married shortly thereafter. The airplane that Dad and I flew to the reunion in Great Falls is named Bill and Irenes Flying Machine."

John Stewart wrote me in Jan.2007: "Thanks for the wonderful photos/news of this plane. I was a mechanic at McNeelys and I have worked on that ol' gal a lot. I have always remembered when my son and I got the chance to ride together. I still keep a photo of her on my desk where I work now. I also worked alot on N24320 which went to a museum. Guess I will have to "cross the creek" to see the beaver ( this was our nick name or her)... John

Marie Warwick, ops manager of Cambrai Covers, sent me this in Mar.2006: "I came across your website whilst doing some research on Paddy Green's Dakota N5831B. We were actually commissioned to make covers for the DC3 a couple of months ago. I have attached a couple of photos for you, they were made by Michael Whitley."   Click on the thumbnail for a larger image.

Roger Syratt visited North Weald airport in the UK on 15Apr06, to witness the progress on N5831B. As one can see: people are hard at work here!

The cabin looks like a mess (somewhat resembles my study at times!) but I don't see any structural work in progress, so that would not complicate a participation to the DC-3 Fly In at Lelystad 27 & 28 May 2006...

Another look on the maintenance, which I am certain is only a part of its restoration which should guarantee years of solid performance on the air show circuit here in Europe (an initiative by Paddy Green much to be admired!)

Have a look at the identity plates Roger photographed:

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More historical information of this DC-3, after the war, can be found on my webpage the Deep South (2001)

And this is how it looked like, almost fully decorated, at the DC-3 Fly In at Lelystad 27 & 28 May 2006.

Check out my report on the 2006 DC-3 Fly In at the Aviodrome for many more photos of "Drag-em-Oot"

Ken Byrnes forwarded me these photos taken by (c) Donal Leahy in Nov.2006, depicting Douglas C-47A N473DC (c/n 19345) at Waterford,Ireland. Photos: (c) Donal Leahy.

Ken wrote: "This DC3 came into Waterford for a few hours on Saturday Nov. 11th; Paddy was saying she will now be hangared in Scotland until next spring." Patrick "Paddy" Green kindly provided the names of the crew- John Dodd, pilot; Peter Kuypers, co-pilot and Mark Edwards, engineer (of Edwards Worldwide Aviation). More about Paddy Green's C-47A can be read on N5831B's History and it was present on the DC-3 2006 Fly In at the Aviodrome in the Netherlands.

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