This DC-3/R4D-5 was sold in 1963 and operated by various parties; at some point it was reregistered N711TD, which is the tailnumber that is marked inside the cockpit (see photo).
It was ferried to Italy with the intention to reregister it as I-COFR and operate freight (fish) between Italy and Yugoslavia. But its CofA was denied and at some point it was purchased by the museum.

einz Rentmeister sent me this photo, taken at Las Vegas on 31Dec78, of N711TD (as described above the DC-3 which became N242AG) BUT WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT DOOR! The passengerdoor-equipped being more rare than the cargodoor-equipped DC-3/C-47, I find it unlikely that N711TD was modified with a cargodoor...

Construction number (c/n) 12679 belongs to a C-47A and it should have been equipped with a cargodoor from the start. It must have been modified later with a "passenger" door. To modify it again to a cargodoor seems strange.
Perhaps these modifications (and/or lack of proper documents of these modifications) were the reason why the CofA was denied?
But perhaps the entire cockpit panel stems from N711TD and is that how N242AG and N711TD were confused.

David Carter has this to say on the subject:
"A lot of the C-47s bought by Qantas, after World War II, were modified to have a pre-war style passenger door. The aircraft operated by Classic Wings in Perth Australia is one such plane and it still has the small door. But I believe others might have reverted to standard C-47 doors when their days as a frontline passenger plane ended. Maybe Qantas stored the C-47s doors it removed?

The re-installation of cargo doors would have been simple - the door design was already approved and required only the removal of the frames and sheet metal installed for the pax door conversion. It is highly likely the structural load paths of a C-47 remained intact after passenger conversion. In other words, the pax door C-47 didn't duplicate the structure of a pre-war DC-3 but was a case of rivetting some frames and skins into the existing C-47 door frame."

Jürgen Scherbarth wrote me in Oct.2008: "Maybe this photo is the missing proof that this airframe was indeed converted back to a cargo C-47 in the early 1980s. It was taken at Venice (Italy) in November 1988. Curiously there are no photos available for this period in the early 1980s, until its appearance in Italy. I've got a another photo of N711TD taken 11.1980 where she still looks like as on Heinz's photo."
Jürgen added a P.S.: "According to other sources the last flight should have been in 1985/86, from the USA to Venice, Italy."

There does seem to be a marked colour difference in the tailsection of Jürgen's photo!

The museum has two Antonov An-2 (NATO codename 'Colt') on display. This particular aircraft was previously owned by the Yugoslav Air Force, later absorbed by the Croatian air force. The An-2 is/was an incredibly versatile aircraft and this is also shown by this aircraft which was flown as a... nightbomber!

Paul Nann's website has the following information: 'preserved/Museo dell'Aviazione, Croatian marks, ex. SP-TCG/TTC, c/n 1G188-60, Cerbaiola-Rimini'.

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