List of Douglas C-47 Skytrain operators

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Further information: Douglas C-47 Skytrain
Royal Air Force Dakota III
Two USAAF C-47A Skytrains over France, 1944
British paratroops inside C-47 Dakota, 1944

List of C-47 Skytrain operators includes the country, military service, known squadrons, and related data. The Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. The C-47 has served with over 90 countries outside of the United States:

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by .

Operators[]

Current operators[]

Douglas Dakota 6859, South African Air Force, 2008

Bolivia[]

Colombia[]

Colombian Air Force AC-47 Fantasma, 2008

El Salvador[]

  • El Salvador Air Force

Guatemala[]

Malawi[]

Mali[]

  • Mali Air Force[citation needed]

Mauritania[]

  • Mauritanian Air Force

South Africa[]

Thailand[]

United States[]

Former operators[]

Argentine Air Force TA-05

Argentina[]

Australia[]

Douglas C-47B, ex-RAAF A65-94, 2005

Bangladesh[]

Belgium[]

  • Belgian Air Force

Brazil[]

Forca Aerea Brasileira Douglas C-47, at Museu Aeroespacial

Cambodia[]

Canada[]

C-47 RCAF YYF, 1967

Czechoslovakia[]

  • Czechoslovakian Air Force operated C-47s and Soviet-built Li-2.

Denmark[]

Ethiopia[]

Finland[]

This 1943 C-47 served as the President of Finland's official airplane in the 1970s, as Finnish Air Force DO-9.

France[]

  • The French Air Force operated Skytrains from September 1944 on, when Lend-Lease C-47Bs were delivered to the Groupe de Transport 1/15. After the war, they are the only transport aircraft in large numbers with the Junkers 52 until the late 1950s.[7]
  • The French Navy used an example in the First Indochina War as transport aircraft.[8] After some were used as training aircraft by the squadron 56S.[9]

Germany[]

Luftwaffe Douglas C-47B Skytrain .

Greece[]

The single operational C-47 of the Hellenic Air Force.

The Hellenic Air Force's 355th and 356th Transport Squadrons operated over 80 ex-USAAF and ex-RAF aircraft received in 1947. These were widely used in the Greek Civil War (1946–49) in transport and bombing roles. The 13th Transport Flight used C-47s in the Korean War, earning a U.S. Presidential Citation. The 355/1 Tactical Transport Squadron in Thessaloniki has three aircraft, of which one (which has participated in the Korean War and is named Poseidon) remains operational.

Haiti[]

  • Haiti Air Corps

Honduras[]

A Honduran Douglas C-47A-20-DK Skytrain aircraft (FAH 304, c/n 12962, ex-USAF 42-93089) taking off for a joint US/Honduran parachute jump during a mobilization of US exercise "Task Force Dragon/Golden Pheasant" in 1988.

Hungary[]

India[]

Indonesia[]

Iran[]

  • Imperial Iranian Air Force

IIAF acquired 22 Douglas C-47 Skytrain aircraft in 1949.

Israel[]

Douglas DC-3 Dakota of the Israeli Air Force.

Italy[]

  • Italian Air Force
    • Operated 19 C-47s and 8 C-53 as staff transports and ECM aircraft into the mid-1980s.[13]

Japan[]

Shōwa L2D3, WW2 era
  • On February 24, 1938, a subsidiary of Nakajima (Mitsui) purchased production rights and technical data to the DC-3 for $90,000. The aircraft was extensively redesigned to use Japanese raw materials and the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines were replaced with Mitsubishi Kinsei 43 radial engines. Production initially lagged behind expectations until 1942. Japanese DC-3s were given the Navy designation L2D-2 (L-transport, 2-second Douglas type, D-Douglas, 2-second sub-type). L2D1 was used for imported DC-3s. The Japanese built eight subtypes in two basic configurations, as passenger transport and as cargo planes. In two years Nakajima built 71 L2D-2s before handing production over to Showa, which built 416, including 75 freighters equipped with a large side door.

Laos[]

Mozambique[]

Netherlands[]

New Zealand[]

Royal New Zealand Air Force C-47

Norway[]

Norwegian Air Force C-47

Pakistan[]

  • Pakistan Air Force
    • Received eight C-47 Dakota cargo planes which it used to transport supplies to soldiers fighting in the 1947 War in Kashmir against India.

Papua New Guinea[]

Paraguay[]

Douglas C-47 Sytrains of Paraguay's Transporte Aero Miltar at Asuncion's P.G. Stoessner Airport
  • Paraguayan Air Force (FAP)
    • Transporte Aéreo Militar (TAM): Between 1953 and 1998, TAM operated 33 Douglas C-47/DC-3s. The first five aircraft were purchased in the U.S. The U.S. government, through MAP donated 21 C-47s between 1962 and 1973. Chile donated 2 C-47s in 1981 and Brazil 2 C-47 in 1984.
  • Paraguayan Naval Aviation (ANP)
    • (SAN): In 1981, the Argentinian Naval Aviation donated one C-47 to its Paraguayan counterpart.
  • Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas (LAP): This airline used one C-47 borrowed from TAM between 1970 and 1974.

Philippines[]

C-47 Skytrain Philippine Air Force

Poland[]

  • Polish Air Force operated up to 17 C-47As, known as C-47 Dakota. Several were acquired in 1944–1945 from the USSR, and most bought in 1946 from US stocks. They were used until early 1960, along with Soviet-built Li-2s.[15]
  • LOT Polish Airlines operated nine C-47s, also known as Dakota, bought in 1946 from US stocks and used as passenger airliners (registration numbers SP-LCA to LCI). Several ex-Air Force aircraft were used as well. They were used until 1959, at least three crashed.[16]

Portugal[]

Portuguese Air Force C-47A
Section source: Geocities C-47[17]

The first Portuguese Dakota (where it was only known as the Dakota) was interned in 1944 and it remained the sole example in Portuguese service transporting military VIPs until September 1958 when additional Dakotas came from the United States. Portuguese Dakotas were used for a wide variety of roles including one aircraft (6155) used as a bomber during the Portuguese Colonial War, and two converted to spray pesticides. The Dakota was retired in 1976. One (6157) was preserved for the Museu do Ar (Air Museum).

Portuguese Air Force
  • 81 Squadron – Transport mission
  • E.I.C.P.A.C. – Esquadra de Instrução Complementar de Pilotagem de Aviões Pesados (Heavy Transport Training Squadron). Formed at B.A.2 Ota in 1960 with C-47s.
  • E.L.T.S. – Esquadrilha de Ligação de Transporte Sanitário (Sanitary Transport Squadron). Also based at Lisbon, had aircraft equipped for VIP and medical transport.
  • 101 Squadron – Formed at B.A.10 – Beira (Moçambique) on February 5, 1962 with C-47s. Later transferred to Lourenço Marques as Esquadra 801.
Aeronáutica Militar (Army Military Aviation)
  • Esquadrilha Independente de Aviação de Caça-Secção de Transportes Aéreos (Fighter-Air Transport Section of Independent Aviation Squadron)

Rhodesia[]

Senegal[]

South Africa[]

Southern Rhodesia[]

  • Southern Rhodesian Air Force

South Korea[]

Republic of Korea Air Force EC-47Q, KAI Aerospace Museum.

Somalia[]

  • Somali air corps – 3 in 1981, all withdrawn

Soviet Union[]

  • Soviet Air Force: The Lisunov Li-2 was a license-built DC-3, produced in Russia. Some 6000 were built between 1939 and 1952.[19] The Soviet Union also operated C-47s supplied under Lend-Lease during World War II.

Sweden[]

Swedish Air Force Tp 79 (C-47A)

The Swedish Air Force started using C-47s soon after World War II for transport purposes. A few were converted to SIGINT platforms and eavesdropped on Soviet radio communications and radar stations in the 1950s. One such aircraft was shot down by Soviet fighters in international airspace over the Baltic Sea in 1952 with all of the crew killed.[20]

Turkey[]

United Kingdom[]

  • Royal Air Force: RAF Transport Command was supplied with over 1,900 Dakotas under Lend-Lease during World War II and the type was flown by at least 46 operational squadrons, plus numerous support units. The RAF flew 50 Dakota I (C-47), 9 Dakota II (C-53), 962 Dakota III (C-47A) and 896 Dakota IV (C-47B). RAF Dakotas were assigned to all theatres of operations. RAF Dakotas dropped paratroopers and equipment and towed gliders to the Normandy landings and Arnhem. Four squadrons of Dakota IVs took part in the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49. The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight operates a single Dakota.
  • BOAC: 59 C-47s were supplied to BOAC to maintain international air links.

United States[]

C-47 transport planes, Operation Market Garden, 1944

Venezuela[]

C-47, Venezuelan Air Force
  • Venezuelan Air Force

Vietnam[]

Vietnam operated ex-South Vietnamese captured C-47s.

Republic of Vietnam[]

Yugoslavia[]

Yugoslav Air Force C-47
  • SFR Yugoslav Air Force
    • 41 were operated from 1946 until 1976. 20 were received through military aid in 1953–1954. Also operated Li-2 aircraft
  • (Federal ATC Authority) used 1 aircraft for navid calibration until 1986.
  • Yugoslav Airlines operated around 20 converted military Dakotas bought from Great Britain in 1947.

Zimbabwe[]

See also[]

  • List of Douglas DC-3 operators

References[]

  1. ^ 6th Special Operations Squadron
  2. ^ "Douglas DC-3/C-47 en la Fuerza Aérea Argentina" Avialatina Retrieved: September 10, 2018.
  3. ^ "Transportes Navales" histarmar.com Retrieved: July 20, 2018.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f ADF Serials list of Australian military DC-2s/DC-3s/C-47s retrieved 2010-06-19
  5. ^ "FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1961–1963, VOLUME XXI, AFRICA". Office of the Historian.
  6. ^ Aviation Safety Network
  7. ^ (in French) Jacques Moulin, Le Douglas C-47/DC-3 "Dakota", 25 April 2008
  8. ^ (in French) http://www.netmarine.net/aero/aeronefs/dakota/index.htm
  9. ^ (in French) http://www.avionslegendaires.net/2017/06/actu/dakota-dentrainement-de-lescadrille-56s/
  10. ^ Jessup, Stuart (1 July 2013). "DOUGLAS C-47D SKYTRAIN, A-9038, INDONESIAN ARMY". abpic.co.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  11. ^ Nichols, Brian G (10 January 2011). "DOUGLAS C-47 DAKOTA MK.III, U-605, INDONESIAN NAVY". abpic.co.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  12. ^ "AC-47 Gunship TNI AU: Pesawat Angkut Berkemampuan Serbu". indomiliter.com (in Indonesian). 12 December 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  13. ^ aeroflight
  14. ^ "SubFleets for: LAM Mozambique". AeroTransport Data Bank. 5 January 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  15. ^ Morgała, Andrzej (1976). Polskie samoloty wojskowe 1939–1945. Wydawnictwo MON. Warsaw (in Polish), p. 647-651
  16. ^ Jońca, Adam (1985). Samoloty linii lotniczych 1945–1956, Barwa w lotnictwie polskim no.4, WKiŁ, Warsaw, ISBN 83-206-0529-6 (in Polish), p.8
  17. ^ Portugal Service
  18. ^ World Air Forces – Countries Archived 2012-07-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  19. ^ Brouwer, Maarten. "Lisunov Li-2 (NATO: Cab)". Archived from the original on 2006-04-26. Retrieved 2006-07-05.
  20. ^ Bortom Horisonten : Svensk Flygspaning mot Sovjetunionen 1946–1952 by Andersson, Lennart, Hellström, Leif
  21. ^ http://www.uscg.mil/history/aviation/Douglas/Douglas_R4D.pdf
  22. ^ "English: Cockpit of the aircraft DC-3 "N34" – P. Alejandro Díaz - 2005 – N34 is a Douglas DC3 which was operated by the FAA to check navigational radio aids (VOR's and non-directional beacons). It was decided to preserve it for its historical value. The aircraft makes regular rounds at air shows, as a static display. On February 13, 2014, FAA pilots flew N34 from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport in Amarillo, Texas where N34 became an indoor exhibit at the Texas Air & Space Museum. This picture taken September, 2005 at Reno - Stead Airport; Sony DSC-F828 & Photoshop Elements". September 2005.

Further reading[]

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