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Museum Airpark
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Few aircraft are as well known or were so widely used for so long as the C-47 or "Gooney Bird" as it was affectionately nicknamed. The aircraft was adapted from the DC-3 commercial airliner which appeared in 1936. The first C-47s were ordered in 1940 and by the end of WW II, 9,348 had been procured for AAF use. They carried personnel and cargo, and in a combat role, towed troop-carrying gliders and dropped paratroops into enemy territory.
After WW II, many C-47s remained in USAF service, participating in the Berlin Airlift and other peacetime activities. During the Korean War, C-47s hauled supplies, dropped paratroops, evacuated wounded and dropped flares for night bombing attacks. In Vietnam, the C-47 served again as a transport, but it was also used in a variety of other ways which included flying ground attack (gunship), reconnaissance, and psychological warfare missions.
Records indicate that our C-47 Skytrain flew in the Normandy invasion during WWII. She was gifted to the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Foundation by Duncan Miller, a Gordon Valley resident and former U.S. Army Air Corps pilot and flight instructor.
C-47 Interior
Specifications:
- Span: 95 ft. 0 in.
- Length: 64 ft. 5 in.
- Height: 16 ft. 11 in.
- Weight: 33,000 lbs. loaded
- Armament: None
- Engines: Two Pratt & Whitney R-1830s of 1,200 hp. ea.
- Crew: Six
- Cost: $138,000
- Maximum speed: 232 mph.
- Cruising speed: 175 mph.
- Range: 1,513 miles
- Service Ceiling: 24,450 ft.
Information derived from “Travis Air Force Museum” by Nick Veronico copyright Travis AFB Historical Society/Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum Foundation. This book is available from the Jimmy Doolittle Air and Space Museum GIFT SHOP located in the Travis Air Museum.
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