Shalom and greetings all my pals,
I know that both Norwegian air force and Wideroe operated DC-3s and C-47s but the strange thing is that they called it C-53.
What in the heck is C-53 and is it same as C-47?
Regards,
Aharon
Shalom and greetings all my pals,
I know that both Norwegian air force and Wideroe operated DC-3s and C-47s but the strange thing is that they called it C-53.
What in the heck is C-53 and is it same as C-47?
Regards,
Aharon
Aharon,
The C-53 Skytrooper was the troop transport version. IIRC it lacked all the cargo features of the C-47, i.e. the strengthened floor, cargo hook, and large cargo door. I think it could carry 28-troops in metal seats or a smaller number of equipped paratroopers.
America never stopped being great.
Aharon,
There's more where the C-53 came from.... Scroll down and check out chapter 'Variants' :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_C-47_Skytrain
The internet is your friend.
cheers,
jan
That Wikipedia article doesn't even cover them all. I proposed to my ex on a C-41A.
https://www.goldenageairtours.com/n341a/
Thanks all for kind answers
Is it same appearance and shape as C-47 in terms of livery painting. Can Jahn's C-47 be used as C-53?
Regards,
Aharon
If you're a purist : no. Here's the reason why :
Since the sole purpose of the C-53 was to drop para's the big cargo door as well as the enforced cabin floor were no longer needed. The pax/cargo combo door arrangement was replaced with just a single 'normal' door. That's the 'big' visual difference between the C-47 and C-53.( also noticeable in the above drawing are the long desert scoops on the C-47 and smaller airscoops on the C-53. But that doesn't have to mean that the C-53 never flew with the elongated desert scoops. (when it comes to the C-47/DC-3 it's usually nothing that doesn't have to mean anything... ;-)
Not a purist ? I'd say go happily flying Manfred's C-47 as a C-53 ( the paraseats arrangement is already exactly as you'd find in a C-53(D) ).
Btw, if you didn't know already, Manfred's C-47 model is capable of dropping para's.
Have fun!
Another interesting aircraft is the C-41 and C-41A. These have no cockpit door and has a reinforced plates on both sides. The other one I've seen is at Castle Air Museum
Castle Air Museum Plates and no cockpit door.
"Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once"
Javis,
Thank you for beautiful comparison between C-47 and C-53. I am hoping the repainter would not notice that or otherwise he would not paint C-47 livery on C-53 LOL LOL
TuFun,
Thank you for beautiful photos
Regards,
Aharon
You're welcome, Aharon.
Btw, it is of course not like the C-53 was the only version used for dropping para's. The C-47 (with 'normal' pax/cargo door combo) was used for that just as much. Another interesting 'point' of distinguishing between the C-47 and its civil DC-3 version is that the latter had the 'pointy' tail where many C-47's were equipped with a 'glider-tow tail'. You can see the difference between the pointy tail of the C-53 and the glider-tow tail of the C-47 in the drawing above as well.
The plates are likely reinforcements against shedded prop ice or lost blades.
This C-53 has no door and plates, may have been modified over time. Same goes for the windscreen. Who knows!
https://www.vintagewingsinc.com/
Last edited by TuFun; September 21st, 2018 at 12:52.
"Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once"
AFAIK, single piece windscreens were a post-war modification, maybe done in the 50s or 60s.
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