A great local project now underway at Caboolture by Pacific Dakota Restorations, a NFP organization founded by Dave Kingshott, is the dismantling of Douglas Dakota C47A 43-48234 at Mareeba Queensland, formerly owned by Mike Spalding. The C47A is a Pacific WW11 veteran of the USAAF and is believed to have served with the 317th Troop Carrier Group “The Jungle Skippers” and flown extensively during and after the war in Australia. In early 1944, the aircraft passed through Archerfield, Qld after which operating in support of both Australian and US troops in New Guinea through to Manila in the Philippines. Dave has extensive experience in Warbird aircraft restoration and is Manager & Chief Engineer at Complete Aircraft Care at Caboolture Qld. It is the intention of Pacific Dakota Restorations to return this classic C47 to its WW11 configuration and paint scheme and operate it as a flying memorial. The work will be carried out at Caboolture. The aircraft will leave Mareeba on the 14th of December and arrive at Caboolture at 9.00 am on the 17th of December at about 9.00am, following the nearly 2,000Km road trip – an epic in its own right. After the arrival at Caboolture, Pacific Dakota Restorations will be restoring the aircraft back to airworthy condition. Once airworthy the aircraft will be flown around the country as a flying memorial to those who fought in WW2 and used extensively for education work, inspiring people to believe in their dreams and allow people to get close to a piece of history. The C47 spent some time at Airworld at Wangaratta, before migrating to Mareeba about 10 years ago and has an extensive civil history as well as its war service. Stay tuned to Warbirds Online as we document this great #Warbird restoration project. We wish Dave and his crew all the best. Our thanks to Tony Andrews for allowing us to use the attached photos taken at Wangaratta in 2004 of the aircraft being dismantled before moving to Mareeba Qld.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 04:35:43 +0000
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