Transatlantic Dakota flights?

I couldn’t comment on civvie DC-3s but the C-47 had an endurance of over 12 hours with ferry tanks strapped in the cargo compartment, not sure that paying passengers would like the smell of Avgas in their compartment though 😉

Tom

My friends father apparently took photos of this event, they were accidentally left behind in the loft of the bungalow after he died.
Someone has either got a pile of historic photos, or they were chucked out, we’ll probably never know, I did suggest the DC-4 theory, but my mate insists it was a Dak, he no doubt saw the original pictures.

Tony,
That London-Shannon leg by DC-3 and then across the Pond in something bigger makes sense. Except the original post says 3 hops! That must mean going by “The Pretty Route” (i.e. via Keflavik – Greenland – Newfoundland) and the bigger boys wouldn’t do all that nausea if they could make it across the Pond in one go? I would still like to know how far a DC-3/C-47 would go on full tanks until they became empty tanks! One source says 1400 nm. In which case all the legs (Stornoway-Keflavik 582 nm (or Shannon-Keflavik 798), Keflavik-Narssassuaq 650, Narssassuaq-Gander 795 (or Narssassuaq-Goose Bay 673)) would all have been well within the range capabilities of a DC-3/C-47 provided it was not battling into headwinds and airframe icing, and provided it’s payload was not too great!!!! The technical experts will, I hope, give their opinions!
I would be very interested to hear from any real DC-3/C-47 Drivers/Navs what they think of this theory. At roughly 8 hrs per leg in the thundering, rattling, ‘roach coach’ of a Dak must have been a very daunting undertaking. Rather them than me – and I’ve done more than a dozen Op CORPORATE ‘Herc’ Airbridges (either from ASI to Stanley, or t’other way round!).
This problem is beginning to intrigue me!
Peter Davies

It is possible that the flight by Dakota was from London to Shannon and then onward by DC4, DC6 or Connie. Aer Lingus commenced a service from Shannon to London in 1947.
HTH
Tony K

I was just talking on the phone to an old friend of mine up near Grantham, mainly shop, ie planning, when we got talking about the BBMF do on saturday, at this point he raised a very interesting subject.
He said that in 1947, his mother and father emigrated to Canada by aircraft, Heathrow? to Shannon and then by three hops to Newfoundland then Toronto.
He said that his late father always insisted that the a/c was a DC3 Dakota, I pointed out that it was very unlikely, but his old man was in the army during the war and probably knew what a Dak was.
Apparently on landing approach in Newfoundland, one of the main wheels had frozen in the up position and had to be freed by banging the a/c down the runway, his parents thought that their trip was going to end in a fireball.
Anyway their sojourn in Canada didn’t last long and they came back to the UK on the Queen Mary 3 years later.
So, does anyone have any knowledge of transatlantic DC3 flights in the late 40’s, my pal is keen to know. Could it possibly be a case of making use of flying back the multitude of European based Daks back to the States after the war. Over to the experts.

Wick airport has been used as a waypoint for trans-Atlantic flights.
There was a silver DC3 here last year, on its way over the water.
It caused a stir with the local avation geeks. Not many older types round here. Ive never even seen a real Tiger Moth!!!!:eek:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200202/ai_n9043473/pg_1
“Just follow the rope: WWII glider pilots remember”

What a great story!

http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraft/WACO-cg4/waco_info/info.php

The WACO glider was, presumably, coming from west to east – the easy option! Going the other way (east to west) requires a specific set of meteorological conditions to be available to aircraft of limited fuel endurance. The leg from somewhere in Greenland to Canada requires a fairly stiff tail-wind component if one is to avoid plopping into the Oggin quite a few miles short of Canada! What was the longest distance a DC-3 could fly before it ran out of “gravy”? – can the experts please expound? Similarly, using Shannon as a way-point can only have been dictated by the fact that aviation fuel was cheaper in S Ireland than in UK? The likely best route would have been S UK – Stornoway – Keflavik – Narssassuaq – Canada. Would also be interested in the actual date of this UK – Canada flight. I can look at historical met charts to see if the conditions (above) existed.
Rgds
Peter Davies

We think it was November/December 1947, if that helps.

The WACO glider was, presumably, coming from west to east – the easy option! Going the other way (east to west) requires a specific set of meteorological conditions to be available to aircraft of limited fuel endurance. The leg from somewhere in Greenland to Canada requires a fairly stiff tail-wind component if one is to avoid plopping into the Oggin quite a few miles short of Canada! What was the longest distance a DC-3 could fly before it ran out of “gravy”? – can the experts please expound? Similarly, using Shannon as a way-point can only have been dictated by the fact that aviation fuel was cheaper in S Ireland than in UK? The likely best route would have been S UK – Stornoway – Keflavik – Narssassuaq – Canada. Would also be interested in the actual date of this UK – Canada flight. I can look at historical met charts to see if the conditions (above) existed.
Rgds
Peter Davies

A WACO Hadrian glider named Voo-Doo was towed across the Atalantic by a Dakota in June 43.
The Museum at Middle Wallop has a part of the tow rope used on display.

Commercial transatlantic flights did not begin until 1939, when the flight took 26.5 hours.
http://new.idsa.org/webmodules/articles/anmviewer.asp?a=292&z=62

Martin