Just started reading “Storm Front” by Rowland White (Vulcan 607) which tells the story of the Battle of Mirbat in the Oman and the critical role of the SOAF Strikemasters, as well as the RAF and contract pilots flying them and other support aircraft, in the battle.
Usual cracking read, but one aside interested me – reference is made to SOAF Dakota 501 which had been the personal aircraft of General Eisenhower (and subsequently Konrad Adenaur -West German Chancellor)
Given Eisenhower’s comment about “The Jeep, the Dakota airplane, and the landing craft were the three tools that won the war”, does anyone know if SOAF Dakota 501 has survived?.
By: Stian - 1st February 2020 at 14:44
Hi Guys,
I have built a 1/8 model of the Dakota in the colours of the one my father flew in Norway from 1970 to 1975..It served with Oman air force and was registrered as 502… See my facebook for a few pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/stianbjerkeseth
I can tell you it was also started with a rope and a car, but the rope got tangled in the prop and they had to stop the motor.
If you have any pictures of 502 / LN-TVA while in Oman it would be very interesting to see! 🙂
Stian
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By: Paul Lewis - 23rd June 2015 at 00:53
Ron. I was in Oman in 1969/70 and flew in 501 from Bait al Falaj to Salalah several times. The pilots of 501, if my fading memory is correct, were Jack Wynn, he of the little Adolf Hitler moustache, and a Polish chap calle Lec Mintoff. There was a plaque on the port rear side of the cockpit bulkhead which said that the aircraft was the personal aircraft of General Eisenhower during WW II. I remember arriving at Bait one evening on that difficult approach over the jebel and down the wadi when the flaps blew back up due to some hydraulic failure. It became very exiting and Jack Wynn just managed to get it down flapless but we ran off the runway and through the fence by the road.
I also remember starting an engine at Salalah using a rope wound round the prop spinner and the other end tied to a Landrover. When the Landrover drove gently away it turned the prop and the engine started. Those were the days
By: Ron Cake - 24th April 2012 at 16:55
Here’s some photos of SOAF 501 that might interest you.
photos 1 and 2 were taken at Salalah in Aug 68
photo 3 was take on the ramp at Bait el Falaj (Muscat) 25.3.69. also seen are the first two Strikemasters delivered to SOAF plus the thier two Beavers.
By: WJ244 - 23rd April 2012 at 18:24
501 was converted for SOAF at Southend having arrived in Nordseeflug livery as D-CNSF. That would have been 1968 or 69 at a guess soon after Aviation Traders had prepared 4 other Dakotas (sorry should be C-47s) for the South Arabian Air Force which were previously D-CADE, D-CADO, D-CORA and G-AMYV the famous Airfix kit Dakota. In those days Southend was a busy interesting place for a young aircraft enthusiast!
By: jeepman - 22nd April 2012 at 18:25
Thanks for that – shame it didn’t survive long enough to be pushed over the fence into the Aeropark……
By: Consul - 22nd April 2012 at 18:22
The C-47 was withdrawn from use and stored at East Midlands, UK where I remember photographing it in the 1970s. It was scrapped there a few years later.
Tim
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April 22, 2012 at 5:52 pm