Douglas C-47 Skytrain Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids C-47 Skytrain C-53 Skytrooper Dakota

A C-47 over Duxford D-Day Show 2014
Role	Military transport aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	Douglas Aircraft Company
Designer	Douglas Aircraft
First flight	23 December 1941
Status	In service in Colombia, Greece, El Salvador and South Africa
Primary users	United States Army Air Forces Royal Air Force United States Navy Royal Canadian Air Force See operators
Number built	10,174
Developed from	Douglas DC-3
Variants	Douglas XCG-17 Douglas AC-47 Spooky

The C-47 Skytrain was an American cargo aircraft that could carry up to 3.5 tons. It was the military version of the DC-3. The C-47 was most notably used during World War II by the Allied to move troops, supplies and the wounded.

During the Berlin Airlift in the Cold War C-47 planes carried food and other supplies to West Berlin, as all other methods of transport were blocked.

Images for kids

U.S. Navy C-117Ds at RAF Mildenhall in 1967
U.S. Army Pathfinders and USAAF flight crew prior to D-Day, June 1944, in front of a C-47 Skytrain at RAF North Witham
C-47s unloading at Tempelhof Airport during the Berlin Airlift
Paratroop C-47, 12th Air Force Troop Carrier Wing, invasion of southern France, 15 August 1944
Interior view of Douglas C-47, Hendon Aerodrome, England
Aircraft of the 6th Special Operations Squadron including a turboprop C-47 (Basler BT-67) in use by the U.S. Air Force, c. 2005
Douglas C-47 Lineup at Willow Run, Michigan Airshow, August, 2017
C-47B Skytrain -serial 43-49942
A former USAAF C-47A Skytrain which flew from a base in Devon, England, during the D-Day Normandy invasion and shows "invasion stripes" on her wings and fuselage
Douglas C-53 Skytrooper, c/n 4935, operated by a skydiving service at Eloy, Arizona
Douglas C-47 Skytrain Dakota “Old Number 30”
Douglas C-47 Skytrain Dakota “Old Number 30” door
C-47 Skytrain cockpit
Douglas C-47A Skytrain of the Venezuelan Air Force
JMSDF R4D-6Q
USN R4D-8 from VR-23 Codfish Airline over Mount Fuji, 1952
United States Navy R4D-8
A Dakota IV in RAF Transport Command colors, owned by the Classic Air Force, operating out of Coventry Airport
A Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Dakota with open parachute door at Duxford in 2008
South African Air Force C-47TP "Turbo Dak"
A Royal Thai Air Force Basler BT-67 (C-47 conversion with Pratt & Whitney turboprops and stretched fuselage)
Douglas C-47 Skytrain 3-view drawing

Douglas C-47 Skytrain facts for kids

Images for kids

See also