Our plane's history
Our Dakota has lived many lives and been owned by many companies over her lifetime…
Built in the USA
Our ‘gate Guardian’ was constructed as a C-47B-30-DK by Douglas at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA with new construction number 33185 assigned to the airframe.
World War II
In May 1945, she was put into operational service with the United States Army Air Force with service number (s/n) 44-76853. She was then transferred into the Royal Air Force in the same month with s/n KN566 as a Dakota IV.
Post war – 1960s
On 25 February 1952, our Dakota was sold to a J A Wilson with a new Certificate of Registration (c/r) of G-AMPO. Keeping the c/r of G-AMPO, she then was sold and bought regularly through out the 1950s and 60s between Starways, Eagle Aircraft Services and First Air Trading Co Ltd, all based around the Blackpool area, and all closely related to each other in business terms. Starways was formed to charter service for celebrities appearing in the Blackpool shows, flying in and out of Blackpool Airport and Speke Airport. First Air Trading Co Ltd (possibly also known as the ANT Air Taxi) appears to have operated a Blackpool-based air ambulance service.
In February 1965, she was sold to Polaris Air Transport with a new c/r LN-RTO. Polaris Air Transport was formed in Nov 1964 and was a non-scheduled passenger and cargo charter operator in Norway.
By 1969, our Dakota had been owned by Field Aircraft Services Ltd with new c/r G-AMPO and the British Aircraft Corporation Ltd (BAC is forerunner to British Aerospace and were part of the tri-national consortium that developed and built the supersonic combat aircraft, the Tornado ADV in the early 1970s.
Into the 70s and 80s
Our Dakota was sold to Macedonian Securities (Overseas) Ltd (changing its name to Macedonian Aviation a couple of years later) in August 1972. Macedonian Aviation was formed as a charter operation initially based at Southend and our Dakota flew its first charter in Nov 1972 from Southend to Amsterdam. However, unable to meet oil industry equipment standards, Macedonian ceased operations in 1974 and our aircraft was sold to Humber Airways Ltd keeping the c/r G-AMPO in December 1974. As the name suggests, Humber Airways was an air taxi operator based at Humberside Airport.
Between 1976 and 1978, our Dakota was owned by Intra Airways, a charter airline operating passenger and cargo charters from the Channel Islands to the United Kingdom and Continental Europe, until she was sold to Eastern Airways in 1979.
She attended the 1979 RAF Waddington Airshow in Lincolnshire in Eastern Airways livery [below] and in September 1980, was performing pleasure flights at an airshow in Rotterdam Airport, Netherlands.
By April 1982, our Dakota was owned by Air Atlantique (a charter, cargo international, regional domestic passenger airline) operating out of Jersey and she was on display at the RAF Leuchars Airshow 1984.
Sprayer conversion
In 1989/1990, our Dakota aircraft was converted to a sprayer aircraft, with specialised tanks and nozzles for uniform distribution of liquids from height.
The photo below suggests that rather than performing agricultural duties by spraying pesticides and fertilizers on fields, she may have been used to respond to environmentally damaging oil spill incidents at sea. She would have been used to apply large quantities of chemical dispersant to an oil slick, to break up the oil and accelerate the process of biodegradation and consumption of oil by microorganisms. A noble and important final role for the old girl.
Gate Guardian at RAF Brize Norton
Finally, on 16th September 2012, our Dakota arrived at RAF Brize Norton, Carterton, Oxfordshire and was displayed at the gate entrance as a gate guardian, a poignant tribute to the heroic role Air Despatchers played during WWII.
| Airframe Family: | Douglas DC-1 / DC-2/R2D / DC-3 Dakota / C-47/R4D Skytrain / C-53 Skytrooper |
| Latest Model: | Dakota IV |
| Last Military Serial: | KN566 RAF |
| Construction Number: | 16437 |
| Last Civil Registration: | G-AMPO |
| Latest Owner or Location: | RAF Brize Norton, Carterton, Oxfordshire, England |
If you have any information about the specific service of our Douglas Dakota, we would love to hear from you.
With heartfelt thanks to Aerial Visuals and Airline History for the above information and photographs.