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Voice 1: Acabo de necesitar para estar seguro eso por la manana, alli complacera es alguien alli recoger las medicinas.
Voice 2, from outside: ¡Oye! Julio. Apenas este por favor seguro no amontonar los frascos de vidrio demasiado altos.
Voice 1: No, nuestro piloto no esta disponible todavia. El estara listo para volar manana.
A woman's voice: ¿Piensa usted que nuestro gringo esta despierto todavia?
My body feels heavy, drained, sore and weary. I become aware that I am laying in a fetal position on my left side. I open my eyes to see that I am lying on a cot in a semi-darkened, ordinary room. My wrists are tied together and the cot is hard and rough. There is a heavy sheet drawn across the opening in the walls which are made up of exposed 2x4 joists with drywall on the outside. As near as I can tell, the cot, a small table, a lamp and two chairs are the only things in this 10 x 15 foot room. It seems that the room was built into the corner of a large building, maybe like an aircraft hangar? I swing my legs off the bed and push up to sitting. As I sit up I am awash in nauseating dizziness - a fog envelops me and I am distantly aware that the THUD I hear is my head hitting the floor.
Time passes.
The woman's voice: ¿Usted esta seguro que el sera conveniente trabajar manana por la manana?
A man's voice: Estare seguro tener el cheque de doctor el fuera con cuidado antes nosotros salimos.
I open my eye to see two darkened faces looking over me. My right eye feels heavy and swollen, I bring my now-unshackled hand up to feel a bandage over my forehead. "Senior Juan, hello. My name is Xavier" the man introduces himself. "This is your assistant Soledad," he nods toward the young woman. "Welcome to Guatemala."
"Guata Who Ha?" I ask.
"GuateMALa" Soledad corrects.
"We have many things to discuss" Xavier continues, "but first we need to get you feeling better. Please, let Soledad help you and then I will fill you in. I'm sure you have many questionings."
Soledad kneels by my cot and offers me a straw. The drink smells fruity so I sip up some tropical mango or passion fruit juice. "You would like to eat, no?" Soledad asks.
"First let me try and sit" I reply. After a few minutes of spinning and a few more sips of the juice she calls for Pedro to bring in my food. The teenager brings in a tray with a halved grapefruit and some crackers. Soledad guides me to the table where I eat carefully. (Or should I say cautiously?) With the heavy sheet now drawn back I can see that I am indeed in what appears to be a hangar of some sort with pallets and boxes. I have also seen two pickups, a jeep and a forklift. I have heard two small planes fly past outside and have determined that it is nighttime locally. Oh, and that I'm in Guatemala.
After watching me eat my breakfast, Soledad leaves the room, only to return with a man whom I hadn't seen before. "Hello," he greets. "I am doctor Juan Jesus Manuel Vasquez Uribe Constantinas Gutierrez. I trust you are feeling better now?"
"Ummm, yes, thank you." The doctor proceeds to look at the bump on my head, checks my pupils and ears, and feels my neck glands. He checks my gross motor coordination as well as the strength in my arms and legs. "Well," he finally states, "I think you'll be ready to fly by morning - all things considered." With that he leaves.
Xavier then takes me outside where I see a beautiful silver DC-3 being loaded by his men. There are few official markings other than some stripes and a Venezuelan flag or two. I can see where the registration number has been painted over, rather poorly I might add, and the YV500 markings are still visible alongside the new numbers. "She's old" Xavier offers, "but she is a good horse." After we both look over the exterior of the plane carefully he asks, "So then, you will be able to fly her for us in the morning?"
"In the morning?" I ask, "What time is it?"
Xavier looks at his watch, "02:23 local time."
"Do I have a choice?" I ask.
He chuckles again, "We all have choices my friend - but flying with us is certainly the safer and less painful of your available options."
While the pre-dawn hours pass I read up on some of historical information about this aircraft, and pace the floor hoping to work out much of the stiff soreness which lingers throughout my body. Finally the first rays of dawn appear and Xavier introduces me to my co-pilot Roberto Iglesias. We climb the stairs and up the hill into the well-worn cockpit where we start on the pre-flight checks. I still feel a bit foggy but Roberto walks me through it all and I try to quickly familiarize myself with the cockpit.
Okay, enough of the story-line, let's get off to what Alejandro really wanted us to focus on...the DC-3 flying in South America! Happy birthday YV-500C! (or an excuse to ferry a DC-3 through Central America) - by Alejandro Irausquin
"Douglas built this ship to last, but nobody expected
The bloody thing would fly and fly, no matter how they wrecked it -
While nations fall, and men retire, and jets go obsolete,
The Gooney Bird flies on and on, at eleven thousand feet.
Chorus: They patched her up with masking tape, with paper clips and strings,
And still she flies a never dies - Methuselah with wings.
- Song celebrating the Gooney Bird, the airmen's name for the DC-3" [1]
On December 17, 2005, it was the 70th anniversary of the DC-3 prototype first flight, an event that amazingly passed unnoticed amoung the flight simming community. Most of the DC-3's flying today are older than the pilots that fly them. If that trend continues as expected, she will become the only airplane in service 100 years after her first take off [2]
In a popular DC-3 related flight simming site you can read that, "The only replacement for a DC-3, is another DC-3". This is so true, that only the military dropped its use (the C-47s and R4Ds), although some Air Forces keep one or more ships for exhibition. I even recently learned that the C-130 Hercules was specifically designed to replace the C-47 as a STOL Tactical Transport [2]. The rest is history...
To learn more on the DC-3 itself, you can read Andrew Herd's article "Great Airplanes 3: Douglas DC-3", at FlightSim.Com (November 22, 2004) and the following "DC-3 Historical bits" file.
To find out the fun side of the relation between the DC-3 and a fellow simmer, read Bill Smith's article "Fly To Pago Pago. In This Contraption? Are You Sure?" (November 29, 2004).
But the hero of this feature is YV-500C, my favorite flying DC-3, so here is the history...
YV-500C (C for "Commercial") was born as a C-47 (MSN 6135). In January 24, 2006, this particular plane will celebrate her 62nd anniversary, and is still airworthy in pristine condition, flying tourist and cargo to Los Roques (SVLR), Venezuela, by its operator since 1988, Aeroejecutivos. I meet her initially from pictures, and finally meet her at Los Roques, in 2002.
The first time I saw a DC-3 flying, was around 1995 at Valencia (SVVA) with the colors of Aerovenca (Aeronautica Venezolana de Carga). The Aerotransport Databank records (http://www.aerotransport.org/) shows that YV-500C was leased once by this company, so there is a big chance that she was the same plane I first saw!
Luck and a bit of coordination smiled on me as my friends Roberto Leiro from Caracas, and Juan Ernesto Oropeza from Maracaibo, have released great repaints of the default FS2004 DC-3 in the colors of the Aeroejecutivos DC-3 Fleet (DC3FJORL.ZIP), which include, of course, YV-500C, as she look now.
Roberto is a member of Veneaviones, and Juan has developed a great collection of repaints from Venezuelan classic airliners and updates to the default DC-3. Thank you guys! I also learned from Roberto that YV-440C (built in 1940, MSN 2201), another DC-3 in the Aeroejecutivos fleet, and stored for restoration at SVMI, is the oldest DC-3 alive.
Here is the full history of YV-500C:
| MSN (Manufacturer Serial Number) 6135: | ||
| 24Jan1943 | Acquired by the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and serialed as 41-19492. | |
| 01Apr1943 | Allocated to India China Wing, Air Transport Command, 10th Air Force in India. | |
| 10Apr1946 | Acquired by the India Government. | |
| 194? | Re-Registered as N9080C by private US users, but unused | |
| Jun 1951 | Re-Registered as VT-DGU by the Hindustan Aircraft Company | |
| Jun 1955 | Re-Registered as YA-AAC by Ariana Afghan Airlines, Afghanistan. | |
| 30Dec1972 | Acquired and delivered by Lambair Ltd to Thompson, Canada (see below) | |
| 28Mar1973 | Re-registered as CF-DBJ by Lambair Ltd. | |
| Jan 1980 | Re-registered as C-FDBJ by Lambair Ltd. | |
| Oct1982 | Acquired by Perimeter Airlines, Winnipeg, Canada. | |
| 11May1988 | Registration C-FDBJ was cancelled and plane was sold to USA. | |
| May1988 | Acquired by Aeroejecutivos and re-registered in Venezuela as YV-500C. | |
We all know that, fortunately to us, the internet is filled with sites and histories of this wonderful plane, as to be able to find all the registrations and dates related to a particular frame. But at the same time, considering the nearly 11,000 units manufactured, is a matter of big luck to find plenty info on a particular DC-3. Thanks to Trev Morson (www.douglasdc3.com), and Capt. Jack Lamb, owner of Lambair, I was able to find a pair of interesting pieces of histories on MSN 6135, which was operated during 10 years by Lambair.
The first history, "Flight From Kabul By DC-3 (December 15, 1972)" relates the impressive journey of YA-AAC from Kabul (OAKB) Afghanistan, to Thompson (CYTH) Canada in 55 hours 30 minutes during several stopovers along Asia and Europe, commanded by Capt. Jack Lamb, just after he purchased the aircraft from Ariana.
To our fortune, this adventure was prepared for FS2000 by Michael Vone (look for "DC-3 Ferry" (MVDC3FRY.ZIP). Although I had this file stored in my personal library for years, I never tried it nor found its relation to YV-500C. For the full history, go here.
The second history, "DC-3 Through The Ice At Tadoule Lake (May, 1972)" or what happens when a pilot lands a DC-3 on rotten ice (slush), just a month after being operated as CF-DBJ. The plane ended sitting on its belly after the main landing gear went through the ice (but it does not detail if it was taxiing, taking-off or landing). For the full history, go here.
Even the excellent Mark Beaumont's repaint of Jan Visser's legendary DC-3 model for FS2000, updated for FS2002, is available for CF-DBJ as she looked by the time of the second history (look for (DC3LAMB.ZIP). I would love to have an MAAM or FS2004 default DC-3 as C-FDBJ. (UPDATE: I found it! Search TEX_LAMB.ZIP) or any of its other variations.
For the rest of MSN 6135 incarnations, I was only able to find a single picture of C-FDBJ with Perimeter Airlines, and of course, several of YV-500C, which takes us back to our feature. For this feature, you will ferry MSN 6135 via Central America. I am aware that the logical route from Thompson (CYTH) to Maiquetia (SVMI) is via the Caribbean, but Central America is one of the portions of our virtual world not yet covered by us.
So this time, you will fly from La Aurora Int'l Airport in Guatemala City, Guatemala, all the way to Marcos Gelabert Int'l Airport in Panama City, Panama on your way to Venezuela; a route which will take you over Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
You have the option to fly this flight as a single leg (Warning! it is a 5 hour 15 minute trip) or to stop by any of the airports along the route. The preferred method of navigation is to use the DC-3 RMI, so I have included all the NDBs available in the route. You can also rely on the VORs near to each airport (with the RMI). You will also need some dead reckoning.
Basically, your route will take you to the following airports in Central America: (the links will take you to reference maps)
Departure - La Aurora Intl Airport (MGGT), Guatemala City, Guatemala
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MGGT.html)
Waypoint - Toncontin Intl Airport (MHTG), Tegucigalpa, Honduras
(photo)
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MHTG.html)
Waypoint - Augusto Cesar Sandino Airport (MNMG), Managua, Nicaragua
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MNMG.html)
Waypoint - Juan Santamaria Intl Airport (MROC), San Jose, Costa Rica
(photo)
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MROC.html)
Waypoint - Enrique Malek Intl Airport (MPDA), David, Panama
(photo)
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MPDA.html)
Arrive - Marcos A Gelabert Intl Airport (MPMG), Panama City, Panama
(photo)
(www.fallingrain.com/icao/MPMG.html)
You can set the weather at your will, download real weather for
January, or set up a weather representative for May 1988.
If you want aviation charts for Central America, visit: http://www.costaricaaviation.com/charts/charts.html
This site also provides us with meshes for Costa Rica and Panama http://www.costaricaaviation.com/flight.html
As for the plane you will be using, you can use any DC-3 of your
choice. Of course my recommendations are on the default FS2004 DC-3
with the Flight Club International paint by our Tony Radmilovich
(right) or any of the Bill Rambow's, Jan Visser's and Roy Chaffin's
FS2002 DC-3s (look for these mainly at FlightSim.Com and the panels
from
www.DC3Airways.com)
or even better the MAAM Douglas DC-3 Multi-Media CD from
www.maam.org
A Plane Product Of Desperation
At first, TWA wanted the Model 247, but Boeing, a division of United Aircraft which also owned United Airlines, couldn't sell its plane to a competitor airline. TWA, desperate for a modern airliner, requested prototypes from five manufactures, and the result was the DC-1, or Douglas Commercial One.
The First Of A Series
The DC-3 was the first of a series of Douglas commercial planes. Based on a request by TWA and their technical advisor, Charles Lindbergh, Douglas developed a revolutionary prototype. The enhanced version of the DC-2 displaced quickly her closest competitor, Boeing's Model 247.
A Flying Bed
The DC-3 was the passenger's "dream". At least, that was expected by American Airlines. Even at the "fast" speed of 155 knots, a DC-2 needed 16 hours to cross the continental US. American Airlines, that had equipped some of their planes with beds, considered that a DC-2 version with beds would gave them a commercial advantage on the transoceanic routes. In 1935, the airlines asked Douglas to built a model bigger than the DC-2, with 14 comfortable beds.
An Authentic Sleeper
Douglas, nearly unable to fulfill the DC-2 orders, did not want to build the new Douglas Sleeper Transport, or DST. Indeed American Airlines had to design the plane on their own and plead to Douglas to built it. The 21 passenger plane that resulted six months later for day operations became the DC-3.
A Profitable Plane
Before the introduction of the DC-3 into service, the airlines depended in the airmail contracts from the government to cover the costs. However, the new 21 passenger DC-3 was able to cover the cost while reporting important benefits. In fact, by 1939 most of the passengers were flown in a DC-3.
The Jeep Of The Skies
The DC-3 entered the war in 1940. The Douglas cargo plane, later known as C-47, became the Jeep of the skies, carrying men, weapons and food in all the world. She flew from improvised runways in the jungle, she made her way through tight mountain passes and towed troop gliders. Even a engineless version of the plane was used as a glider.
Copying The DC-3
The DC-3 is one of the weapons that have equipped both sides during the war. Not only was it built by the US during WWII, the Japanese also built copies of this Douglas plane and named it L2D. The Russians built around 3000 units called Li-2.
Slowly Retired
The DC-3 career spans nearly 50 years. As four engine and jet airliners started to appear, and although the DC-3 keep flying, its use was reduced. Today, around a thousand DC-3's are airworthy.
Keep Flapping
The DC-3 resists getting old. It is true that some are nearly retired, being restored lovingly by collectors and only flown and admired at air shows. But several still earn their pay by carrying tourists, fish, packages and parachute jumpers. Some have even had their noisy radial piston engines replaced by smooth turboprop engines.
The DC-3 design was almost perfect. From the start, she transported passengers and cargo to make money. "70" years later, she keep doing so.
609 civilian planes were built, from which 137 were purchased by the US Army and US Navy. With the C-47, the military version, a total of 10655 planes were manufactured in the US.
Alejandro Irausquin - January 2006
Links:
http://www.enapg.org/dakota.htm (DC-3 database)
http://www.friendsofthedc3.20m.com/history1.htm (DC-3 History)
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/dc3_history.htm (more DC-3 History)
http://www.ruudleeuw.com/skytrain.htm (C-47 History)
http://www.douglasdc3.com (Tons of DC-3 info, lots of FS stuff, and DC-3 links)
http://www.maam.org (Home of the fabulous FS2002/FS2004 R4D, an US Navy DC-3)
http://www.dc3airways.com (A wonderful DC-3 based VA)
http://www.toomuchfs.com (Great DC-3 repaints and flights, and our home)
References:
MS World of Flight, Spanish Edition.
Is there any wonder that in our little club Alejandro is known as "The Collector"? What a lot of great information. I hope that many of you can relive a bit of history by taking this flight - and if you do, please send us your reports!
Ron Blehm
pretendpilot@yahoo.com
