Gazing skyward, her tail-wheel configuration appears as if she’s ready to fly—embracing the celestial world above, loving the heavens like her airmen within.
Mott’s Military Museum, Groveport, Ohio
October 16, 2021
Pulling chocks from her wheels, line personnel scramble beneath her soft beautiful lines. Aerodynamic curves, waiting to serve her desires, a calling to the sky.
The calm before flight, interrupted by the captain’s call, “Clear, right!” A signal to anyone nearby to remain clear of the right propeller.
Pressing the primer, starter, and vibrator switches to the right, the first officer watches as her three-blade propeller begins to rotate on the starboard engine. On the twelfth rotation, puffs of smoke pour from the exhaust as the C-47 rumbles to life—vibrating the entire airframe.
Quickly releasing the starter switch, the first officer keeps pressure on the remaining switches, monitoring the response from the engine. As the rumble transitions to a roar, he releases the vibrator switch while gently advancing the mixture lever, he continues to work the primer until her engine settles into a consistent hum.
Waiting for the signal from the captain, the first officer prepares to repeat the procedure on her left engine—accomplishing the same series of steps that would be repeated countless times through the decades prior to each flight.
Whether preparing for her daring airborne drops over Normandy; flying the Hump between India and China; to rescuing U.S. forces from the frozen world of North Korea; or suppling the Berlin airlift; the rumble of each engine start still echos through aviation history today.
While her civilian sister, the Douglas DC-3, would serve U.S. airlines, the C-47 Skytrain—sometimes referred to as Gooney Bird—operated as a military transport aircraft from WW2 to Vietnam. While so many other aircraft steal the spotlight, the U.S. C-47 played a major role in conflict, a role unmatched during her era of flight.
Even today, her DC-3 sister still rumbles off runways, serving poorer nations around the globe. A testament to superior aircraft design, a soft simple beauty only recognized by her airmen.
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