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#Post#: 8222--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: vonofterdingen Date: December 9, 2019, 4:07 pm
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[img width=640 height=473]
HTML https://i.imgur.com/poEKaxv.png[/img]
Today would have been my late father’s 99th birthday. What does
that have to do with the Plane of the Week? Well, my father was
the Flight Engineer on a C-47 at Greenham Commons during WW2,
attached to the 82nd Airborne. Note that the title of this
thread reads “Gooney Bird” not Dakota or Sky Train. He always
proudly and affectionately referred to the plane as the Gooney
Bird. Though not involved directly in a lot of air combat
(thankfully), the transports of WW2 played huge roles in almost
every battle fought on almost every front. My father, for
example, took part in both D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge.
My father was a teller of tales, and many exaggerations, but let
me pass along a favorite of mine regarding this plane.
The time was during the Battle of the Bulge. My dad’s plane was
grounded most of the time due to bad weather, but finally there
was some clearing. They were getting ready to take off and they
got word that the commander was angry that some earlier planes
had come back without dropping their cargo; the clouds were too
thick for them to see where they were and they were afraid of
providing supplies to the Germans. Word got out very quickly: do
not come back to this base unless your plane is empty. If you
can’t see take your best guess and push that stuff out the door.
Men of the 82nd are on the ground and need food and ammo. If the
Germans get some of it or even all of it, so be it. We have to
try. And that they did.
From Wikipedia (the plane has had such a long operational
history that I have limited the Wiki selection to WW2)…
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF and RNZAF
designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the
civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the
Allies during World War II and remains in front-line service
with various military operators.
[img width=640 height=421]
HTML https://i.imgur.com/p8SGeYH.png[/img]
The C-47 was vital to the success of many Allied campaigns, in
particular, those at Guadalcanal and in the jungles of New
Guinea and Burma, where the C-47 and its naval version, the R4D,
made it possible for Allied troops to counter the mobility of
the light-traveling Japanese Army. C-47s were used to airlift
supplies to the encircled American forces during the Battle of
Bastogne in Belgium. Possibly its most influential role in
military aviation, however, was flying "The Hump" from India
into China. The expertise gained flying "The Hump" was later
used in the Berlin Airlift, in which the C-47 played a major
role until the aircraft were replaced by Douglas C-54
Skymasters.
In Europe, the C-47 and a specialized paratroop variant, the
C-53 Skytrooper, were used in vast numbers in the later stages
of the war, particularly to tow gliders and drop paratroops.
During the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, C-47s dropped 4,381
Allied paratroops. More than 50,000 paratroops were dropped by
C-47s during the first few days of the D-Day campaign also known
as the invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944. In the
Pacific War, with careful use of the island landing strips of
the Pacific.
About 2,000 C-47s (received under Lend-Lease) in British and
Commonwealth service took the name "Dakota", possibly inspired
by the acronym "DACoTA" for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport
Aircraft.
The C-47 also earned the informal nickname "gooney bird" in the
European theatre of operations. Other sources attribute this
name to the first aircraft, a USMC R2D—the military version of
the DC-2—being the first aircraft to land on Midway Island,
previously home to the long-winged albatross known as the gooney
bird which was native to Midway.
[img width=640 height=423]
HTML https://i.imgur.com/IKGtLmY.png[/img]
In game…
In game, this plane is more to be escorted or shot at as a
target. Many mission builders and both the major dynamic
campaign generators put this and other transports into missions
though, and wisely so. They make for good mission making with
supplies, gliders and paratroopers. They are an important part
of history also. I have flown the plane a few times for
nostalgic reasons. I usually make sure that I have no enemy
planes to worry about and make the mission a simple navigational
exercise with take-off and landing.
#Post#: 8225--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: cafs Date: December 10, 2019, 6:41 am
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Great PoW, Von.
Allways rememberd as a paratroop/glider or air-launched
resupply transport, the true invaluable service that they did
was the transport of very needed mechanical parts (from radios
to complete engines), fresh personnel, ammo, weapons and fuel to
frontline regiments/squadrons and the fast transfer of wounded
service-men/women to the more equipped rear area hospitals.
That was/is the forgoten war effort of any air force.
Thanks for the nice article.
#Post#: 8230--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: Beowolff Date: December 10, 2019, 8:58 am
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Stupendous POTW article and with great personal (your father's
history) hands on information! Super job!
And what a super plane!!!!!!
I LOVE this bird. always have, always will. The
workhorse/backbone of virtually all Allied general use
transportation/combat transportation for MANY long years... even
AFTER the war was long over the Allied Nations were STILL flying
tons of them.
And what a beautiful and handy bird to have, eh? Perfect for
circa WW2 use and action!
Could the Allies have prevailed without such a bird? Weeeeeeel,
yeah, maybe... but it would have sure been difficult to say the
least!
Super nice article, Von... and very informative!
S!
Beo
#Post#: 8251--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: Beowolff Date: December 11, 2019, 6:04 am
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I've re-read your story, Von, as I often do... and this time
picked up on a memory from a guy that used to be at our local
VFW. He's long dead now, but he was a fine gentleman and wow
but could he tell some interesting and exciting stories about
his war years!
He was a Navigator/also Radio Operator and sometimes
co-pilot...lol... (cause they didn't have enough personnel to
keep the planes flying sometimes) and in a 'few' cases he was
also a door gunner. Ha! Door gunner? Yeah... he told me
several times the Japanese would get on their tail when flying
the HUMP and of course they seldom (if ever) had fighter
support, so, rather than let them take them down in flames
easily, he (or some other poor bloke) would hang (yes hang, due
to the C-47 not having a tail or blister opening in the rear for
straight rearward aiming) but yeah, HANG out the door of the
C-47 with a Thompson 'Tommy Gun' and one-handedly (and yes a
Tommy Gun is HEAVY) fire off 30 round magazines at the attacking
Japanese fighters.
He said he never shot any down...but he thought he might have
'scared' a few of 'em! ...LOL! :D :D :D
For a long time I sort of though the old dude was bullshitting
me... you know, just razzing me cause to him I was just a
wet-nosed kid. Then at some point I found a war book where
OTHERS had done that same thing while flying the HUMP and I'm
going jeeze… that ole guy wasn't just having fun with me! He
really DID do that! ---What balls! ---What a hero!
Anyway... he loved the Gooney and lathered it with praise, as I
have heard many other WW2 Transport pilots and combat ground
soldiers, do.
S!
Beo
#Post#: 8268--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: vonofterdingen Date: December 11, 2019, 2:42 pm
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Made me laugh. I would expect that the Japanese pilot was not so
much afraid of the gun, as he was afraid of that crazy @$#%&
with the machine gun hanging out the side!
#Post#: 8316--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: Beowolff Date: December 13, 2019, 9:00 am
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[quote author=vonofterdingen link=topic=1216.msg8268#msg8268
date=1576096975]
Made me laugh. I would expect that the Japanese pilot was not so
much afraid of the gun, as he was afraid of that crazy @$#%&
with the machine gun hanging out the side!
[/quote]
My thoughts as well! :D :D :D
#Post#: 8328--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: the Gooney Bird
By: DHumphrey Date: December 13, 2019, 3:19 pm
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Excellent post and read Von … thanks so much for sharing. :)
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