N700CA began its life as a Douglas C-47A built in 1942 and saw extensive action in World War II. Serving the U.S. Army Air Forces, it took part in some of the most critical Allied airborne operations of the war—dropping paratroopers over Normandy on D-Day, towing gliders during Operation Market Garden at Arnhem, and crossing the Rhine in Operation Varsity. After the war, it continued its military career with the Royal Canadian Air Force, flying transport and training missions until its retirement in the early 1970s. In the early ’90s, a friend of mine Bob Houghton worked on its restoration in Plattsburgh, New York for Champlain Air. While in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, I tracked it down in a nearby hangar. Since then, it’s been transformed by Basler Turbo Conversions into a modern BT-67 turboprop and is heading to Argentina in a few weeks. Today, more than 80 years after it first took flight, N700CA remains active—an airworthy tribute to one of the most iconic aircraft of the Second World War. #dc3 #douglasaircraft #wwiihistory #c47
