We see an aircraft in its livery and say, "That's a Lufthansa 747" or an "Air Canada A321", often forgetting that these aircraft are refitted and painted appropriately for different roles over their working lives. Sometimes these changes can be extreme.

The two flight simulations here are from the life of one Douglas C-47 'Skytrain' aircraft, construction number (c/n) 12358, built in 1942 in Oklahoma City.

Photo by Rolf Larsson

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Captain John Cecil Kelly-Rogers in the Boeing 314 flying boat Berwick, January 1942

Flight 1: Nice, France to Biggin Hill, England; the 'John Knox'.

In 1948 this World War II Lend-Lease C-47 was sent to Scottish Aviation, Prestwick for refitting as Lord Beaverbrook's personal aircraft. The first flight story came from Brian Powell, a pilot with an interesting and varied career; he was an RAF instructor in WWII, did testing, training and deliveries for Vickers, Airspeed and De Havilland and worked also an airline pilot. Brian was the pilot of this aircraft during its service with Lord Beaverbrook.

Beaverbrook was a 'larger than life' character, a newspaper tycoon who served in Winston Churchill's cabinet as Minister of Aircraft Production, later as Minister of Supply. Extremely wealthy, his aircraft was sumptuously appointed at the time. This flight is not about Beaverbrook, though, it is about Churchill and Brian Powell; how a civilian pilot, while delivering Churchill home, came to inspect a Guard of Honour.

/i

Flight 2: Naimey to Agades, Niger; Air Niger 5U-AAC

Much later, in the livery of Air Niger, the aircraft was based at the city of Naimey, the capital of the country of Niger, West Africa. Air Niger served the country's domestic airline needs and had routes into the Upper Volta. Here is a flight from Naimey east to Agades from the 1960s. No more sumptuous birds-eye maple paneling, just regular airline seats, a crowded hold and passengers that varied from UN diplomats to students nervously heading out of the country for the first time.

Then c/n 12358 disappeared from the records. Through the help of the DC-3 network in Africa I discovered that it had crashed in Tofamanir (sometimes known as Tofamaner), Niger on 16 July 1973. Tofamanir, on the remote chance you don't know its location, is 500 km north-east of Naimey.

The full story in 2010 and '97-2003' Word formats or Notepad text, with the flight plans in FSX and FS2004 formats, are given in the library file flydeliver3.zip. Enjoy the Mappin & Webb china... and the Sahara desert.

My thanks to people who provided elements of the background for this story: Brian Powell (and a family member who dug out most of the aircraft's timeline), Rolf Larsson, Alexandre Avrane and John Austin-Williams.

Allan Jones
allanj12@gmail.com
Allan Jones is the author of In a Moon's Course, an ebook on the simulation of flights made by the Air Transport Auxiliary in World War II.

Download FLYDELIVER3.ZIP