File:Douglas DC-3. The most beautiful aircraft ever. (13990834866).jpg

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The DC-3 served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam and was a favourite among pilots.

For more than 70 years, the aircraft known by a variety of nicknames - The Doug, the Dizzy, Old Methuselah, the Gooney Bird (US Air Force), the Grand Old Lacy - but which to most of us is simply the Dakota, has been the workhorse of the skies. With its distinctive nose up profile when on the ground and extraordinary capabilities in the air, it transformed passenger travel and served in just about every military conflict from WWII onwards.

Representing some truly unique Kiwi history, is a DC-3 that is the only surviving RNZAF World War II veteran aircraft still operating today in a front-line service.

ZK-AWP was built in 1945 at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. The Oklahoma City factory was constructed to cope with wartime production in 1941, immediately post Pearl Harbour. With a wing span of 29m, length of 20m and height of almost 4.5m and powered by two Pratt and Whitney R-1830-92 engines with 1250 bhp each, it was ideally suited to military service. DC-3s operated comfortably into unpaved fields of 1000 metres or sometimes less, carrying a standard load of three tons and featuring a range of 1200 nautical miles.

With its delivery crew ZK-AWP left its "birthplace" at Oklahoma City, USA in April 1945 - on the day the Red Army overran the German High Command in Berlin - and flew to Hamilton, New Zealand. From May that year it became RNZAF Dakota NZ3543 and was assigned to 41 Squadron RNZAF until 1952. In 1952 it was handed over as NZ3543 at Whenuapai to New Zealand National Airways Corporation. It entered service on the 2nd of April 1953, clocking up 10 hours and 20 minutes on the first day.

Now 69 years later, it remains in commercial service and represents a very important part of Kiwi history.
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Source Douglas DC-3. The most beautiful aircraft ever.
Author Bernard Spragg. NZ from Christchurch, New Zealand
Camera location44° 43′ 27.35″ S, 169° 14′ 44.88″ E Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

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Creative Commons CC-Zero This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

This image was originally posted to Flickr by Bernard Spragg at https://flickr.com/photos/88123769@N02/13990834866 (archive). It was reviewed on 21 June 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-zero.

21 June 2018

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current16:12, 21 June 2018Thumbnail for version as of 16:12, 21 June 20182,400 × 1,478 (2.28 MB)Meisam (talk | contribs)Transferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons

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