Flying visit by veteran

(EXCERPT) by Noel Donaldson

TWO aviation workhorses of the Second World War had Wick folk scanning
the skies as the planes came in to land at the airport on Monday. The
Douglas C-47 Dakotas, crewed by a group of American aero-enthusiasts,
are on their way from Israel to Arkansas. They touched down to be
refuelled by Far North Aviation, which has seen quite a few air
veterans come and go in recent years. The aircraft were decommissioned
by the Israeli defence ministry and have been lovingly restored during
the past year. The Dakota was the basis for the introduction of
practical commercial services in the 1930s. But it was during the war
that the twin-engined plane – manufactured by the Douglas Corporation
of Seattle – really earned its spurs, carrying everything from
paratroopers to freight into battle zones. The British acquired more
than 1900 of them and adopted the Dakota name – although the Americans
stuck by their term for the plane, the Gooney Bird. Such was the part
it played in the conflict that General Dwight D. Eisenhower described
the C-47 as one of the four machines that wo...

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Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com