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In our quest for the lost and last DC-3 ‘s in the world, we visited by end august 2007 the last Frontier, where vintage piston engine Prop liners still fly in substantial numbers. In Alaska, we had Anchorage, Palmer and Fairbanks in our tour, while in the adjacent Canadian Yukon Territories, Whitehorse and Haines Junction were the places to be for the search.
It was to become a most impressive tour, that yielded in the end a limited number of wingtips and Stabilizers from the famed DC-3/ C-47, that were to be the focus of our voyage.
With a growing demand for Avionart’s authentic DC-3 Wingtip Desk since early this year, we are facing a dwindling supply of non-operational wingtips from our common sources.
We had to go literally into the last Frontier and dive into DC-3 derelict and wreck search for finding “new” wingtips, in order to replenish our inventory with another dozen of wingtips.
DC-3 and its wingtips were last built in 1945 , it is a miracle that so many survived since that time, and it is amazing to see that those legendary planes still fly as a commercial Cargo plane, even in North America, in the new age, more than 60 years after the last one was built.
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Derelict DC-3’s are littered all over the Americas , most are untouchable because owners are no longer to trace, others are kept intact, but slowly rotting away, against all odds believed to be flying out one day again.
The Dakota’s that fly in this domain, are in hands of a small number of Companies, that use them mostly for the cargo supply toward remote settlements, in the extreme outback of Alaska and Northern Canada.
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 Along with their contemporaries, the Curtis Commando C-46, and the Douglas DC-4/ DC-6, they make the mainstay of an aging fleet of specific transport aircraft, that remarkably survived the dazzling technological development of aviation in the past 50 years.
It is stunning to see on a big high tech international airport as in Anchorage, both Jumbos and old Prop Liners depart and come in, side by side standing on the apron.
Outback airstrips, 6 months per year covered in snow, are no match for the Jet / Turbo prop airplanes, but the versatile DC-3 can do what high technology planes cannot… Deliver 3 tons of cargo year trough, if needed, with skis mounted under the wheels.
No wonder with such age of planes and the extreme conditions that sometimes things go very wrong and vintage planes crash , as their safety margin is critical if an engine quits at max cargo load.
We met a number of crashed airplanes, one had a cylinder exploded from the starboard engine, the ensuing fire could not be extinguished and the crew had no other choice than to land as quickly as possible, before a wing would collapse due to the torching flames that came from the exploded engine, licking over the wing.
They made a happy wheels up landing in the tundra nearby Nenana, stepping out unhurt, only finding out that the aluminium of the engine was already smelting, in a matter of minutes.
The other C-47 wreck was found in the Ruby mountains, we had to go there by Helicopter and I met one of the most remarkable crash sites ever seen, some 30 miles North from Haines Junction YT..
The plane was basically intact, both wings still in place and all crew of 10 USAF personnel survived this adventure. We boggled our minds how that plane could have landed there, while obviously no real slide was made in the wheels up landing, coming to rest in a 25 degrees uphill position , on a mountain littered with rocks and boulders .
This miracle was maybe only possible with the extreme luck of a dead stick glide over the mountain range, and as the plane lost speed , it stalled and simply fell nose up out of the air, right into a position where the mountain goes steeply up, a chance out of a million….
If more realistic explanations are there, please let me know, I am seriously interested to hear.
Anyway, the accident happened in 1950, while on a search party for another missing plane, the wreck’s skin is in a “as new” condition , polished like a show piece, and shoes and notebooks were still found inside the plane.
For the record: the captain went walking for rescue through the mountain range in southern direction, after 13 km, where he was extremely lucky to meet no bear, his luck did not stop, he hit the Alaska highway, stopped a truck and was able to organise a rescue party for the 9 survivors, still waiting out there in the plane, at 6000 feet altitude some chilling experience.
Local Dc-3 Operators had with this wreck a good source of free spare parts, so over the years they air lifted with choppers the engines and other useful parts as instruments, doors etc
One wingtip was still attached on the main wing, but this wreck is such beautiful monument., it should be left untouched for the next visitors to enjoy this spot of the ultimate lucky aircrash.. If interested to visit this wonderful place, let me know and I send details.
Back to business, we met in Fairbanks a number of operators, that could give us information that brought us to a number of corrosion corners , where salvaged wrecks of the DC-3’s were to find, and here we made our first score of slightly damaged wingtips, that came from a Dakota that overran in a landing accident, and ended in a swamp at the end of the run way.
Alaska was beautiful for the sight seeing,. as if the world existed only a thousand years or so, full of glaciers, volcano’s, snow capped cordilleras, turquoise lakes, moose , seals, mountain sheep, and hardly any people or cars for hundreds of miles to go over the Alaska Highway.
But the score in wingtips was lower than anticipated, the planes are still there in limited numbers, the parts are getting very scarce and most wrecks are totally cannibalised to keep the survivors in flying condition,
So we moved into Canada, trying our luck, in the footsteps of the gold diggers trail, that ran from Skagway up north via Whitehorse into Klondike. Here we found better sources, as also Canada still has a substantial fleet of Vintage Prop liners, both in the cargo role and in the bush fire fighting. The legendary amphibian PBY-5A Catalina is still in use in this role.
As our trip came to en end , we were lucky to find more old hangar stuff, like the fairy tale of the Jaguar 1948 Sports car, found in the old barn
From under loads of dust and hours of talking and negotiating , we managed to buy a few more wingtips, from a proud owner who had collected over the years a dazzling number of old cars and aeroplanes, spare parts, wrecks, etc.
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