The first AC-47s were ordered in 1940 and by the end of World War II, 9,348 had been procured for Army Air Forces use. They carried personnel and cargo, and in a combat role, towed troop-carrying gliders and dropped paratroops into enemy territory. Few aircraft are as well known or were so widely used for so long as the C-47 or "Gooney Bird" as it was nicknamed. The aircraft was adapted from the Douglas DC-3 commercial airliner which appeared in 1936.
After World War II, many C-47s remained in U.S. Air Force service, participating in the Berlin Airlift and other peacetime activities. For 11 months, the Berlin Airlift sustained the city's 2.5 million residents in one of the greatest feats in aviation history. At the start of the airlift the main aircraft used was the C-47. They first were to carry 80 tons of milk, flour and medicine, and the C-47 was the first fatality crash near Wiesbaden, Germany, killing all on board.

During the Korean War, C-47s hauled supplies, dropped paratroops, evacuated wounded and dropped flares for night bombing attacks. In Vietnam, the C-47 served again as a transport, but it was also used in a variety of other ways which included flying ground attack (gunship), reconnaissance and psychological warfare missions.

This aircraft in a actual combat veteran of ‘Operation Overlord”, the D-Day invasion of Hitler’s “Fortress Europe. Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944 it helped open the invasion by dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines.

Today it is restored as an AC-47 Gunship from Vietnam. It is painted in the colors and markings of “Spooky 71” of the 4th Special Operations Squadron, based at Cam Ranh Bay, Republic of Vietnam.. In “Spooky 71” in the night skies just outside of Saigon , on February 24,1969, USAF Sergeant John L. Levitow earned the Congressional  Medal Of Honor.

PERFORMANCE
Maximum speed: 232 mph
Cruising speed: 175 mph
Range: 1,513 miles
Service ceiling: 24,450 feet

To learn more about the pilot of the AC-47, click here!