Old reliable calls it a day

Press, 26 November 1977, Page 15

Old reliable calls it a day

Old reliable — the Dakota DC3 aircraft used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force to carry freight, troops, and VIPs since the early 1940 s — will not fly again in New Zealand colours. Tn front of a nostalgic crowd of nearly 500 former Air Force Dakota aircrew and well wishers, the R.N.Z.A.F.’s last two Dakotas were officially retired at Ohakea earlier this month. The Dakota was used bv the R.N.Z.A.F. for 34 years, only two years less than the Harvard, which was retired earlier this year. The Dakota is one of the most famous transports of aviation history, and was rated by General Eisenhower as one of the four pieces of equipment (the others were the jeep, the bazooka and the atomic bombl which contributed the most to the Allied victory in World War 11. First flown in 1935, the aircraft was designed as a successor to the revolutionary DC2, and many, as DC3s, were delivered to airlines in the late 19305. But of more than 10,000 built in the United States, all but a few hundred were completed as military transports. Many were also built in Japan and the Soviet Union. One of the mam United States military versions was the C 47 Skytrain, and although the R.N.Z.A.F. machines were obtained from the United States as C47s, New Zealand adopted the name used in the Royal Air Force, “Dakota." In 1949 three aircraft of No 41 Squadron were deployed to the Far East to drop supplies for the Commonwealth forces in rhe Malayan Emergency. Thus began the long association of No 41 Squadron with Singapore, an association which will end when the squadron is disbanded on December 6. During most of its time in Singapore, however, the squadron has been

equipped with the Bristol Freighter, and it was the introduction of this aircraft to R.N.Z.A.F. service in late 1951 that began to spell the end of the Dakota as the main military transport in New Zealand. By mid-1953 the usurpation was complete, but two aircraft. NZ3551 and NZ3553, were retained for VIP tasks. Both aircraft were completely refurbished. NZ3551 lavishly so. for it carried the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on the 1953-54 Royal Tour. These two Dakotas continued to be used as VIP transport to the day of their retirement — which had to be postponed earlier in the year because of delays in completing the VTP interior of one of the recently acquired Andover Cis.

During the late 1960 s the VIP pair were rejoined by four of their sisters, returned from N.A.C. The first to don uniform again, NZ3546, wqs modified as a drogue-towing aircraft to provide gunnery practice, particularly for naval ves-

sels. Of the other three, one was retained in N.A.C. configuration and was used to carry staff and mail between bases in New Zealand, and the other two were fitted out for training paratroopers.

The first R.N.Z.A.F. models were flown out from the United States in February, 1943, and by war’s end a total of 49 had been delivered to form the equipment of Nos. 40 and 41 Squadrons. War-time service was steady, but largely unspectacular, and required frequent routine flights to the Pacific Islands to deliver men, material and mail to the forward area. At the end of the war a shuttle was set up to repatriate prisoners of war from Singapore, and schedules to Japan began later, to deploy and maintain No 14 Squadron (Corsairs) as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces. In New Zealand, aircraft of No. 40 Squadron were used to re-establish the internal air routes until 1947, when the squadron was disbanded and the National Airways Corporation was formed. For many of the crews and aircraft, the formation of N.A.C. meant the same work, but a different uniform or paint scheme. In all, N.A.C. used 29 Dakotas, 26 of them former R.N.Z.A.F. aircraft. Many were bought by N.A.C. but some were issued on loan and years later found their way back into military colours.