C-47 Skytrain: Keeps Revealing New Secrets
By Bill Veith
Restoration Team Leader
Our C-47 continues its journey to being restored to its original appearance, as it was during D-Day missions. Approximately 95% of the add-ons introduced during the conversion to commercial service as a DC-3 have been removed.
The engines are also nearly done and are already on display out front. Corrosion mitigation, which is significant after 40 years of outside static display, structural repairs, fuselage patching, and cleaning are now in progress, with the goal of being ready in June for a trip outside for priming and painting. Then, it returns inside to a new location, where we will begin the process of putting the pieces back together.
That’s the story we see every day. However, through this process, some very interesting secrets have been revealed and made more visible. The following are two recent discoveries made by our our Restoration Team.
40 Year Old P&W Decal – While dealing with the challenges of paint removal, the team began chemically stripping part of the engine cowling. After removing several layers of paint, we found traces of a vintage Pratt & Whitney “Dependable Engines” decal. Although not original to the warbird, it is a pretty cool relic of the C-47’s post-war era commercial service as a DC-3 from more than 40 years ago.
Evidence of Shrapnel Damage – If you have visited us recently, you may have noticed that the left-wing tip has been removed from the plane. Life outside has taken its toll on our bird. While removing the wing tip to address a corrosion issue our restoration team made an interesting discovery. The removal of the wing tip has revealed several small random repair patches, each about the size of a small business card. Although not fully confirmed, we have surmised, based on the written history of the aircraft’s WWII experience that these patches were used to repair either shrapnel or bullet damage. The wing tip is now on display in front of the left wing for all to see the evidence of WWII enemy fire.
Our restoration team is proud of the work and they feel it is a privilege to be restoring this historic warbird. To all those who served and crewed on this C-47, we honor you.
One more thing! Beginning this summer Evergreen will begin offering a peak behind the scenes in our Restoration Project area. You will can see how we repair wings, rebuild engines, and repair the airframe and fuselages.
