Douglas DC-3 with Floats

[hesham]

Hi,

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930092596_1993092596.pdf

 

[richard]

Not only a project ,but one C 47 A was fitted with two Edo Model 78 floats by American Airlines at La Guardia Field and flown in June 1943.
The designation was C-47 C
(from William Green's "Floatplanes of the second world war")

 

[Bailey]

More, from "War Planes of the Second World War Vol 6 - Floatplanes - William Green.

Regards Bailey.

 

[Apophenia]

True that there was only one prototype XC-47C conversions but, according to Airways Magazine #29 (July 1998), 150 Edo 78-29 float sets were ordered by the USAAF (although only 30 sets were actually completed). As far as I know, N130Q is still flying on Edo floats.

 

[richard]

And here it is :

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=N130Q

 

[Jos Heyman]

Only picked this one up now - sorry for the delay.
The aircraft currently registered as N130Q and with floats was c/n 11761 (as it states on the photos) and was orginally 42-12834. As far as I know this a/c was not converted as C-47C so the modification must have been after its service as a military aircaft.
Aircraft converted as XC-47C and C-47C were 41-18582 (c/n 4707), 42-5671 (c/n 7356) - the XC-47C, 42-92577 (c/n 12393), 42-92699 (c/n 12529) and 42-108868 (c/n 12528). This last one was converted back to C-47A and was in 2007 still registered as N45860.

 

[ChuckAnderson]

More, from "War Planes of the Second World War Vol 6 - Floatplanes - William Green.

Regards Bailey.

Are these specifications correct as far as classifying this aircraft as an amphibian?
In the photo provided, it looks like (to me), that these are just straight floats, unless they also count the beaching gear to make it amphibious.

Chuck

 

[The Artist]

Didn't the floats have retractable gear?

 

[Jos Heyman]

In Douglas J. Ingells, The Plane That Changed The World, p. 185, it states:
"They called it the Duck beause it could ...... take off or land neatly on the water". But then it goes on: "The land-water versions of the C-47 were used in Alaska".
This is all accompanied by a pic that shows wheels coming out of the floats but, in my honest opinion, these do represent beaching gear rather than proper landing gear.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jos Heyman]

Here is a set of three photos from Len Morgan's The Douglas DC-3 (Arco Publishing 1964) showing the floats.
Again, I don't think one should land on those wheels.

 

[TomS]

Several reasonable well-researched sites (such as the one below) state that the wheels on the C-47C could be used on land, but that there was a high rate of tire failure. That claim is not sourced that I could find, but it seems plausible.

http://www.dc3history.org/floats.htm

Whether later commercial DC-3 floats had similar capabilities is unclear, but the gear certainly look similar.

 

[hesham]

By the way,that's not only the Douglas DC series on float.

 

[Apophenia]

By the way,that's not only the Douglas DC series on float.

A cryptic comment to add to a 13+ year old thread ...