rare C-47 part Fleamarket find

**danhashman** · 02-20-2017, 05:10 AM

Hey mates...

I want to share a rare, strange and interesting find with you.

Today on a fleamarket in Mexico City i stumbled acress this weird item. Its obvious military look cought to my attention.

It seems to be from a DC-3 / C-47... and is labeled as a WINDSHIELD DE-ICER TANK , and has also a DOUGLAS AVIATION label, with serial number and a lot of data. Its in very good intact condition.
The tank is very leightweight, guess its made from aluminium.
Interesting is a Stamp on the front which tells that the tank must be removed before combat, stamp dated to 1965.. even thou i guess the airplane was WW2 era, it seem to have been quite a working horse.

The tank was quite cheap but i did not buy it as its large and i see absolutely no use for it, even thou its a amazing item somehow.. Maybe i go for it next weekend, we´ll see...

Here i leave it for future references

**MAP** · 02-20-2017, 05:28 AM

C-47 are indeed a workhorse. Some still in service today.

**danhashman** · 02-20-2017, 04:47 PM

yeah, and this one was not only a working horse, it seems it flew in Vietnam - combat zones. i did not know that the USAF had DC-3 / C-47 sitill in service by 1965, as the stamp suggests..

**earlymb** · 02-20-2017, 05:44 PM

The USAF had many C-47's operational in Vietnam, mainly as gunships but also for cargo. Until quite recently the State of Florida had several C-47's as insecticide dusters for use over the Florida swamps.

The Colombian Airforce still has AC-47 'Fantasma' Gunships (modified with turboprop engines and an extended fuselage) and used them with great success against the FARC. Also, there are many operational C-47's in daily use in Colombia right to this day, as there is no better (and cheaper!) way to transport 3 tonnes of cargo to remote jungle settlements.

If you're interested in the DC-3/C-47 in use in the present day, I heartily recommend the book 'The Dakota Hunter' by Hans Wiesman, that has several chapters dedicated to these Colombian C-47's among others. It's a very nice book to read with lots of photos and available through Amazon.

**Chopperman** · 02-22-2017, 04:24 AM

C-47 gun ship at work in VN.

**MAP** · 02-22-2017, 04:37 AM

by Chopperman

C-47 gun ship at work in VN.

Puff the Magic Dragon! or Spooky

**danhashman** · 02-22-2017, 05:50 AM

i could nowhere find anything about this tank... for some strange reason that i cannot quite understand, there are not many C-47 Windshield De-icer Tank fans around.. wonder why, as its such an exciting item..

**MAP** · 02-22-2017, 05:55 AM

Besides it being made buy Douglas what makes you believe it was for a C47?

**danhashman** · 02-22-2017, 11:46 PM

by MAP

Besides it being made buy Douglas what makes you believe it was for a C47?

The serial number:
Douglas - 53161 is a serial number for C-47 parts..

There was a thread here at WRF exactly at the time when i posted it, which assigned those first serial number-numbers to a specific Company - and a specific Airplane-type. It is here at WRF somewhere, its amazing the things and knowledge that can be found here.. therefore i HAD to become a paying member.. it´s not more than fair..

Cheching / comparing the provided info - it matched in Numbers as a DOUGLAS- part - just as the part-label says. Specifically from a C-47 or DC-3...