Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 08:14:18 -1000
From: "Peter Ogilvie" <konacoffee2@hotmail.com>
Subject: LRO: RE: DC 3's
>The float plane DC3 must have some humongous floats. DC3s weigh a bit more
than a Cessna 180.
If you're interested..... the float-equipped C-47s were conceived during WWII because
it was thought that they would be needed to supply the army and marines during the
island-hopping campaign. The floats were designed and built by EDO, and are actually
amphibious. Each float displaces 29,400 pounds. Only a few sets were made and
fitted to C-47s. As it turned out, the Navy's Seabees could construct usable airfields
within days of an assault landing on an island, so the need for the float-equipped
C-47s never materialized, and the program was scrapped after
only two airplanes had been fitted with the floats. The set on the DC-3 in New England is
the last remaining set in existence, and they sat abandoned in the weeds at an East
Coast airport for decades. The floats were never put under DC-3s, but only the two
C-47s, which are basically the same airplane but there are some differences. So the DC-3
exhibit plane is ALMOST accurate, but not quite. However, the fellow who spearheaded the
project had access to a DC-3 but not a C-47, so he used what he had. The Navy also had
a program to put floats under F4F Wildcat fighters to counter the float-equipped Japanese Zero.
The idea was the same- provide air support for forward combat areas that did not have airfields
yet. The Seabees rendered this project unnecessary, as well, and only two Wildcats,
called Wild Catfish by the Navy, were ever put on floats. I got all this information from
Jay Frey, the past president of the EDO company's float division when I was writing
my float plane book.
___________________________
C. Marin Faure
(original owner)
1973 Land Rover Series III-88
1991 Range Rover Vogue SE
Seattle
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