The
Douglas C-47 Skytrain or
Dakota (
RAF,
RAAF,
RCAF,
RNZAF, and
SAAF designation) is a
military transport aircraft developed from the civilian
Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the
Allies during
World War II and remained in front-line service with various military operators for many years.
The C-47 was vital to the success of many Allied campaigns, in particular, those at
Guadalcanal and in the jungles of
New Guinea and
Burma, where the C-47 and its naval version, the R4D, made it possible for Allied troops to counter the mobility of the light-traveling Japanese Army. C-47s were used to airlift supplies to the encircled American forces during the
Battle of Bastogne in Belgium. Possibly its most influential role in military aviation, however, was flying "
The Hump" from India into China. The expertise gained flying "The Hump" was later used in the
Berlin Airlift, in which the C-47 played a major role until the aircraft were replaced by
Douglas C-54 Skymasters.
[citation needed]
In Europe, the C-47 and a specialized
paratroop variant, the C-53 Skytrooper, were used in vast numbers in the later stages of the war, particularly to tow
gliders and drop paratroops. During the
invasion of Sicily in July 1943, C-47s dropped 4,381 Allied paratroops. More than 50,000 paratroops were dropped by C-47s during the first few days of the
D-Day campaign also known as the
invasion of Normandy, France, in June 1944.
[9] In the
Pacific War, with careful use of the island landing strips of the Pacific Ocean, C-47s were used for ferrying soldiers serving in the Pacific theater back to the United States.
About 2,000 C-47s (received under
Lend-Lease) in British and Commonwealth service
took the name "Dakota", possibly inspired by the acronym "DACoTA" for Douglas Aircraft Company Transport Aircraft.
[10]
The C-47 also earned the informal nickname "
gooney bird" in the European theatre of operations.
[11] Other sources
[12] attribute this name to the first aircraft, a USMC R2D—the military version of the DC-2—being the first aircraft to land on Midway Island, previously home to the long-winged albatross known as the gooney bird which was native to Midway.
