And now, on its 75th Birthday, still to be found in that role in Alaska, South and Central America, Caribbean Islands, Africa..... and the Pacific Island Tonga. In a few countries as Colombia, with remote communities living in the Amazon Jungle, there is still an active role for over a dozen Dakotas, that fly as the only lifeline for Passengers, Food, Fuel, live stock, construction/ mining equipment, Jeeps etc. Up until today, there is no replacement in this domain for the Dakota !!

Forget there the more modern Turbo Fan of Turbo Prop planes, a take off or landing on muddy strips or a sandy mogul river bank with 3 tons of payload, that is the exclusive playground of this versatile vintage Transport. Many have tried to replace the good ol' Dakota by other planes, all failed, I see the derelict and crashed airframes of other types scattered around. Why ?? Wheels too small, landing speed too high, Huge frontal airintakes that cannot handle the flying sand, debris etc., so, in the end, all those Hi Tech machines get fouled up, if there is no tarmac.

But the DC-3 has in Colombia still a remarkably high safety score, inspite of overload, and soaked runways, sticky mud strips and high jungle trees at the end of the runway. While onboard, sitting behind the pilots, the take off is always a most inspiring experience, as you see those trees come in closer and closer, while the plane still struggles to get its huge wheels loose from the mud. While the eniges scream for making speed and altitude, you sit there watching, sometimes in doubt, but always having your own "White Knuckles" Experience. This sight saves you from a trip to the Psychiatrist, your whole life flashes by in your head in a matter of seconds, for free !! It surely clears the mind for the rest of that day......

As USA entered the war in Dec 1941, production for this versatile Cargo/ Paratrooper plane had to be cranked up rapidly.
In the top year 1944, there were more than 4200 C-47's built.
By mid August 1945, parts production was stopped overnight, after the surrender of Japan.
The inventory of spares, engines and airframe parts was high, so they could build from this for another year the DC-3 in limited numbers until 1946.
But from all Literature available, we read that the Wing and Body sections were made before mid Aug 1945. Therefore it seems correct to claim that all wings and bodyparts that we find from this Icon, are authentic US WW II production, aka War Bird Relics.

We started now over 10 years ago with the DC-3 Wingtip Desk, an outright success, and by now harder to find. You can read in the Dakota Hunter Newsletters what effort it is for me tracking, searching and transporting those wingtips in the Amazon Jungle, the High Andes Altiplano or the Yukon Mountains.

Last year, we introduced the Lockheed Starfighter F-104 Ejection Seat, modified to a Desk Chair. It is a perfect match with our DC-3 Wing Desk, both in shiny aluminium, full of rivets and fascinating details, true Vintage Industrial Objects of Art of the (pre) WW II era, and the Cold war of the 1960-ies.
There is almost 20 years of time span between the birth of the types (1935 and 1954, the years of their maidenflights), but very remarkably, they fought almost standing next to each other, both in the Vietnam conflict during the early 1960-ies !!
(see my Newsletters about the Starfighter F-104 and the Vietnam Dakota's underwater graveyard in Phuket)

Now, AVIONART proudly introduces another Design Object of Vintage Aviation Art.
A true Marvel, built from the Douglas Dakota, as a commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the most legendary of all planes in the 100 years of Aviation History.

This Coffee or Lounge Table is built from an authentic DC-3 Skinpanel, it has a protruding single 10 mm Glassplate, that exits from both sides of the curved aluminium top.
Dimensions are 175 x 88 cm, height is 43 cm, but those sizes can vary with customer requirements.

It was a load of work, as in contradiction to the internal rib stucture of the DC-3 Wingtips and Stabilizers, the skinplate used here, has not such ribbing and therefore not enough strenght on its own. Jesse needed to build an aluminium spaceframe under the curved skinplate, as loadcarrier for the glassplate.

The result is a stunning design table, stabilised on 4 miniscule legs and adjustable rubber feet, same as under our Dakota Wing Desk. It looks as if the arched skinplate is the loadcarrier, the space frame is almost invisible.

The lamp that you see on the lower side, is an original feature in this skinplate, as is the parabolic Air scoop just above that lamp.

Furthermore, there is an internal light under the top skinplate, with a row of miniscule LED lights, that emits that fabulous glow effect of greenish light on the edges of the glassplate, as if that plate is framed by a laser beam.

It was an ex TAM (Transportes Aereo Militar) C-47, that came to its end on the local graveyard, where I spent many days in my search for wingtips, cockpits, instruments and propellers.
On one of my trips in 2003/2004, I noticed that the airframe had come off its wheels and the wings where to be torched off from the fuselage. The reason for this was a make shift smelting oven, that they had installed with the idea to chop the Dakota in smaller chunks, and smelt it back to aluminium bars.
Bolivia is an extremely poor country, living in the High Andes is harsh, and all metal has a value.
They like aluminium for building huts / roofs, and they recycle the aluminium, for making household gear like pots, cups, spoons, pans etc.

When you look at it, it seems a quite unbelievable story, the Dakota was built by over 10.000 in the waryears 1940-1945. The plane served the US Military in 3 wars, and other airforces until the late 1990-ies. After that, the old soldier did not die, but flew in the rough and the tough for another 20 + years, in order to serve the local people in remote areas .

With over 50 years of Military & Public Services, That legendary Dakota finally gets derelict, standing to rot away in a small corrosion corner, or worse, by a final (or fatal crash), due to a totally worn out airframe.
Even then, its service life cycle is not yet over, the Bolivians tear the skin apart, they poke up a fire, chop the Dakota airframe in little pieces and smelt it for catering gear.
The aluminium that started its life and won the war over 65 years ago, has now found its final role, to shelter and cater the poor people of the High Andes,.... a nice and true story of long lasting "All American Third World Aid in Aluminium"

I could salvage from the chopping process in La Paz the Wingtips, Stabilizers, Instruments and the Cockpit of this TAM Dakota.
The fuselage was cut off right in front of the mainwing leading edges, but that long piece of airframe did not fit in a sea container.
So, for making the load "containerable", I had the Cockpit furhter cut off at the Hamburger Door (the small door behind the Captain's seat), and all pieces behind that point had to be sliced as an orange.
Finally, after 4 trips and almost 2 years of negotiating with Customs and Owners, I managed to get it all out in a 20 feet container to Holland, over the road to Chile first and from there by boat to Rotterdam.
The number of People and the time that get involved with such operations, both from the Military and from Government Depts., is truely amazing, but make the process a most interesting and enriching experience.

If you are interested in the design DC-3 Lounge Table, please don't hesitate to contact us and visit our website www.avionart.com

We wish you all a very Happy and successful New Year,

Hans Wiesman
Dakota Hunter

See for more info about the maidenflight of the douglas DC-3/ Dakota
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/dayintech
http://www.dc3history.org/douglasdc3.html