Douglas C-47B Dakota 44-76787 skin panel

This is a rare and original piece of fuselage skin of a World War II Douglas C-47B Dakota, an aircraft which has earned its place in history. Becoming famous in World War II where it was put to use on almost all battlefields to resupply men and materials. It changed the way people were transported. After WW II, and even until today, it was used on several (remote) locations in the world as a workhorse moving passengers and goods.

Many people in the Netherlands will recall a bizarre incident with a Douglas C-47 Dakota that got stuck under an overpass on 13 August 2010. The aircraft was loaded on a truck and on its way from the Wings of Liberation museum in Best to the former Naval Air Station Valkenburg, where it was to become an inspiring backdrop for the musical ‘Soldier of Orange’. Even though the wings were removed, the fuselage and engines were wider than the overpass, leading to irreparable damage to the airframe.

Three years later the remains were sold. Some larger parts, like nose, tail and wings found its way to collectors and we were able to obtain many pieces of the fuselage skin.

This is a part of the skin that was located on the bottom of the tail. The part was removed from the wreckage and repainted with the distinctive invasion stripes on one side after the mishap in the Netherlands.

We also have other skin panels available; info here, here and here.

Service history

In 1944, this Dakota was built with Douglas in Oklahoma City (Oklahoma, USA) as C-47B-30-DK with registration 44-76787 (construction number 16371, line number 33119). This aircraft was delivered to the United States Army Air Force on 24 April 1945 and transferred to the French Armée de l’Air the same year.

In 1946 it started a civil career with registration F-BAIF and flew as such until the end of the 70s for several operators. After storage at Toulouse-Blagnac (France) the C-47 became part of the Victory Memorial Museum at Arlon (Belgium), falsely marked ‘2100847/L4-B’. This museum ended its operations in 1998 but the aircraft remained there until 25 February 2002 when it was brought to the Bevrijdende Vleugels museum (Wings of Liberation museum) in Best (the Netherlands). Here it was displayed until it came to its demise in August 2010.