|
C/N 13331
July 1942 Ordered for the USA Army Air Force as part of contract number AC-28405 for 2000 C47A-DK's with serial numbers 42-93284-823 and 42-108934-993. Constructor's number 13331 was one of these and received the USAAF serial number 42-93421, and like its sister ships, was built at the Douglas Aircraft Company's Oklahoma City Plant.
17 May 1944 The aircraft completed acceptance tests by the USAAF but did not see USAAF service, being transferred via 45 Group, at Dorval, Montreal, Canada to the British Royal Air Force under the lend-lease programme. In British service it became a Douglas Dakota MK111 and received a new number in line with the Air Ministry system KG600.
29 May 1944 She was delivered to the United Kingdom and allotted to 105 Transport Operational Training Unit at Bramcote, Lincolnshire.
28 September 1944 The aircraft remained on the RAF inventory, but was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron 437 which was formed at Blakehill Farm, Wiltshire on the 4th September 1944. The Squadron took part in the Arnhem landings, towing gliders from the 17th September, and when the Allies had secured the territory, the Squadron switched to providing a continental shuttle taking mail, passengers and fuel to the Allied forces. The aircraft wore the letters Z2: DC at this stage.
March 1945 The Squadron took part in “Operation Varsity” the airborne crossing of the Rhine, towing 24 Airspeed Horsa gliders as part of the invasion force. After the war, Squadron 437 switched to POW flights, detachments being based in Norway. By November 1945 the Squadron had moved to Odiham in the United Kingdom.
16 June 1946 Squadron 437 disbanded and the next day KG600 was transferred to the Canadian Air Force inventory and returned to Canada. The aircraft served in various units until 1953.
26 August 1953 The aircraft was withdrawn from use and became a ground instructional airframe with a new number A-601B. Budding technicians learnt and practised their trade on her and she was even loaned to Trans Canada Airlines for similar tasks.
19 August 1958 She was retired from the RCAF service for good and sold to the Beldex Corporation in the USA. After an overhaul she was registered in March 1959 as N96U with the Freeport Nickel Company.
27 May 1959 The DC-3 was exported to Cuba where she became CU-P-702 with the Moa Bay Mining Company.
March 1960 The DC-3 was returned to the USA and purchased by the Freeport Sulphur Company and re-registered as N702S.
5 October 1962 The aircraft was purchased by the International Telegraph Corporation of the United Kingdom.
19 November 1962 Upon transfer to the UK she received a new identity G-ASDX and worked under a subsidiary Company STC Standard Telephones and Cables; this, however, was to change! The British ARB noticed that the constructor's number for G-AJRY was the same as this new aircraft and assuming that G-AJRY had returned to the UK gave it that registration instead of G-ASDX! Now under an assumed identity (the real truth only became known much later) she was purchased by TD Keegan of Keegan AirFrame and was operated by Transmeridian Air Cargo.
16 September 1971 She was transferred back to T D Keegan.
1 April 1974 The aircraft was sold to Sandriver Safaris in South Africa, who allocated her to their subsidiary, United Air Services.
9 April 1974 The directors of the company were “Pieterse, Theron, Bouwer & Partners” and the registration sequence for the company thus all began with the letters PT.
9 July 1974 The aircraft was allotted the registration ZS-PTG and was a sister ship to ZS-UAS. The colour scheme was red and blue stripes on a white top and fin with the rest of the aircraft in polished bare metal.
15 October 1975 During a scheduled flight between Sishen and Johannesburg for United Airlines a baby girl was born on board at 17h55. The baby was called “Delaney” - a name the aircraft sports to this day!
8 February 1980 In 1980 aircraft were needed for the elections in Zimbabwe and as South African aircraft were not, at that stage politically correct, ZS-PTG was deleted from the South African register and exported to Botswana. She was leased to Air Services Botswana, was registered as A2-ACG and used in Zimbabwe.
14 March 1980 She was re-registered as ZS-PTG to Sandrivers Safaris trading as United Air.
January 1987 By January 1986 she was standing engineless and inactive at Rand Airport near Johannesburg. On the 19th December 1988 United Air was taken over by Wonder Air and the aircraft was registered into the names of its subsidiary company Avia Air Charter at Wonderboom Airport near Pretoria.
28 December 1988 The aircraft underwent an overhaul and was repainted in Avia's two-tone grey and white scheme. By 1992 she was based at the short-lived airfield at Freeway, north of Pretoria where she operated until the closure of Avia in 1995.
23 December 1995 Avia sold ZS-PTG to Debon Air.
January 1996 The aircraft was refurbished and painted in blue/white/natural metal with a large “Delaney” painted on the cabin roof, and went into service with Debon Air.
14 June 2002 Purchased by Rohan Vos of Rovos Rail. The aircraft has undergone an extensive overhaul and refurbishment and sports the green and cream trim of Rovos Air and is now registered as ZS-CRV. The interior of the aircraft has also been extensively refurbished and upgraded to an all business class configuration with 21 very comfortable green leather seats.
30 September 2008 Rovos Air ceases operations and ZS-CRV is leased to NAC Namibian Commercial Aviation.
|
Received from Jeremy Mortimore 23 November 2009
Found your website very interesting with some really nice pictures of this aircraft. However, you don’t have one of the aircraft in STC livery. I have attached two – taken in 1967 at Perpignan in France. Not all that good I am afraid, taken on old Agfa 35mm slide film and a bit grainy.
She was owned by ITT – International Telephone and Telegraph - of America (not International Telegraph Corporation), before being transferred to STC in the UK, a subsidiary of ITT. She was used as a flying test bed for some of STC’s aeronautic instruments and navigation equipment. At the same time she flew regularly between Stanstead and Perpignan taking small parties of deserving employees with their spouses for a week’s free holiday at a ranch house STC maintained in Spain. That is when these pictures were taken by my father, Jack, who went on one of these holidays.
Jack had the job of selling off the Ranch House and the Dakota when STC were cutting back a bit.
Yours sincerely,
Jeremy P Mortimore
|
|
C/N 13331
G-AJRY
STC. Standard Telephones and Cables Limited
1967
Photograph: Jack Mortimore via Jeremy P Mortimore
|
|
C/N 13331
G-AJRY
Photograph: Jack Mortimore via Jeremy P Mortimore
|
|
C/N 13331
G-ASDX
Photograph: John Miller The Article Library
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG
United Air
December 1983
Photograph: Clinton H Groves collection
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG United Air
Photograph: Will Blunt
|
|
C/N 13331
A2-ACG
Air Services Botswana
The aircraft is named Delaney
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG
No Titles
Named Delaney
At Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg 23 October 1978.
Photograph: Rolf Larsson
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG
Photograph: Phillip Evans
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG
Owned by Debon-Air and named Delaney
Lanseria Airport 2000
Photograph: Thomas Ingendorn
|
|
Picture taken by John Miller during the reunion between Captain Terry Chiole and Delaney, the girl who was born on board the Dakota ZS-PTG in 1975.
It was taken at Lanseria in December 1998 with ZS-PTG behind.
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG
Named Delaney
At the Bethlehem air show 2001
Photograph: Karl Jensen
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG with Delaney titles
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG with Delaney titles
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-PTG when operated by Debon-Air
Delaney
At Grand Central Airport
Circa late 1990s
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Rovos Air
Lanseria Airport 28 July 2003
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Rovos Air
Lanseria Airport 10 July 2008
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Rovos Air
Lanseria Airport 25 September 2008
Photograph: Steve Brimley
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Rovos Air
|
 C/N 13331 ZS-CRV Delaney Rovos Air At Lanseria Airport. Note the Andre van der Veer titles. Photograph: Omer Mees |
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV Delaney
Rovos Air
At Lanseria Airport. Note the Andre van der Veer titles.
Photograph: Omer Mees
|
|
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV Classic Air Travel
Photographs: Brendan Odell
Received from Brendan Odell
Below are some photographs taken during September 2009 of ZS-CRV at Club Makokola Airfield, near Mangochi in Malawi. You can see Flippie Vermeulen in the Captain's seat. We were doing some early morning runups (05h00) - prior to the days flying, and I snapped a couple of pics when Flippie taxiied the aircraft to the holding point for a power check.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Classic Air Travel
Lanseria Airport 3 October 2009
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Classic Air Travel
Lanseria Airport 3 October 2009
Photograph: Malcolm Reid
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Classic Air Travel
Wonderboom Airport 19 September 2011
Photograph: Hendrik Swanepoel
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Classic Air Travel
Wonderboom Airport 19 September 2011
Photograph: Hendrik Swanepoel
|
|
C/N 13331
ZS-CRV
Classic Air Travel
Wonderboom Airport 19 September 2011
Photograph: Hendrik Swanepoel
|
|
DC-3 Individual Aircraft History 
