Courtesy of That's All Brother and David M. Barrera
This weekend is a very special one for the Arkansas Air an Military Museum as we have the honor of hosting a legend. The C-47 Skytrain, That’s All Brother, will be the star of our Warbird Weekend starting today and continuing through Sunday so this Artifact Friday will be dedicated to it. C-47s played an important role in World War II. Designed and produced by the Douglas Aircraft Company, the C-47 was a dedicated transport plane. A fully loaded C-47 could carry 18 to 22 fully equipped paratroopers or around 6,000 lbs of cargo. They were also designed to tow gliders, large unpowered aircraft designed to carry additional troops or cargo. More than 10,000 C-47s were built in California and Oklahoma throughout the course of the war and could be found in every theatre.
Built with two Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp Engines, the C-47 can produce 2,400 total horsepower and reach a top speed of 220 miles per hour. The maximum range of the C-47 is 1,500 miles without cargo. The low- wing design grants the C-47 a handful of advantages over their high- wing counterparts. For starters, the low wings grant the C-47 a higher level of safety. The wings can help to absorb the impact of a gear-up or water landing and keep the aircraft above water in such cases. Aerodynamics are also improved by the low wings due to their closer proximity to the fuselage, granting better fuel efficiency and a faster cruise speed. Other advantages include easier engine maintenance, faster refueling, and fewer blind spots while flying.
That’s All Brother stands as a piece of living history today. Not only is this C-47 still fully functional but has one of the most impressive service records of any aircraft. That’s All Brother’s crowning achievement took place over the beaches of Normandy where they led over 800 other C-47s containing the paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions to their targets. That’s All Brother’s participation continued into Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne operation ever carried out. That’s all Brother also took part in Repulse, the operation in which the Royal Airforce, bolstered by the US Airforce, provided desperately needed supplies to the Allied 21st army in Belgium. That’s all Brother’s extensive service record, as well as the story of how it was nearly destroyed, can be found at https://thatsallbrother.org/.
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