c53

C-53D serial 42-68695, 96th Troop Carrier Sq, 440th TCG; 6 May 1945.

Great photo

Beautiful pic !

Neato....

History is :- c/n 4911. 42-6459 C-53 23Apr42 - Patterson 30Apr42 - Pope 04Jun42 - Lawson 17Jul42 - Pope 15Aug42 - Stuttgart 120ct42 - Dalhart 18Nov42 - Stuttgart 27Dec42 - Pope 08Mar43 - Del Valle 08Apr43 - Bergstrom 21Jun43 - Lubbock 04Mar44 - Ft Worth -7Nov44 - S Plains 27Nov44 - RFC Bush 12Jan45 - NC18565 DPC - TWA '369' B09Feb45 - Wfu 21Dec48 - Lockheed Acft Corp Dec49 - Fitted with NASARR nose for F-104 training 1960 - XA+117 German AF LVSt612 190ct62 - LVSt 614 30May64 - ESt61 26May66 - SOC 17Feb67 - N3101Q ATC Inc, Reno, NV R23Sep69 - LAVCO L- Wfu Hal Far, Malta, 1970 - Used for spares at Hal Far ca 1977 - Remains at Luqa 1983 - Canx Dec83 - In scrap yard at Birzebuga, Malta, Dec89 - Noted there May94 marked '140'. Source : www.aviationinmalta.com/CivilGeneralAviation/Deliveries/D...

This is possibly Charles Rector's means of returning from the B-25 ferry flight to india....Pan American had been engaged by Winston Churchill to set up an efficient airway across Africa to support the British in Egypt...after Pearl Harbour the route expanded to india and China and the Pan Am operation was absorbed into the USAAF ATC route from the USA via Miami and Natal, Brazil, later sometimes called the 'Fireball Route'

Wonder why they painted out the C in the NC34990? Stig