frenchairforce

A beautiful shot of a C-47A from 95TCS, but more likely in France 1945 than England 1944 Stig

C-47A-65-DL, s/n 42-100509, coded 9X-U. Assigned 95th TCS, 440th TCG, 50th TCW, 9th AF. Transfered to French Air Force 1952. To Chad AF 1972.

Interesting Gary As far as I know the aircraft was passed directly from France (Armée de l'Air) as a gift to Chad on 16 May 1972. From where does N99849 come from? Do you have a FAA verification somewhere? It was also written off in Chad and never came near any service with Central African Republic. The wreck was noticed a couple of times at N'djamena during the late 1970s. Not TL-JBB / TL-AXX which was c/n 9172 and Bokassa's personal aircraft. Stig

I made an assumption that it returned to the US because of the "N" number. I've modified my comment due to lack of corroboration, but below shows where I found the information. Joe Baugher's site states: 100509 (MSN 18972) delivered to USAAF Oct43; 8th Air Force; 9th Air Force, Troop Carrier Command; 96th Troop Carrier Squadron, 440th Troop Carrier Group, Exeter; damaged taxying at Exeter 20Jul44; 3rd Air Division, Bushey Park, England; accident taking off at Wiesbaden, Germany 23Dec48; 7500th Operations Squadron, 7500th Air Base Group, Bovingdon; French Air Force / Armée de l'Air Oct52 as 100509 Gt1/61 "FRANT" "FRAMF" CIET 340 Nov 1956 GT2/64 "FRAOP" Aug 1957. BA702 JUL 1959. to N99849, to TL-AAX, to TL-JBB Central African Republic AF. To Chad AF as TT-LAG Jul 1972. Aero Visuals site states: October 1952 Taken on Strength/Charge with the Armee de l Air with s/n 100509. To French Air Force with new c/r F-RANT. By November 1956 To French Air Force with new c/r F-RAMF {3}. August 1957 To French Air Force with new c/r F-RAOP {2}. To unknown owner with c/r N99849. To unknown owner with c/r TL-AAX. July 1972 To Force Aerienne Tchadienne with new c/r TT-LAG (Douglas C-47A (DC-3), 18972). 16 February 1976 Crashed. Summary: The airframe was written off. This was a military flight. Narrative: Crashed.

Thanks Gary Unfortunately there are many odd things reported on the Internet, sometimes quite wrong. In this case I can only presume there is a mix up between c/n 18972 and 9172. The mix up is in many more places than those you report.. The C-47s operated by the French Militaries and which were given as gifts to a large number of former colonies, both in the early 1960s but also during the early 1970s never went back to the States or carried US civil delivery registers on their way to Africa as far as I know. Checking the FAA homepage, they only verify two aircraft ever having flown with the reistration N99849. The first one was an Ercoupe 415 between 22 Oct 1947 to 24 May 1949 and the second one was a Cessna 182E between 11 Feb 1976 to 19 March 1976 when it was sold to Canada, so I doubt very much this aircraft ever carried that registration. BTW Lela Presse is just about to publish a book about all French operated C-47s. Will be out early 2020. Their books are excellent, so let's see what it has to say.... Stig

Obviously a French 1 1/2 Strutter, the rudder gives SOP I B 1. The distinctive markings on the fuselage side needs some further research.

Hello Mr Kort The following explanations only concern examples built under license by French companies.
French aeronautics used it in three forms:
- SOP 1 A 2: reconnaissance two-seater.
- SOP 1 B 1: single-seater bombing.
- SOP 2 B 2: two-seater bomber.

74 French squadrons used it during WW1 (examples built in France and imported from GB)

French manufacturers built 4,797 examples under license.
To which must be added the copies directly delivered by Sopwith.

Details of the French manufacturers who produced the 4797 Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter:

- Darracq: 755 (Darracq limited company)
- Hanriot: 840 (Anonymous company of Hanriot aviation devices)
- REP: 735 (Robert Esnault-Pelterie aviation establishments)
- Lioré et Olivier: 595 (Lioré et Olivier aviation workshop)
- Salmson: 300 (Salmson Motor Company)
- SACA: 210 (Aeronautical construction company)
- SCAF: 300 (French aeronautical construction company)
- SAIB: 280 (Limited company for industrial wood applications)
- SCCA: 120 (Construction company...)
- De Lesseps: 212 (De Lesseps company)
- Nieuport: 200 (Société Anonyme des Establishments Nieuport)
- Morane-Saulnier: 250 (Aéroplanes Morane-Saulnier)

The plane (a SPAD S.VII) is preserved at the Musée de l'air et de l'espace in Le Bourget