Aircraft N54NA Data

This aircraft was built as C-47A 42-101012 and delivered to the USAAF on 1/19/44, being delivered to the U.S. 8th Air Force in the UK on 3/15/44. On 6/6/44 it dropped paratroops of the 101st Airborne Division into Normandy. After WWII the plane remained in Europe, base at Erding AFB, West Germany from 1/1/48. After being declared surplus, the plane went to Norwegian AF on 8/23/50 as “101012.” On 9/4/50 it was assigned to No. 335 Sqdn, coded “AR-T,” changing to “BW-D” in 1951, then in 1956 as “BW-R.” On 10/18/56 it went to the Danish AF as 68-686 and later as K-686, serving with Esk 721. On 1/18/84 it had been replaced by a C-130 and sold to Aces High Ltd, and delivered to Duxford to be registered as G-BLDI. It was then purchased by Northern Airways and ferried to Burlington, VT and registered as N54NA. They painted the plane in WWII D-Day markings with unit code “3J-E”. In Sep 1985 the plane was fitted with 18 observer seats, color TV monitors, LORAN C radar, vehicle tracking display, etc for FAA demonstration of capabilities of LORAN C for non-precision approach. During Aug 1986 the plane was sold to Business Air, Inc. (Arthur Pearcy’s 1988 “Douglas DC-3 Survivors”). On 6/19/95, after five years inactive, the plane suffered a fatal crash after power loss during a ferry flight. (Joe Baugher).
For details of the accident see http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19950719-1