DC-3/C-47A-20-DK, Serial No. 13154 (42-93262) was built in the United States and turned over to the British Royal Air Force (RAF) in May 1944 as a Dakota III (KG562) and assigned to No. 271 Airborne Forces Squadron. This Squadron was involved in dropping paratroopers and towing gliders as part the D-day operations in Normandy and was also involved in the battle of Arnhem and the crossing of the Rhine. It is quite likely that this aircraft flew in some or all of these operations. As the allied troops advanced eastward, Dakota KG562 was then redeployed to bring liberated Allied soldiers from POW camps in Germany back to the UK. In November 1945, this aircraft was transferred to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and returned to Canada. It was subsequently declared surplus, put up for disposal and sold to Priority Air Transport Systems of Redwood California where it was registered as N6678 and ‘civilianized’. It moved several more times including a stint in Fairbanks Alaska. It was later returned to Canada and purchased by Nordair Ltd. of Montreal in May 1971, where it was given the Canadian registration CF-NAR. Nordair specialized in northern flying and this aircraft, now referred to as a “DC-3”, was used extensively in northern operations and often on skis. In July 1976, it was sold to Survair Ltd, another company specializing in arctic flying and registered as C-FNAR. On February 28, 1977, C-FNAR crashed at the small Arctic Quebec community of Sugluk (now called Salluit) while trying to land in severe whiteout conditions. The aircraft was carrying seven passengers and a crew of three. Two of the passengers and two of the crew were killed in the crash and the plane was a write-off. The fuselage of the aircraft was abandoned near the community of Salluit and sat there derelict for many years. In 2012, the Inuit (Eskimo) citizens of Salluit organized a community clean-up and decided to haul the old fuselage to the local dump. In the process of cleaning out the interior paneling some graffiti was discovered scratched into the fuselage skin. It read: “ G. W. Rixon, 26 Church Street, Dunstable, Beds, …P.O.W. 12th June 1940 – 14th April, 1945 – 5 long years.” The people of Salluit contacted a local historian in Dunstable, UK, who took up the challenge to trace the graffiti’s author. It turns out that George Rixon was a 19 year-old British soldier when he was captured by the Germans, at the battle of Dunkirk in 1940. He was able to escape the POW camp in 1945, and met up with advancing American soldiers who helped arrange his repatriation back to the UK. During the long ride back to England in an RAF Dakota, he managed to scribble his name on the bare skin of the fuselage. Attached is an article that appeared in the UK about this young British soldier and his ride home on this DC-3 that would come to its end in the Canadian Arctic.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 22:40:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015