C-53 D-Day Doll Inland Empire Wing
Description:
Base:
Riverside Municipal Airport, Riverside, CA
Website:
| C-53 Specs | |
|---|---|
| Role | Transport |
| Manufacturer | Douglas Aircraft Company |
| Introduced | 1941 |
| Produced | 1941-1942 |
| Power | 2 x Pratt & Whitney R-1830-92 Twin Wasp radial engines, 1,200 hp each. |
| Length | 64 ft 5 in |
| Height | 16 ft 11 in |
| Wingspan | 95 ft |
| Range | 1,500 mi |
It was built at the Douglas factory in Santa Monica, California. It is one of 159 C-53Ds and was delivered to AAF on July 7, 1943. It was assigned to the 434th Troop Carrier Group and was stationed at various locations (Alliance Field, NE, Baer Field, IN, Fullbeck, UK, and Welford Park, UK) before arriving at Royal Air Force (RAF) Aldermaston, UK in march 1944.
The 434th TCG consisted of HQ and the 71st to 74th Squadrons. Aircraft 830 was assigned to the 72nd Squadron (CU).
The group's D-Day mission was to tow gliders carrying reinforcements to 101st Division troops who had been dropped earlier in the night near Utah Beach.
At 0119, June 6, 1944, 52 of the Group's airplanes, each towing a Waco glider, took off from RAF Aldermaston Airfield for Normandy. Aircraft 830 flew three missions on D-Day and the next day.
While in the ETO it participated in the D-Day invasion, Operation Market Garden in Holland, the re-supply of Bastogne, and the crossing of the Rhine.
It also flew various support missions and wounded evacuations to England.
The Douglas C-53 Skytrooper was a military transport developed from the DC-3 to carry troops and paratroopers during World War II. Closely related to the C-47 Skytrain, the C-53 retained more of the passenger-carrying DC-3's features than its cargo-oriented cousin.
Unlike the C-47, the C-53 lacked the large cargo door and cargo-handling features that made the C-47 such a versatile freighter. Instead, it was configured primarily for personnel transport and could carry up to 42 passengers or 26 fully equipped paratroopers.
The U.S. Army Air Forces acquired 378 C-53 Skytroopers, far fewer than the thousands of C-47s produced during the war. The C-47's ability to carry troops, cargo, wounded personnel, and other loads ultimately made it the more widely used member of the military DC-3 family.
